PLHS Alumni eUpdate
July 2014
This
message is being sent to you because of your affiliation with the Point Loma
High School On-Line Community at URL http://www.graduateconnections.com/olc/pub/ULHS
Dear Pointer Alumni,
Please read the very important
information below as it impacts the future of the PLHS Alumni eUpdate News and Reunion Chair communications.
Thank you,
Kim Melhorn Jessop '73, PLHS Alumni Director
First, a couple of questions:
Do you
like receiving the eUpdate news
from PLHS Alumni?
Are you
old enough to remember that it used
to come in paper format in the mail? (Back
when we charged for membership and only
members got the news.)
Do you
wait patiently for the next issue to
arrive in your inbox?
Do you read it at work? (We won’t tell.)
At home?
At
Homecoming Football Games?
We need your help.....
to ensure that Pointer Alumni continue to receive the
news that keeps you connected to PLHS, your Reunion committee, and your classmates.
What is changing:
For the past 7 years we have been
using Harris Graduate Connections for our online database and broadcast email
systems…free of charge to us. This meant we did not have to charge a Member fee
to get the news out and our connection to our Alumni skyrocketed! An added
bonus is that our contact information now stays more current making it easier
for your Reunion chair to find you.
Sadly, Harris is discontinuing both the database and email systems effective
next month. The information in the database (over 34,000 records) has already
been converted to a new system (see 'what else is happening' below.) You may
have seen the info and new form if you have submitted an information
update in the past few weeks.
What this means to you (this is the important stuff!)
In order for us to continue to
communicate by email with our Alums, we now have to use a paid
broadcast email service. (This includes eUpdates and most Reunion chair contact.) We now need donations to cover the cost of
that service. We are not asking for much (minimum donation by check is $2.50,
online minimum is $5.50).
If you are ready to help, Donate
on Line ~OR~ Print
and Mail Form.
Read on for more information about why this is so important.
PLHS Alumni:
- Is a
self-supporting group
- Does not charge
for membership (all Alums have the right to stay in touch)
- Email is the
most cost effective way for us to communicate with our 87+ years of
Alumni.
- Has no funding
beyond your contributions
- Alumni Director
is 100% volunteer (the payback is priceless!)
- Our only
overhead expense is the website (plhsalumni.org)
and, effective August 1st, the broadcast email system that
sends the eUpdate News and Reunion
communication.
Please help us keep the email news coming to
all Pointers!
We
aren’t asking for much, but we need everyone who opens this to help.
Your
yearly donation of $2.50 (or more if you can) will make it happen.
Click
here to donate online
(minimum
on-line donation is $5.50)
Or
Click
here for print and mail form
Check Payable to Pointer
Association/Alumni News.
(minimum check donation is $2.50 and 100% goes to the fund)
Donation Details:
- We hope to raise
a minimum to cover one year of service. It would be great if we raised
enough for multiple years!!
- We will happily accept
larger, or even major, donations, which will allow us to
continue for several years without asking again!
- All donors will
be acknowledged for their support!
- All donations
will go 100%* to the Alumni News Fund designated specifically to pay for
the email system and website. (*except
processing fee for credit card donations.)
- The Pointer
Association, our parent organization, is a 501c3 nonprofit. Your contribution
is tax deductible as permitted by law.
- Details about
the cost and benefit of the Broadcast email system are at the end of this
email.
The bottom line is:
If we do not get enough donations to cover the cost of the new broadcast
email system, the Alumni news will cease.
Let's make this a successful
campaign to keep the news coming.
We need all paws on deck!
Donate
on Line ~OR~ Print
and Mail Form
(Note: IF this campaign is successful, you will continue to receive
the PLHS Alumni News even if you did not
donate...tho we hope you will. However, if you do not care to receive the news anymore, and
will not miss it, please click to have your email put on the Do Not Send list. We will leave your email in the system and provide it to
your reunion chair unless you tell us otherwise.)
What else is happening with the new System?
For the past 6 weeks your Alumni
Director has been converting all Alumni records to a new secure database
system. Records are now updated via a form submitted directly to the Alumni
Director. You will receive a new PLHS 'Dog Tag' number by
email soon that will identify you in our system so the information is properly
updated.
Current reunion chairs have helped
with feedback as to what will best serve their needs. And we have added
additional fields to gather more information about our alums, and historical data
about PLHS. You will see more about that in the coming months.
Name that News:
It has been 'pointed' out that
"eUpdate" is a boring name for Pointer
Alumni news. So we are offering you the opportunity to give us your input on a
new name. (Suggestions so far include: Paw Prints, PL Alumni News, Pointer
Scoop, and PL Alumni Pupdate.)Send us your
ideas (but remember to donate first!)
Just click….You know you will miss the news if you don’t!
Donate
on Line ~OR~ Print
and Mail Form
De tails (costs
and benefits of the email system):
Here
are some details about the cost and benefits of the broadcast email system....
- The cost per
year for the new email system is about $1000.
- Our emails go
out to over 10,000 Pointer Alums!
- Any given email
is opened by 3,000-3,500 alums (30% open rate is great!) and a total of
over 7,000 Alumni are active email openers (just not every time.)
- We send 4-6
general info ‘eUpdate’ newsletters per year to
keep our Alums connected to PLHS. eUpdates include:
o Alumni
Activities and Events
o PLHS
News (sports, academics, momentous events, school needs)
o Alumni
News (congrats, big news, accomplishments, etc)
o In
Memoriam (recently passed Pointers)
o Reunion
News (who, when, where….and how to contact your chair)
o Photos
and fun stuff
o Community
news
o Links
to other info of interest to our alums
- In addition, 20
or more emails go out to individual classes/reunion groups with info about
their events each year.
Ok, ok! No need to beg....
YES, I
want to ensure that the Alumni News continues!
Click
here to donate online
(minimum on-line donation is $5.50)
Click here for print and mail form
(minimum check donation is $2.50 and
100% goes to the fund.)
Thank you!!!
Removal Instructions
Please click here to remove yourself
from future mailings. Thank you.
Online Community Administration Office
at Harris Connect
1511 Route 22
Suite C25
Brewster, NY 10509
http://www.pointerassociation.org