Easily Contact Blackbaud Parents from Gmail

What if you could contact Blackbaud parents right from Gmail? That's the premise of this sync from Userbus, which lets you email parents not only by student name but also by grade level.

The sync creates Google groups like:

• Johnny Smith (Grade 3) (Jim, Jan)
• Parents of Grade 3 Students

Once created, these groups make addressing an email to a parent as simple as typing part of their child's name in the "To" field in Gmail. For example:

Security

While this convenience is welcome for staff, it might not be as welcome for students! In fact, you might want to hide these groups from students altogether.

And what about external senders? Scammers, spammers, and even parents themselves.

One school shared with Userbus how a disgruntled parent once reached out to the other parents at the school, not through one of these Google groups, but some time prior. The school was anxious to avoid creating a communication channel that could be co-opted, potentially leading to a repeat of that situation.

Fortunately, Userbus has a detailed guide on locking down and securing these groups. The guide explains how to hide them from students and reject email from external senders.

Updates

Userbus automatically updates the groups on a schedule of your choice, using the latest parent data from Blackbaud.

• When a parent's email address changes in Blackbaud, Userbus updates it in the Google groups.
• When a parent is removed from a student in Blackbaud, Userbus will remove their email address from the Google groups.

With Userbus on the job, you can rest assured that the group you're emailing is up to date.

Sync Times

The sync can run:

• On demand at any time by logging in to Userbus's web portal and clicking the Run button. Changes are reflected in Active Directory immediately.
• On a schedule that you can adjust in the web portal.