Note: Clubs must pay for the actual postage costs for each mailing. 
(See Club Finances section for more details)

• Before production can begin, you will need to provide the following information:  To whom will the notice or newsletter be mailed? All alumni in your area? Just members of the General Alumni Association in your area? Just "young alumni" in your area? Some other combination? 
• Should the notice or newsletter be mailed first class or standard class? There is a significant postage cost savings if you can mail your notice or newsletter by standard class mail.  However, there are several factors that must be considered when making this decision.  Study the following comparison:

As of May 2008:

Remember:  In order to send a standard class mailing, a club must provide information to the General Alumni Association 9-10 weeks in advance of the event date.

• If a newsletter or notice is mailed first class, advertisements are acceptable. 
• If a newsletter or notice is being mailed standard class, only "sponsors" are acceptable.

A "sponsor" is a business or organization that agrees to provide a sum of money or goods and services to a club in exchange for being mentioned as a sponsor of the club.  For example, in a newsletter or notice, your club could have a paragraph naming a business as a sponsor.  Although a small amount of information about the sponsor can be included in the paragraph, the information would need to be limited and not be displayed in a manner that would look too much like an advertisement.

• RULE #1: Do Not Put A Face in the Center of the Frame.
  Move the frame down to include arms, hands, trophies and other relevant objects. Put the top of peoples' heads at the top of the frame. It's OK, it won't hurt them. Leave just a little air space at the top (if it's vertical) or at the sides (if it's a horizontal shot) so the automatic print maker at the local photo store won't crop off an arm or make someone into a "flat head."
   
• RULE #2: Get Up Close To the Action.
  Go ahead and get in peoples' faces. (Most automatic cameras come with a wide-angle lens, so you need to stand only 3-6 feet away.) They will love you for it when they see the results. When shooting a group, frame them from the waist up-and don't back up to include the feet.
   
• RULE #3: Choose Your Background Carefully.
  If shooting indoors with a flash, do not put people in front of reflective surfaces like mirrors or windows. Move yourself or the subjects, or close the blinds to cover the window. Also, don't shoot one person standing in front of another; the person in the foreground will throw a dark shadow on the person in back. If shooting outdoors during the day, try to avoid clutter in the background, such as cars or a crowd at a buffet table.
   
• RULE #4: Notice Where the Sun Is.
  To avoid harsh shadows over the eyes or patches of light and dark on faces, position people so their backs are to the sun, or have them stand in open shade (solid shade under a tree, or in the shade of a house). Back lighting works only when the sun is high enough not to cause glare in the lens, but you must set the exposure for the shade, not for the bright sun. Most automatic cameras have a setting for this.
   
• RULE #5: Use Kodak Gold or Fuji Color and a Quality Lab.
  It really does make a difference where you get your film processed. Go to a retailer that offers in-house printing. That way you can ask them to redo prints that are too light or too dark.

Photos can be sent electronically to clubs@unc.edu or mailed to the GAA (P.O. Box 660, Chapel Hill, NC 27514-0660). 

 

Managing Your Mailing List
Here are ways the General Alumni Association can help you manage your mailing list and reduce the cost of mailing notices and newsletters:

• We can tailor a request for labels by class year, GAA membership, major, degree, etc.  Within your HRC code area we still have the option of reducing the list.  The most common option is to mail to specific class years.  Another common option is to mail only to members of the General Alumni Association (this is generally one-third of your total alumni base.)  You can even mail to a hybrid:  for example, include all alumni under age 50 and only General Alumni Association members if they're older than age 50.  Any combination is possible.  You simply need to think it through with each mailing.

• We can maintain at the GAA a special list of your most interested local alumni.  This is done by creating a special code for your club.  The burden is on the club to tell the General Alumni Association who to code (and who to delete from the coded list), but once established, it should provide you with your most effective mailing list.  Many clubs have the General Alumni Association code alumni that send in local contributions; other clubs have the General Alumni Association code anyone who has ever attended an event or otherwise supported the club.  We strongly recommend that you let the General Alumni Association code your most interested alumni rather than try to maintain your own database locally.

