<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

In Atlanta we have recently merged 2 local support groups together. After removing duplicates, we have over 350 email addresses on our email lists. Currently we send out our notices, celiac info, etc by cutting and pasting as many email addresses as will fit in the To; block of an individual email and repeating till everybody has been emailed. This amounts to 6 or 7 emails.  

Doing it this way causes us a several problems. The list of email addresses is spread out, so it is hard to check for 
duplicates. Sending emails is time consuming. The 40 or 50 email addresses on one email are exposed to everyone else on that email. We have had a couple of unauthorized uses of email addresses because of this. 

How do other support groups handle their email activities?

Do you have someone whose only job is to keep up with the email list and then to send out the emails? 

Is there software to handle the email list and sending out bulk emails? How much did the software cost? Is there a charge each time you send out an email? Is there a limit on the size or number of attachments you can include with an email? Do internet service providers place limits on sending out emails?

Are there internet services that can help?  If you use an internet service ,how do you know they will keep the email 
addresses confidential? What are the costs and limitations?

What other pointers can you give us?

I will summarize.

Tom Flynn
President - Atlanta Metro Celiacs

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