Register and validate a sending email domain

How to use

Open the school’s Email Domains area, register the intended domain, and open its detail page. Give the displayed DNS record type, name, and value to the team managing that domain. After they configure the records, use Validate and inspect the result.

Important distinctions

The page displays expected DNS records, validation state, and available current DNS values. Initiating registration and successfully validating the domain are different outcomes. Validation failure can return record-specific reasons.

Troubleshooting

Compare each expected record with the published record and the validation error. Do not invent DNS values or copy another school’s configuration. Domain registration is also separate from connecting an individual gift officer’s mailbox or authorizing a sender alias.

DNS changes can take time to propagate. If records look correct but validation continues to fail, provide the domain and redacted validation result to the authorized IT/support team.

A validated subdomain does not validate every From address

Outreach checks the exact domain after @ in the sender address against the school's validated domain records. For example, validation of giving.example.edu does not validate a From address ending in @example.edu. Choose an address on the intended validated domain or have the authorized team register and validate the additional domain. A Reply-To address is not proof that the From domain passes this check.

Use the existing domain's details screen to obtain its generated DNS record types, names and values for IT, then run validation and inspect its reported reasons. Do not guess TXT/CNAME values or create a duplicate domain to work around already registered for this school. That registration check is separate from successful DNS validation. Support must inspect the actual domain record and provider response when registration or validation remains blocked.

Finding Email Domains when Settings is absent

In the School Dashboard menu, open Settings → Email Domains. This is separate from an Outreach draft's sender fields and from individual mailbox connections. With consolidated permissions, the Settings section is inside the school-platform-administrator menu. If it is missing, an authorized school administrator should register/validate the domain or review the user's access. Use the actual domain page's DNS records and Validate action.

Start domain setup from the visible form

Open School Dashboard → Settings → Email Domains, then Authenticate a Domain. In Domain, enter the part after @ in the intended sending address: for me@example.edu, enter example.edu. A sending subdomain such as alumni.example.edu can be used when that is the intended address domain. Select Next to proceed with registration, then use that domain's generated DNS instructions described above.

The initial empty-state message is not evidence that another school lacks a validated domain.