Quarterly newsletter

FutureSouth Foundation is launching a quarterly newsletter — FutureSouth Forward — to keep our community of partners, funders, employer collaborators, and broader supporters connected to our applied AI workforce development work in rural Northeast Mississippi. Issue 1 is drafted and ready for editorial review.

We're looking for a content marketing volunteer to help us build the operational system around this publication, not to ghostwrite the content itself.

Specifically:
Recommend the right platform. We've leaned toward Beehiiv, but we'd value a real evaluation of options (Beehiiv, Mailchimp, MailerLite, Substack, Ghost, etc.) keyed to our use case — quarterly cadence, ~50–500 curated subscribers initially, mixed audience of funders and partners, nonprofit pricing, segmentation needs, brand customization.

Build the system on the chosen platform. Newsletter template design (brand assets provided), subscriber segmentation, signup forms, and basic email automation.

Operational scaffolding. A quarterly content calendar template with reusable section structure and deadlines.

Editorial review of Issue 1 before launch — voice, structure, calls to action.

Support production of Issue 2.

Voice and substantive content come from the founder. The volunteer's role is to turn this into a sustainable, repeatable system our small team can run going forward.

FutureSouth Foundation builds applied AI workforce programs in rural Northeast Mississippi — communities that national investment cycles tend to skip. We work directly with employers in the region to map specific workflows where AI tools can do real work, then train and certify local workers to step into those roles. The result: workers who graduate into employment at partner companies, and employers whose operations run differently because they hired someone who arrived knowing the work.

A foundation like ours depends on a community of partners, employers, government supporters, and funders who understand what we're doing and choose to be part of it. A consistent, well-produced quarterly newsletter is how that community stays connected to the foundation. It's how we recruit new employer partners, build trust with funders before they invest, and tell the stories of the people moving through our programs. Without it, we're a young foundation doing good work in a place no one hears about — which is exactly the dynamic we exist to break.

The volunteer who helps build this system will be a direct contributor to that reach. They'll be setting up the connective tissue between the work we're doing on the ground in rural Mississippi and the resources we need to expand it across the Southeast.

Significant prep is already in place:

Issue 1 is drafted (~1,300 words) and ready for editorial review
Brand standards documented (colors, typography, voice guidance)
Subscriber list being built from existing partner, funder, and supporter relationships
Beehiiv has been explored as a candidate platform, but we're open to the volunteer's recommendation if a different tool is a better fit
Founder committed to producing substantive content for each issue
A parallel Taproot engagement is supporting our finance and evaluation infrastructure, so the volunteer won't be working in isolation

We'll be responsive within 24–48 hours throughout the project window, provide brand assets and sample content up front, and give direct founder access for questions on voice or strategic positioning. The scope is clear, the outputs are defined, and the volunteer's contribution will be visible from the first issue out the door.