Mail membership drive letters

This page explains how to send membership renewal notices by US mail. Doing so is part of the overall Membership Drive process.

Get notice letters Read about the membership drive

May renewal notice

The May mailing, sent May 15th, is the first renewal notice and consists of three different mailings, one for Introductory Members who are due for renewal, one for Active (non-Introductory) Members, and one for Lapsed Members. The mailing process is the same for all three, but the number of mailings and the mailing content are different.

The process described below takes you through the steps needed to mail the notices. This includes: determining who receives the renewal package, creating what is in the renewal package, making copies of the renewal package, and finally mailing the renewal package.

Who gets the mailing is determined by running a Wild Apricot Saved search. The results of the search give the number of members who will get the mailing and, when exported, generates the Excel mailing list for the letters.

Log in to Wild Apricot
Make sure you are in Admin view. You can tell whether you are in Admin or Public view by looking at the button in the upper right. The button is labeled with the view you would switch to if you click on it, so, probably counter-intuitively, if the button says "Public view" you are in Admin view, and vice versa. If it says "Admin view", click on it to switch.
Click on Contacts - Saved searches from the menu on the left. If you don't see that, you can click on the Personify logo in the upper left to restore the menu.
Run the following three saved searches to generate the three mailing lists. Be sure to note the number of members selected for each search to give you the count for coping.
- Member Drive 1st Notice Intro.
  
  Parameters for this search are: Deceased Date Empty and Member status is “Active” and Renewal due “This Year” and Membership Level is “Introductory Member” and “I Want to Receive” has none of our e-mail communications chosen.
- Member Drive 1st Notice Renew
  
  Parameters for this search are: Deceased Date Empty and Member status is “Active” and Renewal due “This Year” and Membership Level is “Renewal” and “I Want to Receive” has none of our e-mail communications chosen
- Membership Drive - Lapsed
  
  Parameters for this search are: Deceased Date Empty and Member status is "Lapsed".
Export the selected records with the fields needed for mailing by clicking the Export button provided by Wild Apricot. From the pop-up window that appears select: First Name, Last Name Street Address, City, State or Province and Zip or Postal Code. Click on the Export button on the bottom of the pop-up window; this will create an Excel file on your computer, located wherever you normally store downloads -- for Windows users, this most often is your Downloads folder.
These Excel files are the three mailing lists you will need for Mail Services and should be renamed to something you will recognize, e.g., IntroductoryFirstRenewalNotice.

Supplies that are needed for the renewal package should be collected ahead of time so that they are available when needed.

Renewal package

The renewal package contains three sheets. Only the cover letter differs from package to package. To create the three mail packages:

Cover letter - Download the three notices below (see List of Postal notices on Membership drive notices page for links to the three letters below) and open in Word. Be sure to replace "Date" with the expected mailing date and save. Finally save the notice again but this time save as a PDF document.
- Renewal due - introductory members
- Renewal due - "renewal" members
- Please rejoin - lapsed members
Renewal enrollment form - renewal enrollment form (see Update enrollment forms if link is bad)
Book drive - Book Drive information flyer (see Book donation forms if link is bad)

Envelopes

In addition to the material listed above, each renewal package contains a self-addressed envelope (i.e., addressed to ASURA). The envelopes do not provide for postage-free return.

Note: Mail Services keeps a supply of mailing envelopes and ASURA's self-addressed envelopes. Check with them to make sure there are enough of both envelopes for the mailing (see the "helpful people" page for contact information). If there are not enough then ask the Office Coordinator to arrange for more to be delivered to Mail Services.

Since the May mailing has three different renewal packages, the packages are color coded to reduce confusion in Mail Services. The color coding also means that it takes three separate emails to Alphagrahics requesting printing (see Helpful people page for contact). For each request email, attach the appropriate three documents in the renewal package, copy the Financial Operations Manager, and include in the text:

The number of copies (round up slightly from the count that you actually expect to be mailed, just in case some get spoiled at Mail Services),
Black and white printing,
Assemble order is - Letter / enrollment form / book flyer,
Printing requirements - single sided for the letter, double sided for the enrollment form, and single sided for the book flyer,
Paper color for all three documents in each package:
- Introductory - pastel pink
- Renewals - pastel green
- Lapsed - pastel yellow
Ask that copies be sent copies to ASU Mail Services and ask for a delivery date,
Ask that the invoice be sent to the Financial Operations Manager. One invoice for the three jobs is acceptable.

Since there are three different mail packages three different requests must be submitted to Mail Services. See the Mail Services Form tab of the Mailing Operations Manager page for how to submit a request to ASU Mail Services.

The following Word documents contain information to supply for each of the requests. The items that change each year are highlighted in yellow.

