Welcome to our first Akubo newsletter!
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Kalipay Negrense Foundation
When Anna Balcells and her team first started, they worked at a house-turned-makeshift-office. There were sleepless nights, task after task, scarce funds, even hesitation. This was the early life of Kalipay Negrense Foundation, a nonprofit based in Bacolod City. They have made it their mission to bring joy, or kalipay, to hundreds of abused, abandoned, or orphaned children. They kept a simple list of profiles, donors, and contact details. And at the time, that was enough.
But soon, funds started to come in. More people wanted to help pay for the children’s education and healthcare. More emails had to be sent. It was about time the team used a well-organized structure to maintain contacts, manage information, and reach out to hundreds of people without the copy-and-paste-every-email-address routine. And this structure, they found in Akubo.
With Akubo, the Kalipay team updates people with regular newsletters. They simply organize their patrons into groups, compose the email, choose a group, click send, and see exactly who in the list has opened the email.
Kalipay Foundation now supports more than 80 kids in two homes – Haven Home and Recovered Treasures – and run other programs, like community outreach and a drop-in center. In the Typhoon Yolanda aftermath, the foundation has also lent a hand to the affected families and the home rebuilding effort.
Visit their official website at www.kalipaynegrensefoundation.org or email them at kalipaynegrensefoundation@yahoo.com.
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Handy Tips
When you send an eBlast, use Data Fields.
Salutations are always a good way to personalize your emails to customers. But let’s say you’re planning to send an eBlast to every person on your list. Rather than manually typing their name in individual emails, simply type in [first-name]. This way, when each recipient gets your eBlast, their name automatically appears in it.
When you compose an email, simply hover your cursor on Merge Data Fields at the right side of the screen. The yellow box that pops up shows you more data fields that you can use, like the recipient’s organization or address.
Import details from your old database
to update your contacts.
At one point, most of us would realize that a bunch of our contact profiles need an update: an email address not in use, a different telephone number, a brand new office address.
The Import & Export section has a feature called UPDATE Contacts using Excel or CSV File. Here, you can upload contact details from a single source, usually an Excel file (a .xls or .xlsx format, or .csv file). With one upload, you can update various names on your contact list.
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NGO:PH
We know how challenging it can be to set up your own NGO, let alone manage one. So, we started an online resource called NGO Philippines. It’s every Juan’s one-stop guide to everything about nongovernmental organizations — what you need to register, what accreditation means for your group, how to get that tax exemption. It’s fairly new, but we’ve covered more than enough of the basics.
Take time to visit www.ngoph.com and share it to your friends!