E-mail discussion groups are helpful for sharing information and ideas among your staff, members,
volunteers, or anyone else interested in your program.
Talk to your Internet service provider (ISP) to see if they currently have
software for e-mail discussion group management. Your provider must be willing to support the e-mail discussion group, since the e-mail discussion group will depend on the ISP's server to remain active.
If your ISP or organization does not have e-mail discussion groups management software, you'll
need to either purchase software or find a company that will host your e-mail discussion group using their server. Popular mailing list management software programs are:
Free E-mail Discussion Group Providers
There are companies that will host your e-mail discussion group for free. However, as with
all things free, there are drawbacks (for example, advertisements may be inserted
into the messages) and this may not be the right option for your organization.
The following offer free e-mail discussion group hosting:
Preparation
Some important things to do when setting up your e-mail discussion group:
- Decide on a mission for the list. What's the purpose of the list?
- Assign people to the following roles:
Facilitator: a person who keeps the group focused, reminds
participants of ground rules, and steps in if disagreements or arguments occur.
Administrator: a person to deal with the technical problems
related to the group such as helping people subscribe and leave the e-mail discussion group.
Moderator: a person who reviews content before it's posted
to the e-mail discussion group and keeps out improper posts. Not all groups use a moderator.
- When advertising your e-mail discussion group, be sure to tell people the mission
and purpose.
- Make sure participants understand the roles of the facilitator and moderator.
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