Sign-up Forms, Emails, and Blogs, oh my!

If you're reading this, it means you have successfully accessed this fancy new blog. And many of you have clicked that "Subscribe to Emails" button on the right, there, and filled out a form to get a weekly digest of what's happening here on the blog. And even more of you have braved the sometimes confusing Fall Fundraiser Volunteer Application form. It's great to see everyone embracing this new system, even if it is scary and different.

To try and cut down that "scary" part of all this, I (Cassidy, the Blog Intern) thought it might be prudent to explain just what is going on behind the scenes. The system we're using to make all these forms is fantastic, but when all you see is a form and emails, it can be hard to understand just what exactly is happening. So join me as I try and explain just what this MailChimp thing is that we keep talking about. I promise there's no actual chimps involved.

What is it?

MailChimp is an email management tool. It allows us to send out emails to everyone who volunteers with us. But it's more than that. MailChimp has all sorts of fancy tools. We can send out emails to select groups of people - like all those whose name's start with "A." Or to everyone volunteering at the Fall Fundraiser on October 17 at 6-9 PM.

Instead of someone manually having to look at a schedule, find everyone who's volunteering that day, and entering their email manually - MailChimp does it for us in a fraction of the time. Not to mention all that info is put into a handy spreadsheet that's easy to read and reference. It should make scheduling a breeze. And that means we have more time to do the important things like getting out to events and fundraisers ourselves!

MailChimp also allows us to contact you the way you'd like to be contacted. Like the idea of the blog but don't check it that often? MailChimp is set up to email everyone who signs up here a weekly digest of all the blog posts for that week. And it even lets us know if people are receiving and reading those emails!

Is Your Info Safe?

There are some important things that MailChimp doesn't do. MailChimp does not compromise your information. They have an entire page here detailing their security measures. They even go so far as to have a documented "in case of nuclear attack on a data center" infrastructure continuity plan. So come hell or nuclear attack, MailChimp will keep your information secure.

MailChimp will also never, ever send you an email you don't want. You will only ever get the emails you signed up for with a form - and only the emails that CKUA sends. And if there is ever a time you don't want to get any emails from us? There's an unsubscribe option at the end of every email. You can also change your information at any time by selecting "Update Subscription Preferences."

Still Scary?

Still not sure about this whole thing? Have questions I didn't answer? Let me know in the comments below or in the Facebook group. Our hope is that MailChimp will be a way to better serve you and CKUA, but we don't want it to scare anyone, either. Every question is a fair one and we'll do our best to answer them.