Start an E-Newsletter This Year

      Let's see a show of hands - how many of you are still typing your monthly newsletters to your parents, then copying them on a "Ditto" machine?  How many are using a computer, and then copying them on colored paper, and then sending them home with the students to give to their parents?   A little more - saves on postage, to be sure.  But is that any guarantee that parents will get them?

     How about email?

     No, not just an email - an eNewsletter.  There are online services that will allow you to create an eNewsletter to your parents, scan it for the likelihood of it being caught in a spam filter and allow you to make adjustments to it to avoid that, and do it for a very reasonable price - definitely saving on postage, but also not using paper.

     And definitely no chance of being crumpled at the bottom of a backpack, or retrieved from the clothes dryer in a folded square.

     Some of these services include Constant Contact (http://www.constantcontact.com), Vertical Response (http://www.verticalresponse.com), My Newsletter Builder (http://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com) and iContact (http://www.icontact.com).  These are just a few of the plethora of companies on the Web which provide this service.  Fees vary, but some give discounts for non-profits and educational entities.  I use iContact for SchoolAdvancement's monthly eNewsletter, The DREAM.

     Now some of you are probably saying, "What about FACTS Donor Management?  I heard that has the ability to send eNewsletters!  And you're right!

     However, the Donor Management component of FACTS Donor Management is really geared toward alumni, donors, and other members of the local and business community who are engaged with your school.  A parent newsletter may have information about school lunch menus, important safety items, and upcoming important dates to remember.  You certainly don't want to put that information into an eNewsletter that you send to your donors and potential donors.

     But I'll bet you're saying that you post those things to your Web site.  If you do, that's fantastic!  All the MORE reason to use an eNewsletter!  Think of it as the way to let your parents know there is something important on the Website.  Since it's an eNewsletter, they can just click a link to be connected to the page on your Web site where that information resides!

     Environmentally friendly, easy to link in order to drive people to your Web site, and very affordable.

     Besides, I'd rather find quarters in the dryer.

© Michael V. Ziemski, SchoolAdvancement, 2008 (Original Publication Date: 20080915)

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