Patrick Shaw’s Weblog

If you send bulk email to solicit donations, find volunteers, to keep your stakeholders up to date regarding how your agency is meeting your mission - then you should take a few minutes to review the update the Federal Trade Commission’s Can Spam Act.

The Can-Spam act is a set of regulations regarding sending unsolicited email. You’ll want to make sure that you are in compliance! Here at NPower - we recommend that you use a third party vendor such as Vertical Response to deliver your mail - vendors that specialize in delivering high quantity email messages generally can provide better deliverability AND tools that help you stay in compliance.

Here are some quick highlights regarding the update:

1. Single Opt Out. You must provide a method for subscribers to opt out with one click - no “confirm you address” and so on. You MAY provide both a “manage my subscription page” and a global opt out message, though.
2. You have to have a single “sender” in the “from” address that clearly identifies you - and that person is also responsible for including the unsubscribe link.

There’s a lot more in the Act, and you should read it to ensure that you and your agency are in compliance!