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How to Make a Certificate of Appreciation

Thank volunteers, staff, teachers or coaches with a certificate of appreciation: what to write, wording ideas, and printing one for every name on iPhone.

  • How-to
  • Flyer Cat
Made for this: Flyer Cat

The food drive is over, the season has ended, or a teacher is moving on, and you want to say thank you in a way people can keep. This guide covers what to write on a certificate of appreciation, wording for volunteers, staff, teachers and coaches, and how to make one, or one for everyone who helped, with Flyer Cat, our flyer and certificate maker for iPhone.

What goes on a certificate of appreciation

A certificate of appreciation is a thank-you, not a prize, so the words are about what the person gave. Most have:

  • A title. "Certificate of Appreciation" is the usual one. "With Thanks" or "Thank You" works for something less formal.
  • A line above the name, like "With thanks to" or "In grateful recognition of".
  • The person's name, spelled the way they spell it.
  • What you're thanking them for. Name the thing they actually did: the hours, the project, the season.
  • Who it's from: your club, school, charity, team or business.
  • A signature, with the name and role of whoever signs. Two signatures (a coordinator and a chair, or a coach and a club secretary) show the thanks comes from the whole group.
  • A date, usually the day you hand it over or the end of the season.

Wording ideas for the line under the name

  • Volunteers: "For giving your Saturdays to the food bank all year" or "For 40 hours of setting up, serving and cleaning up at the spring fair"
  • Staff: "For keeping the office running while we moved buildings"
  • Teachers: "For a year of patience, good humour and extra help after class"
  • Coaches: "For every early practice and every ride to away games this season"
  • Helpers at an event: "For making the school fun run happen"

Keep it to one or two lines that name one real thing.

Make it in Flyer Cat

Flyer Cat does several jobs. The first time you open it, it asks What are you making? Tap Certificates ("Awards for a class or a team: paste the names, print one for each."). The app remembers your choice; the grid button at the top left of any job's home screen takes you back to the list.

  1. Start a thank-you certificate. Under Start a certificate, tap Thank you. Its tile says it's for "Volunteers, staff, helpers". It starts with the title Certificate of Appreciation, With thanks to above the name, and the Rosette design.
  2. Write the words. Under Words, you can change the Title and the line Above the name. Put your thank-you in Under the name. Change any word; a line you leave empty prints as nothing.
  3. Say who it's from and who signs. Under Signed and dated, type your club, school or business in From. Under Signature lines, pick None, One or Two. Add a name in Signed by (and Second signer for a second line), with a Role under each if you like. The lines stay blank so you can sign by hand.
  4. Set the date. Print the date starts on, with today's date. Change it or turn it off.
  5. Pick a design. Classic, Rosette, Modern and Stars are free, each in one of eight colours. Under Paper, pick Letter or A4. Certificates print landscape.
  6. Add the name. Type it under Names. Leave Names empty and the certificate prints with a line to write a name on by hand.

The preview at the top shows the certificate as it will print. Flyer Cat never makes up a name, a signer or an organisation: only what you type goes on the page. A new certificate starts with the From and signers from your last one, so you don't type them twice.

Thank everyone at once

Appreciation certificates usually go to a group: every volunteer, every parent coach, all the staff. Type one name per line under Names, or tap Paste to paste a list from Notes, an email or a spreadsheet column. A single line with commas ("Ana, Ben, Cara") works too, and bullets or numbers in front of names are dropped. You get one certificate per name, with the same words, signers and design, and you can flip through them in the preview. One certificate holds up to 500 names; for a longer list, split it into two certificates.

Want each person thanked for their own part? With Flyer Cat Pro, type a line after a dash, like "Sam Lee - 120 hours at the front desk", and it prints under that name only. Without Pro, the name still prints and the extra line is kept for later.

Tap Print & share at the bottom of the certificate.

  • Print, or Print all with the number of names for a list, opens your iPhone's print options. The app suggests picking thicker card stock there if your printer takes it.
  • Share PDF sends one PDF with a page for each name, in the order of your list. That's handy for a print shop.
  • Share picture, or several pictures for a list, makes a picture of each certificate for Messages or email. Pictures are made for up to 50 names; the PDF always has every one.
  • Preview full size shows the PDF first.

Same thanks next year

On the Certificates home screen, tap ⋯ next to last year's certificate and choose Duplicate for a new list. The copy keeps the words, signers and design, gets today's date and has an empty list of names. Paste this year's helpers and print.

Thanking one standout person on the team each month? See how to make an employee of the month certificate. Marking the end of a course or training? See how to make a certificate of completion.

What it costs

Certificates for as many names as you like, four designs, signature lines, Print, the PDF and pictures cost nothing. There's no watermark: nothing is printed on your certificate except your certificate. No sign-up, no account, no subscription. Flyer Cat Pro is an optional one-time purchase; the App Store shows the price. For certificates it adds three more designs (Gilded, Heritage and Confetti), a line for each person, and your logo at the top of every certificate. More on the Flyer Cat page.

Your certificates and lists of names are kept on your device and in your own backups unless you share, save or print them. In the app's own words, it prints certificates of recognition that you write and sign; a certificate made with it isn't a qualification or a licence.

Quick answers

What do you write on a certificate of appreciation?
A title, a line like "With thanks to", the person's name, one specific line about what they did, who it's from, a signature and a date.

Can I make one for every volunteer at once?
Yes, for free. Paste your list into Names and you get one certificate per name, in one PDF with a page each.

Try Flyer Cat

Try Flyer Cat: free, no watermark, no sign-up → iyio.com/apps/flyer-cat