❖ Heads up! This article is only intended for Site Managers.
Email Blasts are a powerful way to share important information with groups of volunteers quickly and easily. Whether it’s a simple thank-you note to volunteers who participated in a recent Opportunity or a critical update sent to your Agency or Program Managers during a disaster, Email Blasts help you stay connected.
Please be aware that emojis are not supported in email blasts, blog posts, or other description fields on the site.
Using emojis in these areas can break the formatting and cause the rest of your text to be cut off when saving, publishing, or sending.
ℹ️ So you know: Some sites have language overrides in place. This means you might see Needs instead of Opportunities or Agencies instead of Programs.
Sending an Email Blast
Go to Communication > Email Blast.
Use the User Filter to build out your recipient list.
Give the email blast a Campaign Name.
Select your From email address. We recommend using the no-reply@galaxydigital.com address provided, as emails from other email addresses may get lost in spam folders.
Change the From Name as needed.
Give your email blast a Subject.
Customize your message using the editor:
Add images, links, and format the text with different fonts and colors to make your message stand out.
Save time by inserting template keys—placeholders that auto-fill with personal info like first names. For example, inserting {{to_firstname}} will personalize the greeting for each volunteer.
Send yourself a test email using the Send Me A Test button to see how it looks from a volunteer’s perspective.
When you’re happy with your message, click Send Email Blast.
You can also save your email as a template by clicking Save Email—then reuse it later by selecting it from the Load Saved Email dropdown.
While you cannot add attachments to emails, you can insert images.
Email Blast User Filter
The User Filter helps you target exactly who should receive your message. The filter options depend on your site, so you may see different choices.
Go to Communication > Email Blast.
Click User Filter.
The number changes beside the results when you apply the filters of your choice. You can apply several filters to get the specific volunteers you need for your email blast!
Select the filter you want to start with. The filters that appear here depend on your site.
Events: Select this to filter for users who did or didn't attend an Event.
Agency: Select to filter for Agency-specific details, like Agency Managers, etc.
User Data: Select this one when you want to narrow down the field by user-specific information—e.g., user tags, user zip code, users in a user group, user skills, user date of birth, etc.
Volunteer: Select this when you want to narrow down the field by user role type (e.g., Advanced Program Manager or Program Facilitator), what Program a user is assigned to, Opportunity response, etc.
Program: Select this to narrow the field by user groups, initiatives, causes, etc.
Continue selecting the appropriate filters based on your initial filter selection and click Submit when you're done!
You can save this filter for future use by giving it a name and clicking Save User Filter!
You can find that filter in the Select Saved Filter dropdown when you send another email blast!
Now you can draft your email for those filtered individuals!
Why Hasn't My Email Been Sent Yet?
After clicking Send Email Blast, your message will appear on the Email Stats page. However, it can take a few minutes for your Email Blast and recipient list to fully process.
If the Total count stays at zero by the next day, please contact us through the Messages Widget for help.