That said, it's important for nonprofit organizations to give serious consideration to how they use email distribution lists (also known as listservs). Here's why:
Items from email distribution lists go straight into your stakeholders'
in-boxes. Even if they don't visit your web site regularly,
they'll be receiving updates from you. Until everybody starts
making use of RSS feeds,
it's your best hope. And meanwhile, the RSS enthusiasts among your supporters will already be tracking your email distribution list through that format.
Opt-in email distribution lists - where every member of the group has previously indicated an interest in participating - are your friends. Whether your nonprofit organization is maintaining an email distribution list of its own, or reaching out to members of somebody else's email distribution list, it's good to know that your readers are volunteers rather than conscripts. As long as you stick with the stated topic of the list, you are not trespassing on the readers' time or good will.
Email distribution lists give your nonprofit organization an opportunity to participate in (or to build) a community. An electronic newsletter (also known as an e-zine or e-bulletin) is a good unilateral form of communication, but an email distribution list can be multilateral, providing your stakeholders with an opportunity to experience a connection not only with your organization but with others who support your goals. No matter what your primary purpose is, you should be asking yourself whether your nonprofit organization has an educational mission. If the answer is "yes," an email distribution list can be a platform for creating a peer learning community.
If you decide that you'd like to create an email distribution
list that is dedicated to your nonprofit organization's mission, there
are several free services that you can use during the pilot
phase. (As I've previously mentioned, I think that nonprofits should seriously consider paying real money for exactly the right tool, once the initial experiment is complete.) Three free (and reasonably functional) tools for building email distribution lists are Topica.Com, YahooGroups, and Google Groups.
However, once you are committed to using email distribution lists as a
major part of your outreach strategy, I recommend NPOGroups, which is specifically designed to serve the needs of nonprofit organizations.Opt-in email distribution lists - where every member of the group has previously indicated an interest in participating - are your friends. Whether your nonprofit organization is maintaining an email distribution list of its own, or reaching out to members of somebody else's email distribution list, it's good to know that your readers are volunteers rather than conscripts. As long as you stick with the stated topic of the list, you are not trespassing on the readers' time or good will.
Email distribution lists give your nonprofit organization an opportunity to participate in (or to build) a community. An electronic newsletter (also known as an e-zine or e-bulletin) is a good unilateral form of communication, but an email distribution list can be multilateral, providing your stakeholders with an opportunity to experience a connection not only with your organization but with others who support your goals. No matter what your primary purpose is, you should be asking yourself whether your nonprofit organization has an educational mission. If the answer is "yes," an email distribution list can be a platform for creating a peer learning community.
By the way, I hope that you'll let me know if this inspires you to create an email distribution list - I'll post its URL to this blog!
A disclaimer: I have no financial affiliation whatsoever with NPOGroups, or its parent organization (Electric Embers). I'm merely endorsing it because I'm a fan.
NPtech
