Amazon SES Integration

ChurchTrac gives you the ability to send bulk email through Amazon SES (Simple Email Server). Amazon SES is the most cost-effective method for sending bulk email through ChurchTrac.

SES pricing depends on the number of emails and the size of the attachments sent. On average, ministries using SES pay as little as a couple of dollars per month. To view SES pricing, go to https://aws.amazon.com/ses/pricing

Step 1: Create an AWS Account

To use Amazon SES, you will need an Amazon Web Services Account (AWS). To create a free account, go to aws.amazon.com/free. Amazon will ask for an Email address, a password, and an account name to get started.

Create AWS account for church email

Creating an AWS account is free with limitations on the volume and size of the emails sent. The free tier meets the needs of most ministries.

Step 2: Configure Amazon SES

After an AWS account has been created, login to your account and navigate to the Simple Email Server page. Since Amazon has such a vast library of applications, it's easier to find SES by searching for it in the search bar as shown below:

Configure Amazon Simple Email Service for church email

To send emails with SES, you will need to verify the email address that you wish to send from. Click "Email Addresses" under the Identity Management Section and select "Verify a New Email Address". View the AWS guide HERE to learn more.

Verify email address to configure Amazon SES for church email

Once you've verified your email address, you will need to obtain Amazon SES SMTP credentials that will be used with ChurchTrac. In the content pane, choose "Create My SMTP Credentials". Here you can type a name for your SMTP user. Alternatively, you can use the default value that is provided in this field. When you finish, select Create.

Create SMTP credentials in Amazon SES for church email

Once created, you can either show these credentials or download them. We recommend downloading them and storing them in a safe place.

Download SMTP credentials in Amazon SES for church email

Step 3: Remove Sandbox Restrictions

Before entering your SES credentials into ChurchTrac, you need to move out of the Amazon SES sandbox. Amazon places all new accounts in the Amazon SES sandbox to help prevent fraud and abuse. To request that your account be removed from the Amazon SES sandbox, use the navigation pane and choose "Sending Statistics" under Email Sending.

Go to Sending Statistics to edit your AWS SES account details before you can send church emails

For Your account details, choose "Edit your account details", as shown in the following image:

Edit your AWS SES account details before you can send church emails

In the account details modal, fill out the request to start the process of moving out of the SES sandbox. You can expect AWS to complete this request within 24 hours.

Request to be removed from the Amazon SES sandbox

To learn more about moving out of the SES sandbox, click HERE.

Step 4: Entering Your SES Credentials Into ChurchTrac

After you have created your AWS account, configured SES, and removed your sandbox restrictions, you can enter your SES credentials into ChurchTrac. To start, Login to your ChurchTrac Administrator account and navigate to go to Settings Admin Settings Bulk Email Settings.

Enter Amazon SES credentials into the ChurchTrac account

Select Amazon SES as your sending method and enter the credentials of your Amazon SES account. These are the SMTP credentials that you generated for the email address that you verified in Step 2.

Select Amazon SES as your church mass email method

Step 5: Send A Test Email

After you've created and configured AWS and ChurchTrac, it's time to send a test email. To send a test email, go to go to People Messaging, and create your test email. Once you've created the subject and body of your email, select "Send Test Email" to send an email to each email address associated with your user account.