How to Create a Chapter Mailing Step-by-step guide Through the Chapter Mailing Service, chapters can communicate to chapter members on information about your chapter and its activities to promote and encourage participation in chapter activities. How chapter members receive your mailings will depend on whether or not they prefer to receive them via U.S. Mail, or email (edelivery). STEP 1: Log in Go to www.thrivent.com > MyThrivent. In the blue box on the upper right, type your User ID and Password and click Log In. Note: If this is your first visit to the Administration menu, click Register and follow the prompts to get your User ID and Password. Chapter leaders: Under MyChapter, click Chapter Leaders Only this is the Chapter Leadership Administration Menu. Note: A "Security Alert" message box may appear depending on your computer settings. Click Yes to proceed. STEP 2: Calculate estimated cost of chapter mailing Under Mailings, click Estimate Mailing Costs - to calculate the estimated cost of the chapter mailing. Note: Mailings sent via edelivery are NOT included in the estimated cost. Under Mailings, click Manage Chapter Newsletters to create and submit a mailing. STEP 3: Review guidelines On the Manage Chapter Newsletters page, click Guidelines/Examples/ Suggestions. Carefully read and review the guidelines; print for future reference if desired. When finished, close the window to return to the Manage Chapter Newsletters page. Click?Help (located at the upper right corner of the screen) for instructions and tips for using this page. Note: You can click Done at any time to go back to your Chapter Leadership Administration home page. If you have not calculated the estimated cost of the mailing, click Done and follow instructions under step 2. R 7-14 Page 1 of 6
STEP 4: Begin On the Manage Chapter Newsletters page, click Create a new mailing. On the Add a Mailing page, the available types of mailings are displayed. Click on the layout you want for your mailing (Two-page newsletter, Four-page newsletter, Activity announcement postcard, Election invitation, Thrivent Builds announcement postcard or General postcard). Note: The following steps and screens are for the Two-page Newsletter or Four-page Newsletter mailing options. The steps and screens for all other mailing options are comparable to these. STEP 5: Save new mailing On the Add/Update Newsletter page, type the newsletter name. Note: Name your mailing something eye catching! The name appears in the subject line of the email a member receives for newsletters, postcards and the election invitation. Type the mailing title. This will show at the top of your mailing, and in the body of the email a member receives (edelivery). Type the headline for article 1 and select either Left or Center justification for how the headline is aligned on the page (for paper version). The electronic version of your mailing will always be left justified. Note: Consider placing the most important articles with attention grabbing headlines first! August 200X Click the Save* button at the top of the screen. A message will display saying the mailing was saved successfully. Continue to save your newsletter often to assure that your data is stored. Saving does not submit your newsletter to the Operations Center. It only saves (stores) your additions and changes. R 7-14 Page 2 of 6
STEP 6: Get content On the Add/Update Newsletters page, click Common Articles. Review and use all or part of the articles and terms available by clicking on the specific link. Articles are available for chapter member and congregational advocate mailings (including Thrivent Builds). Use the copy and paste functions of your computer to copy text from the Common Articles page into your mailing articles (see Step 7 for more details). Note: Click?Help for additional information on copying and pasting text from Common Articles into your mailing. Click Close Window at the bottom of the page to exit Common Articles. STEP 7: Format mailing On the Add/Update Newsletter page, type or paste the text for article 1. Then select either Left or Left and Right Justification. Note: You may want to add a blank line after your text for spacing. Type the headlines and text for the remaining articles. Click Save* often. Note: A For members, by members message willautomatically be added to the bottom of each 2-page and 4-page newsletter (also included in email to member). You will need to allow four lines of space at the end of your text to accommodate this message, which will only be visible when you Print Preview. Always Print Preview before submitting any mail request. After entering the final article, click Save (recall that save does not submit your mailing to the Operations Center). R 7-14 Page 3 of 6
STEP 8: Preview and edit On the Add/Update Newsletter page, click Print Preview. Note: Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed for Print Preview. Most computers already have this software installed. However, if you need this for your computer, click Download Adobe Acrobat Reader at the top of the screen. Carefully proofread** your mailing to assure that the information is accurate. Scroll down to the bottom of the last page to make sure the text fits on the format you selected. You may want to print the mailing and ask someone else to help you proofread. August 2005 Important: You are responsible for ensuring the information is accurate and the format and organization is appropriate. This includes proofreading for accurate activity information, punctuation, spelling, grammar, names, titles, phone numbers, email addresses, dates, day of week related to date, etc. The Operations Center will not proofread your mailing for these items. Click the "X" in the upper right corner of the Print Preview screen to close this window. On the Add/Update Newsletter page, make changes or corrections to the article titles and text if needed. You can also change the current newsletter layout (2- or 4-page) by clicking on Change Layout. See Step 9 below for further instructions. Continue to use the Print Preview option to help you finalize your mailing. Remember to click Save often as you make changes. Print Preview shows you what the paper version will look like. R 7-14 Page 4 of 6
STEP 9 (optional): Change layout To change the layout of your newsletter, click on Change Layout on the Add/Update Newsletter page. On the Change Layout page, the current layout is indicated. Place your mouse over the layout desired. Click on the layout desired. The layout is changed and you are taken back to the previous page. August 2006. STEP 10: Choose mailing options On the Add/Update Newsletter page, click Mailing Options. On the Mailing Options page, you will see that this mailing will be sent to the entire chapter (which is the default for every newly created mailing). To change mailing options and have this mailing sent to a targeted group, click City, ZIP Code or Congregational Advocates. Reminder: The estimated cost of a mailing will change if choosing a segmented mailing option. The actual cost of a mailing will be included in an approval email. Mailings sent via edelivery are not included in the estimated cost. To order additional paper copies of this mailing, type the number wanted in the Additional Copies section. Note: The additional copies will be mailed to the chapter leader who submits the mailing request. Click Done. STEP 11: Save mailing On the Add/Update Newsletter page, click Save,* then Manage Chapter Newsletters Home. You will return to the Manage Chapter Newsletters page where your mailing status will be "Saved." Important: After you click save you must return to the Manage Chapter Newsletters Home page where you can submit your newsletter (see Step 12). August 200X R 7-14 Page 5 of 6
STEP 12: Submit mailing On the Manage Chapter Newsletters page, locate the mailing you want to submit, click Submit. On the next page, check the box to indicate you have calculated the cost of the mailing and authorize the withdrawal of funds from the chapters operating funds, click OK. A message will be displayed saying your mailing was submitted successfully. After submitting your mailing, the status will change from "Saved" to "Submitted for Approval (current date)." **Important: The Operations Center will then approve, deny or return your mailing. If denied or returned, an automated email message is sent to the leader who submitted the newsletter with specific instructions on how to proceed. If approved, the chapter President, Financial Director and leader who submitted the newsletter will receive an automated email stating the actual cost of the mailing and the number of households the mailing was sent to. Once approved, the status will display as "Approved." Questions? The Member Connection Center staff members are ready to answer your chapterrelated questions. Call 800-THRIVENT (800-847-4836) and say fraternal when prompted, or send an e-mail to fraternal@thrivent.com. R 7-14 Page 6 of 6