Recipient Privacy
Email addresses are limited to official lodge communication and should not be shared with the entire membership, other lodges, or those outside the lodge. It is important to avoid listing everyone in the To or carbon copy Cc fields as this would make the addresses visible to all. Care must be taken not to share email addresses when forwarding emails unintentionally. Requests to add or remove addresses should be promptly followed through. One should be cautious when replying to all on an old email as this may result in someone receiving unwanted messages after requesting removal.
Option 1: Blind Carbon Copy
Blind Carbon Copy (Bcc) in Microsoft Outlook
One solution is to place all the message recipients in the blind carbon copy Bcc field. Everyone will still receive the email, but they will not see the names or addresses of other recipients. A BCC email has the added effect of preventing Reply to All conversations. Check with the help portion of your email software for help using this feature. However, the blind carbon copy feature does not help add and remove email addresses, as each officer has their list.
Option 2: Email Distribution Lists
An email distribution list or listserv can be created for free using Google Groups (https://groups.google.com). The lodge now invites a member or friend of the lodge to join the list. The new person will not receive any messages until the invitation is accepted. The recipient or the lodge can remove the address at any time. The complete email list can only be seen by people with permissions to manage the distribution list. The following image is from an Arizona Grand Lodge Google Group email footer. The screenshot preserves group privacy by obscuring links.
Google Groups Email footer with links obscured
Email Distribution List Usage
An Email distribution list like Google Groups is simple to use. An authorized member composes a message and enters the email address for the email list in the To field. The list receives the email and distributes it to all members. The To line will now only list the address of the specific individual receiving the email. A lodge could create a distribution list for various groups, including the following: full Knight membership, members who have not yet received the rank of Knight, social events, trustees, committees, or elected line officers.
Summary
Both of the above solutions will help to protect the privacy of addresses entrusted to the lodge. These techniques are helpful even when the recipients know each other, as forwarding messages distribute emails beyond the initial list.
Updated 8/23/2023
Allen Davis
Grand Vice-Chancellor
Arizona Grand Lodge