Cheap email newsletter and event alert software, with web interface, for a nonprofit?

September 13, 2004 5:00 PM

Expanding on Lairbob's question -- I work for a small nonprofit, and we are being more and more fequently asked by our membership when we're going to start sending out an email newsletter and email event alerts. Can you suggest a range of good programs to use that would be a) dirt cheap for a 501(c)(3) organization b) able to handle a volume of several thousand emails easily and c) have a web interface?

No, we're not going to spam anyone. This effort is driven by our members requests (they'd like to 'save a tree' by getting our newsletter via email rather than on paper) and I expect that our list would grow rather quickly once word got out that such a thing existed. We have about 22,000 members statewide.

I've already pitched them Constant Contact which was rejected as "too expensive". I don't know enough about mass email products to either a) present a case as to why its not too expensive or b) present alternatives. Dirt cheap is a very big consideration here, as is "ease of use".

posted by anastasiav to computers & internet (5 comments total)

anastasiav:

In looking for a reputable one for the non-profit I used to work for, EmailROI came highly recommended. A local company, for me at least, they have a deep discount for non-profits that made the whole thing very reasonable and was supereasy to use.

Also, what development database do you use? Some of the bigger ones have modules that can offer some email newsletter funcationality.
posted by karmaville at 5:34 PM on September 13, 2004

For this very purpose, I run a free listserv for Charlottesville-area non-profits. (Which is to say, not you. Sorry. :) But it's just a Mailman installation. Any ol' host that provides Mailman will do the trick. There are certainly more specialized e-mail announcement services, but Mailman works for me and the few dozen groups that use my service.
posted by waldo at 6:18 PM on September 13, 2004

Feel free to email me (see my profile for the address); I'd be happy to show you the inexpensive web-based program offered by the company where I work. It's used by at least a couple of small nonprofits (and some really huge companies). I won't pitch it here for obvious reasons, but as a non-salesy artsy-type person, I often find myself showing it to nonprofits and small companies.
posted by hsoltz at 7:14 PM on September 13, 2004

I've used 1-2-All by Active Campaign a few times and thought that it was a decent software package for a very good price. The support was very good and the web-based admin section was pretty intuitive.

The install was easy, and they will even install it for free for you.

However, you may want to check with your web host before installing software like this, as they may be very particular with what you are planning on doing it. And don't forget that when sending a large mail, bandwidth is still bandwith, so your web-host may hit your pocket for that too.

Good luck.
posted by punkrockrat at 7:20 PM on September 13, 2004

Mailman is powerful, stable, and free. It's relatively easy to use, but you need a Linux box to run it on and a Linux geek to install it. As a nonprofit, you may be able to get both at very little cost through your local Linux user's group.
posted by ulotrichous at 7:28 PM on September 13, 2004