About Sender Identities

When you send emails through Parthenon, you’re choosing who the email appears to come from. This is called a sender identity.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to be an email expert to set this up correctly. This article explains what sender identities are, how domains work, and what your recipients will see.

What is a sender identity?

A sender identity controls two things your recipients see in their inbox:

1. The sender name
   Ex: Councilmember Josh Billigmeier

2. The sender email address
   Ex: district99-cityofaustin@parthenonmail.us

Together, these tell recipients who the message is from and help their email provider decide whether the message is trustworthy. 

What is a domain?

An email address has two parts:

name@domain

In this example:

district99-cityofaustin@parthenonmail.us

• district99-cityofaustin → the mailbox name (you control this)

• parthenonmail.us → the domain (the system sending the email)

Think of the domain like the post office sending the mail and the name like the person or office sending it.

Why we provide a default domain

By default, we send email from our trusted domain:

@parthenonmail.us

We do this because:

• It’s fully authenticated (passes spam filters)

• It has an established sending reputation

• It requires zero setup from you

• It helps ensure your emails land in inboxes

This means you can start sending immediately without dealing with technical email settings.

What you can customize (and what recipients see)

Even though the domain is managed by us, you still control how the email appears.You can customize:

• Sender name

• The first part of the email address

Can I use my own domain?

Yes, we can accommodate and send from your own domain, including .gov domains (ex: @yourcity.gov). 

Because this requires additional security configuration to protect deliverability, Parthenon handles this as a supported setup. If you'd like to use your own domain, contact our Support Team and we'll guide you through the process.