Top 10 Frequently Asked Questions about Papilia DIRECT2WEB PRODUCTs

How long does it take to set up?
How is my donor data kept secure?
How will my donors know that their tax receipts are ready?
Couldn’t I just create my own direct mail campaign?
You claim that Online Tax Receipts will help me to generate additional donations. How does that work?
What if my organization doesn’t have an online donation form?
You claim that I can grow my email list with Papilia Online Tax Receipts. How will that happen?
What’s different about Papilia Direct2Web?
My organization is concerned about the environmental impact of a direct mail campaign. Can you address that?

Q. How long does it take to set up?
A. Papilia Online Tax Receipts can be set up in a matter of minutes. If you have a .csv file of your donors’ giving history, and your creative branding elements at hand, it’s a snap to get you up and running. Simply access the website, upload your donor database, logo, colors, and mission statement, and you’re done! See the process firsthand in this screencast.

Q. How is my donor data kept secure?
A. Papilia does not own any data, information or material that you submit to the service in the course of using the service. Data imported, or collected is secured in a logic silo by Papilia’s software, accessible only to the authenticated supporter or to the authorized staff from the concerned nonprofit organization. It is not shared or exposed to any other nonprofit organization, to any other supporters, nor to any other third-party company.

All supporter confidential data is stored in a centralized database, running Oracle 10g, on a dedicated IBM server with Linux Red Hat 7 within our co-location facility at Hurricane Electric in Fremont, CA. The database’s physical machine is on a private physical network reserved for Papilia production machines and not open to the outside (our Apache server web tiers are the only gateway to the outside, running Linux Red Hat 7, as on all of our servers). The network is periodically scanned for security and constantly monitored. Database machine physical access is restricted to Papilia’s IT and DBA staff. 

Hurricane Electric, the co-location facility provides state of the art security, including an individual lock on Papilia’s dedicated cabinet. Remote access to the production network is done via SSH only, restricted to Papilia Backend Engineers and DBA. The Stand-by database and Back-up Repository machines follow the same standards of security.

Email-based features leverage Lyris’ email delivery software, which is run entirely within Papilia’s production infrastructure. Verisign communication occurs in real-time with the information needed for the actual credit card transaction, using SSL with 128 bit encryption. Credit card numbers are not kept, logged or cached on Papilia’s system.

Q. How will my donors know that their tax receipts are ready?
A. There are a number of ways that you can notify your donors that their tax receipts are ready to view and print online. The system will generate a supporter ID for all of your donors – even those whose email addresses you haven’t yet captured. Simply insert that supporter ID into a direct mail piece or email that you create and send to your donors directly. No time to design, print and mail a direct mail piece or execute an email blast? No problem. Papilia Direct2Web was designed for busy non-profit professionals in mind. We handle the design, printing, and mailing of the piece. You provide your logo, colors and mission statement. And Papilia’s Communication Edition enables you to create and send a professional tax receipts email in just minutes.

Q. Couldn’t I just create my own direct mail campaign?
A. Of course, you’re welcome to design, print and send out your own direct mail piece to notify donors of their supporter ID and that their tax receipts are ready to print. However, we’ve heard from many nonprofit professionals that they simply don’t have the time or staff to manage that type of activity. We’ve developed a proven Online Tax Receipts template to take the hassle out of direct mail. Papilia Direct2Web is customized with your logo, colors and mission statement and is personalized with donor information to drive higher response rates. We’ve negotiated a competitive rate and will work directly with the printer and mail house to ensure that it’s hassle free for your busy staff.

Q. You claim that Online Tax Receipts will help me to generate additional donations. How does that work?
A. When your donors login to the secure Online Tax Receipts website, they’ll be able to view and print their tax receipts. In addition, we’ve included a Donate Now button, which you can link to any donation form – even one that is not hosted by Papilia. Our experience has shown that communications regarding tax receipts result in an increase in donations.

Q. What if my organization doesn’t have an online donation form?
A. No problem. Papilia Donation Edition was designed for busy non-profit professionals. It’s secured by Verisign and features unlimited customizable forms, recurring giving, pledge managements, pre-populated fields for repeat donors, and more. Incremental donations are just a click away from the Online Tax Receipts website. Upgrade to Donation Edition and we’ll help you get a secure online donation form up in minutes.

Q. You claim that I can grow my email list with Papilia Online Tax Receipts. How will that happen?
A. Since Papilia Online Tax Receipts enables you to import all donors, even those whose email addresses you haven’t already captured, you can notify all of your donors about their tax receipts through Direct Mail. Donors will use the system generated supporter ID to access the Online Tax Receipts website. They’ll be asked to enter their email address before accessing the content. You capture their email addresses as they print their tax receipts and make donations. It’s a great win win.

Q. What’s different about Papilia Direct2Web?
A. With Papilia's Direct2Web you can easily integrate your web, email and direct mail efforts, launching all communications from within the Papilia platform. Our competitively priced direct mail template enables you to notify your offline donors in a very personalized way that their tax receipts are available to print online. You collect their email addresses as they access a secure website to print their receipts and give again. You’ll achieve a highly personalized, cross-media donor experience through Variable Data Printing (VDP) and Personalized URLs (PURLs) which leverage donor information stored in your database. The high impact of personalized direct mail coupled with an integrated, VIP web experience mean real results.

Q. My organization is concerned about the environmental impact of a direct mail campaign. Can you address that?
A. Papilia is dedicated to minimizing the impact that our activities have on the environment. That’s why we’ve partnered with a printer who is using state-of-the-art digital printing equipment, whose components are 97% recyclable or re-manufacturable. The direct mail piece is printed on quality, coated paper with a high recycled content—50% overall and 25% post-consumer—to reduce waste, landfill, water consumption, chemical use, and the destruction of virgin trees.