Renewal reminder notices

Two and sometimes three renewal reminder notices are sent. The process is the same as for the May notices but less complicated since there is only one package, not three. The material below contains the basic information needed to send the reminder notices but not the process detail found in the May material above. If you need help, review the May material.

Check with the Membership Chair to see if they want to include the lapsed members in this mailing. They have not been included beginning with the 2022 mailing.

Generate mailing list
- Run and export Saved Search 'Member Drive 2nd Notice"
  
  Search parameters: Deceased Date Empty and Member status is “Active” and Renewal due “This Year” and Membership Level is not “Honorary” and I Want to Receive does not include any of the communications that go out by email.
- Optional, at the discretion of the Membership Committee Chair. Run and save Saved Search "Membership Drive - Lapsed". Search parameters: Deceased Date Empty and Member status is "Lapsed"
- If the second search is done combine the two Excel files to generate a single mailing list and add the two counts to get a single mailing count
Collect three documents and check envelope supply for the mail package
- Notice (cover letter) - Membership lapsed/first reminder
  
  Download the notice from the List of Postal notices on the Membership drive notices page and open in Word. Be sure to replace "Date" with the expected mailing date and save. Finally save the notice again but this time save as a PDF document.
- Renewal enrollment form - renewal enrollment form (see Update enrollment forms if link is bad)
- Book drive - Book Drive information flyer (see Book donation forms is link is bad)
- Check with Mail Services to see that they have enough envelopes both mailing and self-addressed return (see the "helpful people" page for contact information).
Copy mail package

Email the mail package to Alphagraphics for copying (see the "helpful people" page for contact information) . The printing information is the same as for the May copying except the paper color is white.
Mail package
- Download the example Word document Mail Services Request Information First Reminder
- Use the information on the document to complete and submit a Mail Services Form, as indicated on the Mail Services Form tab of the Mailing Operations Manager page.

This second reminder goes out only by US Postal Service. Many members who use email have trouble renewing in response to the email notices, so this notice gives them the forms and instructions they need to renew by mail rather than electronically. It goes out only to non-renewed members. We send it in early August so that they can respond before the end of the grace period, August 30, when they are changed to "lapsed".

Generate mailing list by running and exporting Saved Search 'Member Drive 3rd Notice"

Search parameters: Deceased Date Empty and Member status is “Active” and Renewal due “This Year” and Membership Level is not “Honorary” and I Want to Receive does not include “Other ASURA Communications (e-mail)”
Collect three documents and check envelop supply for mail package
- Notice (cover letter) - Second reminder/end of grace period
  
  Download the notice from the link on the List of Postal notices on Membership drive notices page and open in Word. Be sure to replace "Date" with the expected mailing date and save. Finally save the notice again but this time save as a PDF document.
- Renewal enrollment form - renewal enrollment form (see Update enrollment forms if link is bad)
- Book drive - Book Drive information flyer (see Book donation forms if link is bad)
- Check with Mail Services to see that they have enough envelopes both mailing and self-addressed return (see the "helpful people" page for contact information).
Copy mail package

Email the mail package to Alphagraphics for copying (see the "helpful people" page for contact information) . The printing information is the same as for the May copying except the paper color is white.
Mail package
- Download the Word document Mail Services Request Information Second Reminder to get information that will go on the Mail Services Form.
- Complete and submit the Mail Services Form, per instructions on the Mail Services Form tab of the Mailing Operations Manager page.

If the Membership Committee chair believes that a notice in mid-September might improve renewals, this notice can be sent in about mid-September. This final notice goes out only by US Postal Service. It goes out only to people who were paying members last year, and who have not renewed for the current year.

Generate mailing list by running and exporting Saved Search 'Member Drive Final Notice"

Search parameters: Deceased Date Empty and Member status is “Active” and Renewal due “This Year” and Membership Level is not “Honorary” and I Want to Receive does not include “Other ASURA Communications (e-mail)”
Collect three documents and check envelope supply for mail package
- Notice (cover letter) - Third reminder. Download the notice from the List of Postal notices on the Membership drive notices and open in Word. Be sure to replace "Date" with the expected mailing date and save. Finally save the notice again but this time save as a PDF document.
- Renewal enrollment form - renewal enrollment form (see Update enrollment forms if link is bad)
- Book drive - Book Drive information flyer (see Book donation forms is link is bad)
- Check with Mail Services to see that they have enough envelopes both mailing and self-addressed return (see the "helpful people" page for contact information).
Copy mail package

Email the mail package to Alphagraphics for copying (see the "helpful people" page for contact information) . The printing information is the same as for the May copying except the paper color is white.
Mail package
- Download the Mail Services Request Information Third Reminder for an example of how to fill out the Mail Services Form.
- Complete and submit the Mail Services Form, using directions on the Mail Services Form tab of the Mailing Operations Manager page.

Created 19 May 2023 by Barry McNeill, updated 17 May 2024 by Connie McNeill