This article was written by a Rotarian for a Rotary Club context, but it can also be applied to all non-profit organizations.

Let’s simplify communication and increase collaboration with Slack.

Slack is a collaboration tool that allows team members to communicate with each other. Slack’s mission is simple: to eliminate the need of internal emails. Slack is used by small and big companies all around the world, and the best part is that it is free for non-profit organizations. This makes it the perfect collaboration tool to integrate into your Rotary club.

What exactly is Slack and what does it do though?

Great question. Slack can bring all your club’s internal communication together in one place. Every committee and every team can have their own channel that you can easily drop in on, and members can directly communicate with each other.

If you are completely new to Slack, there is no better place to start than watching Slack’s intro video below.

Example of Slack

Key Features

  • Free for Non-Profit Organizations.
  • Takes just a few minutes to create a Slack for your club.
  • Desktop app, tablet app, and mobile app available.
  • Eliminates the need for long email chains, and brings all internal club communication under a single platform.

Eliminate the long email threads and reply all spam

At one point, you have probably experienced long email threads between more than 3 people that have more than 6 replies underneath the same email subject. Whether you were actively engaged in that email conversation or simply a victim of a misused reply-all, there is a point where email communication is no longer productive. It can also be troublesome to have to dig through your emails and find specific items.

That’s where Slack comes in by replacing those internal email threads. Instead of communicating through email, members can communicate through Slack using designated channels based on topics, committees, and work groups. Members can discuss and plan the next service project over a channel called #communityservice, or your crab feed fundraiser committee can discuss next steps in a channel called #crabfeedteam, or you can simply send a direct private message on Slack to your friends Dave and Sarah. The possibilities are endless.

In addition to having mobile, tablet, and desktop apps, Slack also works directly in the web browser (if for some reason you are allergic to apps), and it also integrates with countless other services like Google Drive and Dropbox.

It’s important to note that Slack does not replace external emails; emails that need to be sent to anyone outside of your club, as they probably are not on your club’s Slack.