I emailed a donor their certificate, receipt or update form but they didn't receive it — what now?

In short: Open the record and check the delivery status of the email — ⏳ PENDING, 🟢 Delivered, 🔴 Bounced or 🔴 Complaints Received. If it bounced or was flagged, fix the donor's email address first (sending is paused to addresses that bounce or are reported as spam), ask the donor to check their spam/junk folder, then re-send.

Why a donor might not get the email

Every email you send from a certificate or receipt is logged on that record with a delivery status that updates as the mail system reports back:

Status	What it means	What to do
⏳ PENDING	Sent, but delivery isn't confirmed yet (still in progress or queued).	Wait a moment and refresh. If it never moves on, check the address and re-send.
🟢 Delivered	It reached the donor's mail server.	Ask the donor to check their spam/junk folder and search for the sender.
🔴 Bounced	The address was wrong or rejected the mail.	Correct the donor's email, then re-send.
🔴 Complaints Received	The donor (or their provider) marked earlier mail as spam.	Confirm the address; sending to flagged addresses is paused.

📌 Note: ActiveDonor pauses sending to addresses that have bounced or been flagged for spam/complaints. Correcting the address clears the way to re-send.

Steps to fix it

1. Open the record — the certificate, the receipt, or the donor's update request.
2. Look at the email history and read the delivery status of the last send.
3. If it shows 🔴 Bounced or 🔴 Complaints Received, check the donor's email address for typos and correct it on the donor's record.
4. Ask the donor to check their spam/junk folder if the status is 🟢 Delivered.
5. Click E-mail Certificate (or E-mail on a receipt) again to re-send. Each send is added to the history.

The receipt version of this is covered in Printing, downloading and emailing a receipt.

Related

• Emailing certificates to donors