Email my branch
Hillcrest Branch
Your branch's current members are added for you.
Members come from the member database at the moment of sending, not from a list someone kept.
| Group | Why | People |
|---|---|---|
| Hillcrest Branch members | Current members | 212 |
| Council chair | Copied on branch emails | 1 |
| Region vice-chair | Copied on branch emails | 1 |
Held emails are kept, not lost, and logged for a person to check.
Hi Ken,
Our end-of-year barbecue is at Hillcrest Park on Saturday 5 December from 11am. Bring a chair, we’ll bring the sausages.
| Date | Activity | From |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Nov | Email: End-of-year barbecue, Saturday 5 December | Hillcrest Branch |
| 12 Nov | Attended: Hillcrest Branch AGM | Hillcrest Branch |
| 2 Nov | Membership renewed online | Member portal |
She writes the email in the portal
She signs in and opens Email my branch. There is no list to attach and no addresses to paste. She writes the subject and the message, and chooses who it is for. A branch can email its own members; it cannot pick another branch.
Here the groups are branches, regional councils and special groups for women and young members. In an association the same screen would be a special interest group convenor writing to the group, a committee chair writing to the committee, or a chapter president writing to the chapter. Whatever the group, the member record decides who is in it.
The recipients are worked out for her
The system takes the branch’s current members from the member database and leaves out anyone whose membership is still pending. Then it applies the communication rules: the region’s vice-chair and the chair of the council the branch sits under are copied on branch emails, so the people above the branch know what it is saying.
The communication rules used to be a table in a document. Now the same table is held in one place and used on every send, so a branch email copies the same people whether it is sent by a new secretary or one who has done it for years.
She sees every group before it goes
The review lists each group and its count, so she can see who is getting it before she sends. If a number looks wrong she can stop and ask, instead of finding out from a member afterwards.
A repeated blast is held, not sent
Before each email leaves, the system checks whether the same message is going to the same people over and over. Ordinary sends pass straight through. A run of identical copies is held for a person to look at, so a double-click or a stuck job cannot send a member the same email ten times.
Members get it from their branch
The email arrives from the organisation’s own address, sent on behalf of the branch secretary. Ken can tell it is from his branch, and his email address was never on a spreadsheet anywhere.
Head office can see what was sent
The send is recorded on every member’s history. When Ken rings to ask about the barbecue, or a member says they never got the notice, the membership team can look it up instead of asking the branch to forward it.