Enabling Alumni Communication Through Directory Messaging

It's March and that means March Madness is right around the corner the corner! Many schools will be participating in the tournament with their students and alumni cheering them on. Online resources are a great way to connect schools with their students and alumni, and Blackbaud NetCommunity offers a unique way to allow these individuals to interact with one another through your school's website. With Blackbaud NetCommunity 7.1, you can configure a Directory part to allow visitors to search for and message those who are associated with your school, such as alumni. The steps below outline how to enable messaging between users within the Directory part:
 

1. Create or edit an existing Directory part.
2. At the bottom of the part configuration, check the box for Allow messaging between users.
3. Configure the Default subject, Confirmation message, From address, and From name fields along with the default message template.
   • Note: The From address should a domain that you organization controls, such as the Blackbaud NetCommunity domain or a similar domain which points back to your organization.
4. Configure the opt out message.
   • Note: The opt out message must contain a link to a page containing a User Email Preferences Form part using the Insert > Link > Create link to special page option.The Email Preferences Form part must be configured to allow for opt outs for directory messaging by editing the box and checking the box to allow for directory opt outs.
5. Click Save on the Directory part.

After messaging has been enabled, you can search the directory for a person. If that person has not opted out of directory messaging, a envelope icon will be displayed next to their name:



Clicking on the icon will bring up a dialogue box where a message can be sent to that individual:



The individual's email address will be masked from the person sending the message. The reply to address will be populated with the sender's address on file in The Raiser's Edge if the recipient would like to reply to the message.