These steps are for CoolFocus 5.
When you email donors, volunteers, or clients from CoolFocus, the email says it's from your organization's name. Until you finish one setup step, the address underneath that name is [email protected]. Replies still come to you. This article explains where replies go, and how to have your emails come from your own address, like [email protected].
Replies already come to you
Every email CoolFocus sends has a Reply-To address. When someone clicks Reply, their email goes to that address, not to donors.app.
To check or change it:
Go to Settings, and under Communication open Email Settings.
Look at Reply-To Email Addresses. The one marked Default is where replies go.
To add a new one, click Add Address, enter the email address and the name people should see, check Set as Default if replies should go there, and save. To change an existing one, click the pencil next to it.
Good to know: on a phone, tapping the sender's name shows the "From" address, not the Reply-To address. To see where a reply will go, tap Reply and look at the To line.
Send from your own domain
To have the "From" line show your own address instead of donors.app, add your domain in CoolFocus. Then the person who manages your website adds a few settings, called DNS records. It takes about 15 minutes, and it's a one-time step. Emails from your own domain also look more trustworthy to your donors and are less likely to land in spam.
Before you start: you'll need help from whoever manages your website or domain. That might be a volunteer, your IT person, or the company that hosts your website, such as Bluehost, GoDaddy, Wix, or Squarespace.
Step 1: Add your domain in CoolFocus
Go to Settings → Communication → Email Settings.
Click Create Domain.
CoolFocus suggests a domain based on your website, like mail.yourchurch.org. Keep the mail. at the front. It keeps this setup separate from your regular email, so your inboxes aren't affected.
Click Continue.
Step 2: Get the records to whoever manages your website
CoolFocus now shows a short list of DNS Records. You don't need to understand them, you only need to get them to the right person. There are two ways:
Click Send Instructions, enter their email address, and CoolFocus emails them everything they need.
If you manage the website yourself, CoolFocus often recognizes your provider and shows a button to open its DNS settings. Use Copy All or the copy button next to each record.
To find this page later, go back to Email Settings, click ⋯ next to your domain, and choose View Instructions.
Step 3: Add the records at your website provider
For each record, your provider asks for a Type (TXT, MX, or CNAME), a Host or Name, and a Value. Copy them exactly as CoolFocus shows them.
The Host or Name box: most providers add your domain to the end for you. If the record's name is send.mail, type send.mail, not send.mail.yourchurch.org.
MX records also ask for a Priority. Use the number shown in CoolFocus, usually 10.
Don't change or delete any records you already have. These new records sit alongside them.
Step 4: Check it in CoolFocus
Once the records are added, open View Instructions for your domain again and click Verify Now.
When the status says Verified, you're done. Every email from then on comes from your own domain. You don't need to change your templates.
New records can take a few hours to show up, sometimes up to 48 hours. If it doesn't say Verified yet, give it a little time and click Verify Now again.
What the status means
Not Started or Pending Verification: CoolFocus is waiting for the records. Add them, then click Verify Now.
Failed: CoolFocus looked and couldn't find the records yet. This almost always means they haven't been added, or the Host box has the domain typed twice. Nothing is broken, and your emails keep going out from donors.app in the meantime.
Verified: you're sending from your own domain.
Common questions
Will this affect our regular email?
No. Because the setup uses the mail. part of your domain, your Gmail, Outlook, or other inboxes keep working exactly as they do today.
Do I have to do this?
No. Your emails still send and replies still come to you without it. It changes how the "From" line looks.
Should I delete the domain and start over if it says Failed?
Please don't. Starting over creates new records, so anything your web person already added would stop matching. Chat with us instead and we'll check it for you.
We added the records and it still says Failed after a day.
Chat with us from the Help button. We can see exactly which records are missing and tell you what to change.