Email and Event Support FAQs

Email us at Communities@northwestern.edu.

Please submit requests at least four business days in advance. A preview will be prepared and shared, and feedback will be addressed within one business day.

Our team works in Central Time, Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Additionally, we do follow the University’s published holiday schedule. We encourage you to plan accordingly and allow sufficient lead time to ensure timely support.

For time-sensitive requests, such as weather-related event cancellations, please email ONVolunteers@northwestern.edu to initiate a support ticket. During periods of high demand for club-produced content, the standard four-business-day notice may be extended to allow staff to manage increased volume. If adjustments are needed, we will notify leaders directly.

When we can anticipate a possible need for quick email turnaround, our team will be working behind the scenes with club leaders if necessary. However, a club’s failure to submit a request with sufficient notice does not mean we can accommodate the request. Staff liaisons will be consulted to determine if an exception is merited and feasible. Please plan ahead whenever possible, as these exceptions are granted sparingly.

In an effort to share high-quality, accessible content with our alumni, we will provide editorial support for grammar, punctuation, and University best practices when needed. We strive to maintain a club’s established voice and style through each communication; however, content clarity, organization, and messaging remain the responsibility of the club and will be shared largely as submitted. This approach ensures clubs retain full ownership of their messaging and outcomes.

Yes, final approval is required before staff deploy an email or open an event for registration. We will send a preview to the requester, the club’s president, and any additional points of contact listed on the intake form.

Submitting your own draft content is strongly encouraged and helps program staff complete your request within the stated turnaround timeframe. When submitting a request, please include all relevant details to support content development and ensure your club’s tone and messaging are reflected accurately.

Yes, the intake request form allows you to upload images. Images must be taken by a club leader and not sourced from search engines, in order to comply with copyright and usage requirements.

Provided generative AI images are discouraged and if used, must be identified as such. If a club-owned photo isn’t available, our team can help provide stock photography and Northwestern images.

Our support program is designed to assist your group across its full range of programming initiatives. To avoid over-messaging audiences, we follow a set communication cadence for alumni in your club’s area. For events, this typically involves an initial announcement, a registration reminder, a “we’re expecting you” message, and a post-event email (if requested). Sending multiple event announcements in a digest or newsletter format is encouraged and will be used if a club has many upcoming events to promote. With sufficient advance notice, additional messages may be scheduled as appropriate. Our team reviews all content and may cross-promote activities with other clubs or consolidate requests to ensure outreach remains strategic and effective.

This support program will take on the work of sending emails and building event registration pages for clubs and communities. As part of this support model, club volunteers will no longer need or be granted administrative rights in the system to create and manage emails and event forms.

Registration reports are posted weekly on Fridays to the ARD Volunteer Resources SharePoint site (More Information). Access to these reports is provisioned to event requesters who have signed the Volunteer Confidentiality Agreement. If you are missing access, please contact ONVolunteers@northwestern.edu. Additionally, registration reports will be emailed to event hosts one business day prior to the event. To get a simple headcount of attendees in real time, you can use the Attendees tab on the event's landing page. Please note: registrants may contact our office to opt out of appearing on the public-facing Attendees list, but they will still appear on the Friday reports.

Standard Friday reports include the following details for those who have signed up to attend your club’s event:

• Attendee name
• Affiliation type (alum, student, spouse, etc.)
• Degree year and school (if applicable)
• Registration status (registered, waitlisted, etc.)
• Attendee group information, indicating whether multiple tickets were purchased in a single transaction

If your event has a paid component, or has multiple activities or sessions, you will see which session each attendee is registered for, what ticket type was purchased, and what ticket price was paid

Final registration reports, provided one business day before the event, will include the email addresses of the event’s registrants.

• These email addresses should be used only in case of emergencies, such as weather-related cancellations.
• In these cases, club volunteers are required to use their @alum.northwestern.edu email accounts to reach out to attendees.

If communication is needed outside of an emergency scenario, please work with the support team to have the message sent on the club’s behalf.

Requests for reporting access can be submitted to ONVolunteers@northwestern.edu.

As this support program takes on the work for sending emails and building event registration pages, administrative access within the system will no longer be necessary for club volunteers. Accordingly, volunteers will not be granted admin rights to create or manage emails or event forms moving forward.

You can reach the support team by email at ONVolunteers@northwestern.edu. If you prefer to speak to a staff member during regular business hours, please call 847-491-7825.

• Preparing email and event copy, along with photos, and submitting materials through the request at least four full business days before the desired send or launch date
• Reviewing email/event previews promptly and either approving them or requesting changes within one business day to ensure timely deployment

• Using submitted content and graphics to produce an email preview within four business days
• Selecting and applying the appropriate audience to each email
• Sharing an email preview to alumni club leaders ahead of the requested send date, provided submission timelines are met
• Releasing approved emails Implementing requested edits and returning an updated preview as quickly as possible

• Reviewing submitted email content and communicating any feedback or concerns to alumni club leaders or the support team
• Reviewing and approving requests for exceptions to standard practices, such as additional sends, unique requests, and timeline adjustments
• Working with alumni club leaders to reinforce deadlines and communicate when late submissions cannot be accommodated
• Providing ad-hoc reporting on email performance metrics, event registration details, and club membership-related data

Expectations:

• Alumni leaders, support program staff, and staff liaisons are expected to engage with one another respectfully and professionally. Each role plays an important part in this shared effort, and all participants should begin with the assumption of positive intent. Alumni leaders must have signed the Alumni Volunteer Code of Conduct and the Volunteer Confidentiality Statement 
• To ensure consistency and data integrity, alumni leaders should not send mass email communications using external platforms such as MailChimp or Constant Contact. All mass email communications will be distributed through the supported model provided. Northwestern will no longer share contact information with volunteers for communication purposes unless there is an explicit business need that requires channels outside the scope of the support program. Clubs should not use previous contact information for mass email or mail communication
• If alumni leaders receive updated email addresses, requests to add new mailing list contacts, or changes to communication preferences, they should forward this information to Communities@northwestern.edu for inclusion in the official database of record. Staff will process these updates in a timely manner.