Every organization registered with the FCRA department has at some point experienced that communicating with FCRA department is not as easy as it is with other Government Departments like the Income Tax Department or the registrar of societies or the Charity Commissioner's office. Having said that, i personally experienced that the FCRA department do provide replies to issues or queries if we communicate effectively. Based on my past communications, i have noted following points are useful in drafting effective email: 1. Mention FCRA number the first thing in your communication: For a moment put yourself in the shoes of officer working at FCRA department. How pleased you will be to note that the sender of email has introduced himself/herself in language relevant to the FCRA department. That is to say, your FCRA registration number is your identity. It helps the officer to see your history and past communications. That will be a great way to start. Isn't it? Next thing, you might consider putting the File Number and Date of filing especially if your issue relates to registration or renewal of FCRA. 2. Put Subject line of the email in precise and comprehensive manner. Write the subject line in precise manner. At the same time it should contain the topic of the issue you are facing. This will again help the concerned authority to look into it. Or if by mistake you send it to officer not in charge of such issue, he/she might forward it to relevant officer. But if the subject is not clear, the officers might not be able to read the whole email just to decide to whom it belongs. 3.Use small sentences. Remember that the officers are occupied with lot of daily tasks. They might be receiving many emails from different organizations. Ensure that you are making their life easy and not a tough one . Therefore it is advisable to use simple language, short sentences and clear wording. Keep in mind, short and simple sentences can communicate without ambiguity. 4. Distinctly mention your question or issue and solution sought from FCRA department. Once you start writing the email body, briefly write the issue / question you are facing. Mention relevant facts and dates. Provide facts in sequential manner and avoid jumbling facts. Mention the events in the order they have happened and for that purpose you might want to list them before starting to draft the email. Once you have mentioned your issue, you should precisely mention the solution / action you are seeking from the FCRA department. Specific mention of solution will help the officers to understand your problem in better way and also assist them in providing you with exact solution. This can also help them ask you for more details if they so require. Remember to stick to the point and not to include irrelevant information. If you want to provide additional information, you can put it at the end of email. 5. Attach relevant acknowledgement/ documents supporting your message. Whatever facts you have mentioned should be supported by relevant documents or screenshots. For example if you have mentioned you had applied for renewal of FCRA registration, you should attach the acknowledgement of submitting such application and so on. The attachments file should have proper name, that is to say, the name of the file should give fair idea about its contents. For example a file named with "Acknowledgment Renewal Application" will give clear idea that the file contains filing acknowledgement. This will help the reader to easily check things in his/her system or files. It will also help provide all the information in place and help make the process smooth. 6. Email address of sender and recipient: Once you draft the email and is ready for sending, it should be sent from registered email address. Registered email address is the one you had registered with the FCRA department. You may put other team members in CC if you wish. Also the email should be addressed to email id of "Support" available under the contacts filed on the FCRA website. You might want mark a CC to one more officer from the available list so as to increase the chances of your mail's visibility. 7. Using email signature While concluding the email you might consider providing an alternate email address, mobile and landline number - which are already provided to the FCRA department, your designation in the organization and usual details of organization like the name, address, state etc. 8. Followup email or call In case you have not received any reply to the email or in case your issue is not resolved, you can resend the same email. It is better to use the same email thread for each issue, instead of starting a new one. This will help the reader to see the past communication at one place. You might try calling the support number if your email has not got any reply within considerable time. Once drafted, you can re-read the email or ask your colleague to see if the message can be comprehended easily. Please note these points are compiled from past experience and are indicative. The FCRA department may still use its discretion while replying to communications on case to case basis. Your thoughts are welcome.