• We can review/revise the list of zip codes currently included in your HRC Code.  (Once a specific set of zip codes is designated to represent a specific geographic region, it is assigned an "HRC" code.  Requests for labels or lists are made by HRC code.)  The zip codes defining an HRC code are easily changed.  If you think that your HRC code contains zip codes from areas that are too far away for alumni to travel to your events, they can be deleted.  Or another HRC code can be created which represents a tightened, smaller geographic area, and you can choose with each mailing to mail to the large or small area. 

• Telephone Reminders: In testimonial after testimonial, club leaders say that reminder phone calls are the best way to increase attendance at any event.  If feasible, divide your list of alumni among your leadership committee members and encourage everyone to make at least one attempt to contact everyone on their list.   If the number of alumni in your area is too great to make this feasible, try to maintain a list of your "most active" alumni and make sure that at least this group is contacted prior to the event.
   
• E-mail and the Internet: Many clubs are having great success with e-mail distribution lists. Someone on your Leadership Committee should be responsible for maintaining an e-mail list. (If your club does not already have an e-mail list, please make it a priority.  E-mail communication has been added to the Outstanding Club Awards criteria.) Contact the General Alumni Association for assistance in getting started.) Club leader contact information and upcoming events are listed and updated by the General Alumni Association on club web pages at alumni.unc.edu/clubs.
   
• Media: Probably the only outlet you will have in your local media for advanced publicity will be in "community calendars."  Look in your newspaper(s) and on local television and radio channels for these community calendars.  If you find that a community calendar is available, ask for directions on how to submit information for the calendar.  (Note:  the media are very particular about how information is submitted.  Follow their instructions exactly!) If you believe that your event may be of enough interest that a local news organization may want to cover the event, first contact the General Alumni Association for additional suggestions.  Consider that some aspect of your event would have to be of general interest to your entire community, however, before it will be considered "newsworthy." 
   
• Community Displays: You may consider producing flyers for your event and posting them on community bulletin boards or at alumni workplaces. Look around your community for any opportunity to post information about your event.
  
• Carolina Alumni Review: If the following deadlines are met and space allows, we will announce your club's upcoming events in the "GAA Today" section of the Review. Note these deadlines:
  
  

  January/February	End of November
  March/April	End of January
  May/June	End of March
  July/August	End of May
  September/October	End of July
  November/December	End of September

                           

Can I get a list of alumni in my area?
The General Alumni Association will provide lists of local alumni to club leaders to assist with the recruitment for club leadership and the promotion of club events. The policy established by the General Alumni Association states that the information provided to club leaders can only be used for University and General Alumni Association purposes and for individual communication of a personal nature between members listed therein. Use of the information for any commercial, political or solicitation purpose is expressly prohibited. Reproducing and storing the information in a retrieval system by any means, electronic or mechanical is prohibited. Photocopying or use of the addresses or other information provided for any mailing other than notification of an official alumni club function is strictly prohibited.

How do I make a request for a local alumni list?
Simply contact the Coordinator of Alumni Clubs at the General Alumni Association to make your request.  Samples of the types of reports you can receive from the General Alumni Association are at the end of this chapter.

What if alumni in my area ask me to share the list of alumni with them?
As a club leader you may occasionally receive requests from local alumni for an alumni list.  However, as stated in the policy above, you should not share the alumni information you have been given for club purposes.  Your response should be to ask the alumnus requesting the information to contact the General Alumni Association Records Department at (919) 962-3735.  It is rare that the General Alumni Association will provide lists of alumni.  The Records Department may, however, be able to assist alumni in locating specific people. In addition, Members of the GAA can logon to http://alumni.unc.edu, click on the Online Directory button to send address changes, become a member, or search for other alumni by name, class year, geographic region, and career code. 

What if an alumnus in my area wants an alumni list to help with a job search or career change?
The General Alumni Association Office of Alumni Career Services can be of great assistance to an alumnus who may be making a job or career change.  Ask the alumnus to call the Office of Alumni Career Services at (919) 962-3749.

To make an address change at the General Alumni Association:

Phone:     (919) 962-3735
Fax:         (919) 962-0010
E-mail:     alumni@unc.edu