Orchestra allows companies to send shareholder communications from within the platform and notifies shareholders by email when communications are published. Once published, they will also be accessible from within the platform by both company administrators and shareholders, fulfilling the legal requirement to do so.
To create and send shareholder communications, you will need to be logged in and have access as a company administrator to make any changes. From your company dashboard, click the Communications > Communications in the sidebar.
On the next page, you will be able to create new communications and view published and draft communications.
To create a new communication, click the 'Create communication' button. On the following page, you can add a title to the new communication and body text to accompany the update.
Once the content of the shareholder update has been entered you will be able to set the parameters of the update below the Description box.
Audience group is one of the most important selections you can make:
- All Stakeholders & Administrators - all stakeholders and administrators are notified by email of the Communication and can view the Communication on Orchestra. 'Stakeholders' includes your shareholders, associates and option holders.
- Administrator only - only Administrators are notified by email of the Communication.
- Optionholders - only option holders are notified by email of the Communication and can view the Communication on Orchestra.
- Associates - only associates are notified by email of the Communication and can view the Communication on Orchestra.
- Shareholders or Members - only shareholders are notified by email of the Communication and can view the Communication on Orchestra.
If you have set up your own Audience groups (under the main menu "Administration", "Audience groups") then these can also be selected for communications.
The Audience group that is selected when you publish your Communication is applied, and email notifications are sent out to these people only.
⚠️ Note: Editing a Communication and changing the Audience group post publishing does not re-send an email notification. For example, expanding Audience group permissions from 'Administrator only' to 'Investors & Administrators' post publishing does not send an email notification to Investors.
You can link a Folder containing documents to your Communication. For example, you may have a Folder for 'Shareholder Updates' in your Document Vault, where your regular updates to shareholders are stored.
⚠️ Note: The Audience group permissions of your Folder will need to match the Audience group permissions of the Communication you're creating. For example, if you're creating a Communication to Investors & Administrators then you will only be able to link to Folders that are viewable by Investors & Administrators.
Personalise your Communication notification email
Add your company's email logo (banner logo) via the menu option for Administration > Company details. For best results upload a 400 x 160 pixel version of your logo.
Your Communication notification email can be personalised by entering a:
- 'From' name (eg. your Founder or CEO's name)
- 'Reply-to' email (eg. your company contact email address for investors)
- Message
If your Communication isn't ready to send yet, you can click 'Save as draft'.
If you do not want to send a communication notification email then toggle 'Send communication' off.
Once you have finished creating the Communication, click 'Create and publish'. Orchestra will send email notifications based on the Audience group, to notify that a new Communication can be viewed.
The Communication email notification has a link to the specific communication in Orchestra. For security purposes, the link can be used to access the Communication twice before a login is required. The link only allows access to the relevant Communication and any attached documents.