Role Addresses That Pass From One Volunteer to the Next

The treasurer's email leaves with the treasurer

A club or society holds its annual general meeting in the spring, thanks the outgoing treasurer and welcomes a new one. A month later the bank's statements are still going to the old treasurer's personal address.

The caterer writes to last year's secretary about the fall event. The hall's booking confirmation reaches a former president who moved away in March, and sits unread.

Nobody did anything wrong. Each volunteer used their own email for society business, as most boards do, and the correspondence went with them.

History held in private accounts

Years of exchanges with suppliers, sponsors, the bank and members end up spread across a dozen personal inboxes, some belonging to people who are no longer involved.

A new treasurer cannot read what was agreed with the caterer last year, or find the message explaining a standing payment. The knowledge exists, but in someone else's account.

Outsiders keep writing to the old names because those are the only ones they have, and every change of board sends them hunting for the new person.

What a role address is

A role address is named for a job rather than a person, on the society's own domain. Whoever holds the job reads it and sends from it. Typical ones include:

• Treasurer, for the bank, invoices, receipts and the accountant.
• Secretary, for minutes, notices of meetings and official letters.
• President or chair, for partners, the press and anything formal.
• Box office or tickets, for bookings and questions from the public.
• Events, for halls, caterers and suppliers.
• Volunteers, for people offering their time.

Suppliers and members learn each address once and keep using it, whoever happens to answer this year.

A mailbox that stays with the role

There are two ways to run a role address. Forwarding passes each message on to the volunteer's own inbox, which is simple, but the history still builds up in personal accounts.

A mailbox of its own keeps every message on the society's side. When a new treasurer signs in, last year's exchanges with the bank and the caterer are waiting.

For treasurer and secretary, a mailbox is worth the small extra cost, and quieter addresses can forward. Either way, set the email program to send as the role, so replies come back to it.

A worked example

A community dinner theatre society in a small town stages two productions a year in a rented hall, with volunteer actors and crew and a caterer who serves dinner before each show.

Its board of seven changes each spring at the annual general meeting, and for years each officer handled society business from a personal email account.

After last year's meeting the treasurer and the secretary both stepped down. The bank kept writing to the old treasurer, and the caterer's quote for the fall show went to the former secretary, who had moved away.

The quote surfaced three weeks late, after the caterer had promised two of the show nights to a wedding party.

The society already owned a domain for its website, registered years earlier by a founding member in his own name. The registration was moved into the society's name, with two officers as contacts.

Mailboxes were set up for the treasurer, the secretary, the box office and the producer of each show. At this spring's meeting, each new officer chose a password before the meeting closed.

The bank, the hall and the caterer now write to roles, and whoever holds a role finds its whole history in one place.

Handing over at the annual general meeting

The handover works best as a short routine at the meeting itself, while the outgoing and incoming officers are both in the room.

The new holder sets a new password and changes the recovery phone number and address to their own. The outgoing holder removes the account from their phone and computer that evening.

Where an address forwards, the forwarding is pointed at the new holder. A one-page note in each mailbox, updated every year, says what the role handles and which suppliers to expect.

Who should hold the domain

The domain is the foundation of every role address. It should belong to the society, registered under its legal name, and not to whichever volunteer first bought it.

List two officers as contacts, with at least one contact address outside the domain. If the domain ever lapses, its own addresses stop working, so the final warnings sent to them go unread.

Renewals nobody can miss

Renew for several years at a time, and pay from the society's account rather than a volunteer's card, which may expire or leave with its owner.

Record the expiry date in the minutes of every annual general meeting, so each new board knows when it falls due.

Other logins tied to an inbox

The website, the hosting account, the Facebook page and the online banking all send password resets to an email address. When that address belongs to a former volunteer, the society can be locked out of its own accounts.

Register each of them to a role address, and keep a list of the accounts in the secretary's mailbox, so the board knows what it owns.

The counter-case

A small club with a long-serving secretary and a handful of letters a year may manage perfectly well with one personal address that everyone knows.

The treasurer's address and the domain itself should still belong to the club. Money and ownership are where a departure causes the most trouble.

When the board does set this up, a short job by whoever looks after the website makes sure the addresses, passwords and domain contacts are right from the start.

At the next annual general meeting

1. List every role that writes to outsiders.
2. Create an address for each on the society's domain.
3. Give the busy roles mailboxes of their own.
4. Move the domain into the society's legal name.
5. Point the bank and suppliers at the new addresses.
6. Register other accounts to role addresses too.
7. Hand over passwords before the meeting closes.

Step four protects everything else. The role addresses, the website and the email all rest on the domain, and a domain held by one volunteer can leave with them as easily as an inbox.

A society that also runs a yearly festival or fundraiser should give that event one permanent domain as well, as a new domain for every year of the event explains.

Frequently asked questions

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