FundSvcs Community

Hello friends,

I am in the process of changing the vendor who scans and deposits our checks (non-buckslip, I'm happy with that vendor). I'd like to change to a dedicated lockbox. Currently, all non-buckslip mail comes to our headquarters in NYC and is picked up by the current vendor twice a week, to then be processed, scanned, and deposited. I would really prefer daily deposits, along with the many other conveniences of a true lockbox. 

Currently, the frontrunner financial institution does not have a lockbox facility in NYC; the closest is about two hours away. With time, we will get donors onboard with sending their mail to non-NYC but in the meantime, what experience do people have with USPS premium mail forwarding and/or other solutions? OR, do NYC based folks have lockbox recommendations? Our volume is about 30,000 gifts a year (with a few thousand extra if we count mail without checks). The last post I found about this was from 2023 and I'm curious about any updated experiences.

And, safe space, I'm not thrilled about the idea of forwarding our mail. But as we sit in the in-between time of changing vendors and change management with our vendors, I think I may just have to do it. Please, dear hive, tell me there's something I'm missing.

Thanks, as always,

Elizabeth

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Elizabeth Tavares
Director, Donor Revenue Management & Records
UNICEF USA
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Hi Elizabeth,

I can't speak to NYC-specific solutions for you, but I can offer that in my experience, it's only been staff who thought their donors would hesitate at a return address in a city other than where the organization is. Both in nonprofit visitor center organizations in San Francisco (meaning our donors literally visit onsite regularly and associate us with 'San Francisco', and in national nonprofits, I've had to relocate lockboxes/caging services several times, and I can't ever recall a donor expressing a question or hesitation, though our staff surely thought they would. At one of my national nonprofits, we even had three different business reply addresses depending on the type of solicitation (LA, SF, DC), and no one batted an eye - including during times when our financial institution lockbox moved from SF to LA, forcing an address change.

Some organizations will put a note on the reply envelope that says something like "our national gift processing center in Maryland..."

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Mike Fischer
Sage70
mike@sage70.com
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We are in the process of implementing an on-site lockbox with Aqurit, as I also don't like the concept of donors having an off-site address to send to (though Aqurit may have a forwarding option too, I didn't ask about that). From my research, this vendor is trusted by other large universities, very fairly priced, and has been super smooth and transparent in our conversations. Their sales team is really low-pressure. If you'd like to have a discovery conversation, I'm copying my contact for the company below. 

Noel Keathley Director of Sales Mobile: 225-571-2460 Email:noelkeathley@aq2tech.com

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Jayme Fancher
San Diego State University
jfancher@sdsu.edu
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