Most clubs email their newsletters to members now, out of concern for privacy.
Last I knew, Email, like many Internet things, isn't really private, unless you take precautions that make them too hard to use for many people. I won't get into the details. Surface mail can also be intercepted and/or modified, but the bad person generally has to come to your home to do so, making it a bit harder.
One major benefit of email or other online publication is that they can be free. Surface mail costs money, and requires more effort to create.
There is a huge benefit from publishing your material through open web pages that search engines can look through: It is a good way to advertise the club's presence and activities. Another way is to convince your rink to let you have a bulletin board at the rink (many rinks let you have one for free, because it helps attract customers), on which you post similar things.
While I don't belong anymore, the Washington Figure Skating Club uses
their own website,
Facebook,
Twitter, and at least at one point used
Yumpu.
I also used to belong to the
Gardens Figure Skating Club, which uses their web page in a similar way.
The clubs I belonged to in the past used newsletters and online resources to:
1. Advertise upcoming tests and competitions.
2. Advertise other events that they run, such as picnics and other get-togethers, fund raisers, used gear sales events (maybe that isn't common anymore?).
3. Advertise club logo gear (tee shirts, jackets, etc.), another type of fund raising.
4. Brag about people in their club who have done well in tests and competitions. They often post skater pictures.
5. Announce competition results.
6. Advertise skating teams (like Synchro, Ice Theater) that they are associated with.
7. Recruit volunteers to help them run various events.
8. Keep up enthusiasm, both for members, and their parents - which is perhaps part of why they do the other things.
9. Some have their own online message boards, or equivalent, but if you don't moderate those, which people say is a lot of work, you they tend to receive a lot of inappropriate or unpleasant content.
10. Advertise members' used gear, but I think other online resources have largely taken that over.
11. Carry ads from local businesses, another type of fund raising.
12. I haven't seen club newsletters invite fun articles from members and parents not associated with the newsletter itself (except sometimes club officers), but I think that would be a great way to keep up involvement and enthusiasm. But you don't want to make people think it is their duty, or they may resent it.
Topic: Club newsletters (Read 5322 times)