Email Policy Report

Submitted by Robin Schaffer, Lori Falco, John Lamb, Mike Agranoff, Mark Schaffer

The Adhoc Email Communications Committee was formed to at the request of President Roffman to review the current state of Folk Project Email policy and make recommendations. The objective was to establish an email communications policy and practices that promote the Folk Project and increase engagement of members and other participants, while abiding by participant preferences and privacy/spam regulations.

After a thorough review of the current state of email use for the Folk Project and best practices, the committee recommended a set of actions. Those actions and status are summarized below:

1) Update the internal Email Policy to better reflect our intent and actual usage.

• • Status: We presented a draft at the September meeting. We will distribute again prior to the January or February meeting and discuss for approval at that time.

2) Publish a simple external statement regarding our intents around privacy and use of data.

• • Status: We will review our draft statement with the pro-bono attorney and distribute for approval at the January or February meeting.

3) Establish Constant Contact as the platform for all FP communications

• • Status: Barring any unforeseen obstacles, we will convert the Minstrel-gram to CC, which represents the only significant communication not already on the platform. We expect this to be complete in early 2012.

4) Improve processes to maintain our email lists. This includes improvements to the collection of email on the website and at venues, the way users maintain their preferences, and the way the venue managers maintain the information.

• • Status: We will be working on these improvements in early 2012.

5) Establish email standards -- consistent, interesting, and supportive of the Folk Project brand and overall mission

• • Status: We will be updating the email templates to be as effective as possible for both the reader and the FP.

6) Continue the Ad Hoc committee to develop and execute the new email communications practices.

• • Status: Robin will not be able to lead the effort after the next readout.. Lori Falco take the lead from there..