By Sherry Gillis, GSRW Website Manager
There are several different ways you can set up a bulk email list for your contacts and this may depend on the size of your District.
First of all, let’s talk about your email and how this is going to work. You have your own email address, but GSRW has a system of “email forwards” so that you don’t have to keep getting email for your district once your term has ended. You provide your email address to us and we set it up so that each district has an email address that will forward your email to you at your normal email. For example, let’s say you’re in District 3 and your email is lulu@me.com. We set it up so that the email District3@gsrw.org can be used among the District 3 clubs and all of the email flowing to that address goes to lulu@me.com.
Also, you and your Club Presidents may decide to use “Microsoft 365,” which can be found here >> https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/buy/compare-all-microsoft-365-products?tab=1&culture=en-us&country=US. With Microsoft 365 you get charged $69 per year and it gives you easy access to use Word, Skype, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, and many other Microsoft tools that will really come in handy. They have a $99 a year plan, but the $69 a year plan will work just fine.
- Directors of smaller districts can set up a “group” on their own, personal email. To learn how to set up a contact group using your own email program, go to your favorite Search Engine and type in “How to set up a contact group using (My Email Program Name).” For example, I use an email program called “RoundCube” that is online – I don’t keep my email on my computer, per se. So I would go in and type in “How to set up a contact group using RoundCube” in order to get the instructions on how to set that up in my email program. I set up a group called “GSRW EC” for the Executive Committee, “GSRW Districts” for District Directors and so on.
- However, if you have a large district with scads of clubs, then you might rather use something like MailChimp or Constant Contact that will allow you to keep multiple lists, design emails that are attractive, and more easily add and subtract email addresses from your groups. https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/ MailChimp is free if you use their entry level program – and you can keep quite a bit of information in that program, such as email address, name, phone, title, etc.
You’re free to choose the types of programs and software that will best help you get your job done and I’m only making recommendations here that are based on what has worked for me. However, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the various programs that can help you from the start, rather than have data and organization issues pile up on you.
Why Would I Need Excel?
Excel Spreadsheets can REALLY help you keep track of the data associated with managing a district. It might behoove you to learn how to use Excel so that you can keep track of your club presidents and other officers. In Excel you can create a workbook that contains all of the names, phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses and other information you’ll want to keep on your district’s club presidents. If you keep that information in Excel you can highlight the column containing the email addresses, for example, then copy and paste those addresses into an email you plan to send.
Organization is Key!
Your computer is like a file cabinet – in fact, the files are made to look like little file folders. Make a file on your computer for GSRW, then begin the process of creating different file folders that will help you stay organized. Here are some examples of file folders you might want to make on your computer >>
- Club Presidents
- Data
- Events
- Membership
- Training
- Volunteer Hours
Each of those file folders can also contain sub-folders, so you can create a system where you can jump in to your email or your computer and pull out what you need without too much angst. It is very important for District Directors to keep good records and organization so they set a good example for the Club Presidents on how to get things done in GSRW.
