Updated Email Authentication Requirements

Google and Yahoo are implementing new guidelines and requirements for bulk email senders on February 1st, 2024. The intention of these changes is to protect against spam/phishing and improve deliverability.

These changes will directly affect you if you use Congress Plus to send email to Grassroots contacts or have advocacy "Thank You" emails enabled. If you only send email to legislators and staffers, we still recommend making the following adjustments as they follow best practices. Please note that these changes affect all bulk email platforms and are not specifically related to Congress Plus.

If your staff needs assistance with carrying out these steps, they will need to contact the support department of the platform used for domain record hosting (Ex. GoDaddy, Google Workspace, Bluehost, etc.).

Here are the necessary steps:

  1. Forward the email you received, or a link to this page, to your IT team or the individuals that manage your organization's email system and domain settings. Request that they add the DNS Records below to satisfy Google and Yahoo requirements.
  2. Receive confirmation from your IT team that the records have been added.
  3. Notify Soft Edge support that the records have been added. Reply to the recent email received on this topic, or send an email to info@thesoftedge.com with the subject line "Email authentication setup" and a message confirming the email domain(s) involved.
  4. Within 1-2 business days, we will confirm the records on our end and complete the setup for your account, or follow-up with any problems found.
DNS Record Information for IT Staff

These records are needed for all domains used in email From addresses sent through Congress Plus. They satisfy SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and domain alignment requirements.

Your primary domain needs at least an unenforced DMARC record. If it does not already have a _dmarc TXT record, add the following unenforced record.