Auto Emails

Auto Emails

Use Auto Emails when you need to set up automated email notifications for donors and administrators. Each auto email set groups related email templates that share a sender address. When a trigger event happens (a new sponsorship, a payment, a profile update, or a message), Gratona sends the matching email automatically.

Find the Auto Emails Page

Open System Automations under APPS in the sidebar, then select the Auto Email tab. If you do not see it in the sidebar, your account may not have the manage email permission.

Create an Auto Email Set

An auto email set is a group of email templates that share a from-address and are connected to one or more programs.

1. Open System Automations and select the Auto Email tab.

2. Select Create Auto Email Set.

3. Enter an Email Set Name that helps you identify the set.

4. Enter the From Email Address that donors and administrators will see as the sender.

5. Select Submit.

After you create the set, Gratona populates it with default email templates for the supported trigger events.

Review Email Templates in a Set

Each auto email set contains individual email templates. Select an email set card to see its templates.

Default Templates Sent to Donors

Default Templates Sent to Administrators

Status Tags

Each template shows a status badge:

• Completed: the template has been reviewed and saved with short codes.

• Warning: some short codes are unused. The email will still be sent.

• Email Disabled: the template will not be sent. Select the template and uncheck the disable option to re-enable it.

Edit an Email Template

Select any template in the set to open the template editor. The editor lets you customize the message that donors or administrators receive.

Set the Subject and Message

1. Subject: the email subject line. Use short codes to personalize it, for example Welcome [donor_first_name]!

2. Message: the email body. Use the Unlayer drag-drop editor to design rich HTML emails, or switch to the code editor for plain HTML.

3. Disable Email: check this to stop the template from being sent. Uncheck to re-enable it.

Use Short Codes (Merge Tags)

Short codes personalize each email with data from the donor, recipient, or system. The available short codes depend on the template trigger and the program form attached to the email set.

Short code groups include:

• Recipient Short Codes: fields from the recipient program form attached to the email set. For example, [en_child_name] inserts the recipient name.

• Donor Short Codes: fields from the donor form attached to the email set. Standard donor short codes like [donor_first_name] and [donor_email] are always available.

• Custom Donor Short Codes: custom fields from the donor form.

• Trip Participant Short Codes: participant fields when the program is a trip program.

• In-Kind Donation Short Codes: additional short codes for in-kind donation receipt templates.

• System Short Codes: provided by Gratona. These vary by trigger and can include values like the sponsorship amount, next payment date, or organization name.

Select a short code to insert it at the cursor position in the editor.

Note: Use only the short codes listed in the editor. Unrecognized short codes prevent the template from being saved.

Work with donation receipt variants

Open Donor Payment Receipt in the email set used by the program or designation. Choose the tab for the message you need:

DAF advisor thank-you and Soft Credit share the same saved template and enabled setting. Changing either affects both uses. Opening the advisor tab preserves existing custom content, so review the wording for both Direct recognition and DAF advisor thanks.

Review and enable a source-specific acknowledgment

1. Select DAF grant, IRA / QCD, or DAF advisor thank-you. An unconfigured template begins with source-specific starter wording and is disabled.

2. Review the subject, message and short codes. For an advisor, thank the person for recommending the grant and honor its disclosure.

3. Save the template and review the rendered acknowledgment. Use only short codes listed in the editor.

4. Enable the reviewed variant and ensure Standard Donation is also enabled in the applicable email set.

5. Check the acknowledgment plan when recording a gift, including the recipient, any per-gift opt-outs and whether email or manual printing is available.

DAF sponsor, IRA / QCD and DAF advisor acknowledgments never fall back to the Standard Donation message. If a required template is missing or disabled, that acknowledgment is not sent. An unchanged copy of the Standard Donation body is blocked for these contexts in preview, printing, delivery and admin tests. Replace that copied body with appropriate acknowledgment wording, save it and review it again. Custom content still needs your team's review.

For ordinary Direct soft credits and in-kind gifts, the standard fallback can still apply when a variant is missing or disabled. Disabling a variant alone does not necessarily suppress those receipts. The parent receipt setting, email address, preferences, suppression and per-gift opt-outs also affect delivery.

Recorded acknowledgment and receipt delivery

Mark donation as already acknowledged records that a thank-you has been completed. Sending a receipt is a separate choice. Review both controls and the confirmation plan rather than assuming the recorded acknowledgment status sends an email.

DAF sponsor and advisor opt-outs are independent. An advisor thank-you is available only for named disclosure with an advisor selected. See Record a received DAF grant and Record a received IRA/QCD gift for the gift-entry and printing steps.

Test an Email Template

Use Test Email to send a preview of the template to your own email address before the template goes live.

1. Open the template you want to test.

2. Select Test Email.

3. In Choose Sponsorship, select a sponsorship relationship. The sponsorship provides the donor and recipient data used to resolve short codes in the preview. A donor without a sponsorship cannot be used as test data, and Send appears only after a sponsorship is selected.

4. Select Send.

The test email is sent to your own email address, the administrator you are signed in as. Check your inbox and spam folder. Test Email is unavailable while the template is disabled or while the editor has unsaved changes, so save your edits first. After you activate verified sending, new donor-facing templates use the authenticated sending transport; email sets whose From address is on another domain are not covered by the verified domain.

Manage Email Sets

Clone an Email Set

Use Clone when you want to duplicate an existing email set and its templates. This is useful when you need a similar set for a different program.

1. Open System Automations and select the Auto Email tab.

2. Select the clone action on the email set card.

3. Enter a name for the cloned set.

4. Select Clone.

Delete an Email Set

Use Delete when an email set is no longer needed. Deleting an email set removes all templates in the set. Programs attached to the deleted set will not send auto emails.

1. Open System Automations and select the Auto Email tab.

2. Select the delete action on the email set card.

3. Confirm the deletion.

Create Custom Email Templates

Use Create Custom Email Template when you need an email template for a trigger that is not part of the default set.

Custom triggers currently available:

• Notify donor of photo permission change: sent when a recipient file permission is changed to public.

• Notify Donor Of Future Sponsorship: sent when a future sponsorship is set up for a donor.

For full instructions, see Custom Auto Emails.

Permissions

Your role controls whether you can view, create, edit, clone, or delete auto email sets and templates. If the Auto Email tab or the action buttons are missing, your account may not have the manage email permission.

Related Guides

• Custom Auto Emails

• Message Manager

• Program Forms

• First Program Setup

• Soft Credit