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Club Manual

Communications

Newsletters

Newsletters are an excellent way to keep members informed, involved, and motivated. Plan to send out a newsletter on a set schedule with details of upcoming events, relevant articles, and write-ups of past events. The most cost-effective way of distributing club news is via email. Some clubs print newsletters for those members who do not have access to email; with the cost of postage your club may want to request additional dues to defray this expense.

It’s best to use one a bulk email service in order to comply with anti-SPAM legislation. One of the most popular is MailChimp, as it is free of charge for organizations sending less than 12,000 messages per month. Constant Contact and Vertical Response are good alternatives.

Clubs must subscribe

clubs@sddemocrats.org⁠

to their newsletter.

Domain Names

For a nominal annual fee to a Registrar (roughly $10/year), clubs can own their own unique domain name (e.g.,

ourclub.com⁠

) for their website, email and other tools. Domains can be purchased at Wordpress, NameCheap, GoDaddy, for example.

Websites

Clubs are encouraged to maintain a website that includes a calendar listing of future meetings and other events of potential interest to members, updates on club activities or issues of public interest in the community, and contact information for club officers and public officials. Highlighting local Democratic candidates, club endorsements, and outstanding club members can increase interest and involvement.

Once a domain is secured, the club must decide on hosting to put their own content on the Internet. For security reasons it is recommended clubs use an established web publishing service rather than a small company and self-hosting.

Wordpress.com⁠

offers free website hosting at no cost (and a club can use their own domain and remove advertising at minimal cost). Other services to consider are Squarespace, Weebly, and Nationbuilder.

Consider configuring a RSS newsfeed from your website as this will allow your articles to be easily shared to other news services such as Apple’s News App.

⁠

LinkTree (linktr.ee)⁠

, (as well as alternatives like

Linkin.bio⁠

Direct.me⁠

Milkshake⁠

), is a great way to put all of your important links in one place — like a website, but simpler. It’s used frequently for social media, especially for Instagram which doesn’t allow links in posts. You can put your club website on your LinkTree as well as links to articles or other sources to make it easy for people looking at your posts to find the article/link you’re talking about. Check out

https://linktr.ee/demclubs⁠

Event Calendar

All clubs are recommended to setup an

Eventbrite.com⁠

web page (when just starting out this can also serve as the club's website). Events entered into tool can also be pushed directly to Facebook Events and to a Google Calendar and can automagically update the Party's calendar (as well as providing greater visibility to a club's events to every Eventbrite user in San Diego). Eventbrite is free for meetings your club doesn't charge for. If you want to sell tickets to special events, then you can use Eventbrite for online payments for which a small fee is charged.

⁠

Meetup.com⁠

is another tool that help publicize club events to a wider audience, and is free until you exceed 50 members.

Email

Each club should have a non-personal club email address that is either forwarded to or checked by the President or other club officers so that the club has a permanent email address that doesn’t change with the election of new club officers. Most clubs set up email accounts using their own domain name or a standalone Gmail account. SDCDP will include one address on the SDCDP website and on the printable directory of clubs. The main email address, or another non-personal address specified by the club during annual chartering, will be used for Council of Clubs communications.

Suggested email addresses:

⁠

info@clubname.org⁠

⁠

president@clubname.org⁠

⁠

vp@clubname.org⁠

⁠

secretary@clubname.org⁠

⁠

treasurer@clubname.org⁠

⁠

clubname@gmail.com⁠

(for clubs who do not have their own URL)

Social Media

Clubs should consider maintaining social media accounts to amplify their online presence and to engage their local communities in conversations supporting Democratic principles. Accounts can be linked together so that a Tweet is generated for each new Facebook and/or Instagram post, etc. It’s recommended that you keep social media handles/usernames consistent across social media platforms.

⁠

Facebook Page⁠

: This will allow your club to make announcements and share information. Set your Executive Board members as admins or moderators on your page. Encourage them to share articles of interest, especially relevant local and political news. Like posts on Facebook from Democratic groups, and leave comments on local news sites using your Facebook persona. Create a Facebook event for every club event, and make sure all Executive Board members invite club members who are on Facebook.

⁠

Facebook Group⁠

: Useful for keeping members engaged and for coordinating events and activities. Pro tip: You can link your group to your page, and post as your page in your linked group. You can create Facebook events for the group so everyone sees them in the group, and then add them to your Facebook page afterward. Some people might have liked the page but not joined the group, and vice versa. You can limit group membership to club members, or open it up.

⁠

Twitter⁠

: Twitter is particularly useful for direct engagement with club members, local elected officials, journalists, and other Democratic organizations. You can set up a free account and give the password to your Executive Board members, or manage it with a tool like

Hootsuite⁠

Buffer⁠

⁠

Instagram⁠

: Set up a free Instagram account for your club. You can give the password to your Executive Board members. Used primarily for posting images and videos, including photos from club meetings and events and graphics related to political advocacy or news. Set up a

Linktree⁠

Linkin.bio⁠

account to link in your bio as a quick way to share articles, your full website, and other important links.

Members may prefer to view images or video than read text. You may attract new members by catching their eye with an interesting image, or short video. Consider taking photos at your events and posting them to your accounts. Just using a smartphone you can record your meetings and post clips to

YouTube⁠

Vimeo⁠

Snapchat⁠

, and

TikTok⁠

, or livestream to Periscope, Meerkat or Ustream.

You can easily share audio recordings of your meetings as podcasts using an RSS newsfeed from on your website for members to listen to at a later time.

Phone Tree

When club members do not have access to email, a phone tree consisting of volunteer members is a helpful and effective way to remind them of meetings, notify them of changes that occasionally occur, and communications about events that may happen between meetings or on short notice.

Press Releases

Information concerning club positions and events is communicated to the media through press releases and distributed electronically or by mail. Authority to issue or approval required in accordance with bylaws. A sample press release format is provided in Appendix D.2 Press Release Format.

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