Getting a message to your members usually starts the same way. Export the membership list, open your own email account, paste in a column of addresses, and hope you’ve got the right people — and that nobody who left last year is still on it.
Then somebody replies to all. Somebody else says they never got it, and there’s no way to check. And the next time you need to do it, you start again from the export.
Member Messaging brings the whole job inside Clubtreasurer. You write your message, choose who gets it from the membership records you already keep, test it on yourself, and send. Every send is recorded, so when somebody asks whether they were told, you can answer.
Your messages are kept, not retyped
Messages live in a Library. Each one has a short name for your own reference, the subject line members will actually see, and a category to group similar messages — AGM, Renewals, Newsletter, whatever suits your club.
Next year’s AGM notice starts as a copy of this year’s, rather than a blank page and a vague memory of what you said last time.
The editor handles formatting, bullets, links and images as you’d expect. You can attach a file up to 5 MB — a PDF agenda, a spreadsheet of fixtures, a photo from the presentation evening — and remove it again before you send.
Every member gets their own version
Type {memberFirstName} anywhere in your message and each member receives their own copy with their own name in it. So “Hi {memberFirstName},” arrives as “Hi Sarah,” — and as “Hi David,” for David.
There’s {memberFullName} for their full name and {orgName} for your organisation’s. Use them as often as you like, anywhere in the message.
It reads like an email from a person rather than a circular, which is largely what decides whether it gets read at all.
Pick recipients from the records you already keep
There’s no separate mailing list to maintain, and nothing to keep in step with your membership. You choose recipients directly from your members.
Narrow the list by status, section, membership type, or how recently a membership was active — then tick the people you want. Just the juniors, just this season’s renewals, just the committee, or everybody.
A Past Recipients filter handles follow-ups: send your first wave, then set it to exclude anyone who already received the message and only the people you haven’t reached appear. A running count shows exactly how many members you’re about to email.
Test it on yourself first
Test mode is switched on every time you open the send page, and it’s worth leaving it on until you’re genuinely ready.
With it on, sending delivers one email to your own address instead of to your members. It arrives with a clear TEST MESSAGE banner, so you can check the layout, the formatting and the personalisation exactly as a member will see it. Turn it off and send again when you’re happy.
Worth doing after every change to the wording, not just the first time — it’s the only way to catch a mistyped merge token, and the difference between “Hi Sarah,” and “Hi ,” is a single character in the message body.
A record of who received what
Send History lists every member who received each message, with the address it went to, the date and time, and which admin sent it. There’s a search box for finding one member quickly.
When somebody says they never got the AGM notice, this is where you look. The Library also shows when each message was last sent, so you can see at a glance what’s gone out recently — useful when two committee members both think the other one sent it.
Unsubscribes are handled for you
Every message carries an unsubscribe link automatically. You don’t add anything, and you don’t maintain a list.
If a member opts out they’re marked in your member list and left out of future sends. Tick them anyway and the system quietly excludes them, then tells you how many were skipped, so the numbers always add up. Members with no email address on file are treated the same way.
Unsubscribing only stops general member messages. Invoices, statements and renewal reminders still reach them, because those are part of their membership rather than club news. A member who changes their mind can re-subscribe from the same link.
Send from your own domain
By default your emails go out from a Clubtreasurer address showing your organisation’s name. If your club has its own domain, you can now have them sent from your own address instead — secretary@yourclub.org rather than ours.
Members recognise the address, replies come back to somewhere you already check, and a properly authenticated domain stands a better chance of reaching the inbox rather than the junk folder. You can even use one address for member messages and another for invoices and statements.
We set this up for you — email support@clubtreasurer.com with the address you’d like and we’ll send a short list of DNS records for whoever looks after your domain to add. Until it’s verified everything carries on going out from the standard address, so there’s no risk to your sending while it’s being arranged.
Where to find it
Head to Membership > Messages. You’ll need a Membership User or Manager role — if the menu isn’t showing, your organisation’s primary contact can confirm your access.
Member Messaging is currently in Beta. It’s in daily use across a number of clubs, and we’re keen to hear how you get on with it — anything that surprises you, anything missing, anything that could be clearer.
Ready to send your first message?
The Member Messaging guide walks through your first send step by step, from writing the message to checking who received it. Not a Clubtreasurer customer? Create a free trial account at Clubtreasurer.com