I think it would be a good idea to have an Alumni classification for Scouts that are deactivated. Either a patrol that excludes them from all other mailing lists or something after they are deactivated.
When a Scout / Parent leave the Troop / Pack etc…we deactivate them. They stop getting messages.
The person could be marked as an “Alumni” or Alumni Patrol. This would be an opt-in.
Then a special mailing group could be created for a distribution list to send out notes for Alumni gatherings like Blue and Gold, holiday parties, Eagle Courts of Honor or as in recent events in our Troop - condolences notices for a former member passing away.
They wouldn’t get the normal Everyone blasts on events and invitations by this separation.
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Hello, We are starting an alumni association with our troop. Ideally it would be great if I could do that within TroopTrack. I agree with the previous comment. Is there any movement on this option, or do I have to go to another software platform?
This has never been implemented since the request back in 2016. Not a bad idea though.
Thanks for confirming. I need a solution to track our alumni so we can start communicating with them and storing some basic data about them. Is there a way to do this in TT for now, without having to impact current scouts and parents? I am thinking of creating a patrol for alumni from 2010-2020 and so forth. But not sure of all the impacts to the reports we run? That would inflate a lot of our data. Thoughts before I go and pull in another alumni app (they charge a lot!!!).
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You could just keep them in TT and put them into a different Patrol. I don’t think there would be issues with reports as long as you use the filters to create the reports. You would not be able to use the Everyone group to easily add everyone to an event. We have a private FaceBook Page that alumni are a part of and we can post there if we really need help. We don’t keep everyone, really just alumni that have had some activity after they age out.
What did you end up doing about your alumni tracking? Were you able to do that within TroopTrack? If you added them as a patrol, did that cause other problems?
Hello,
As it turns out I did not do anything about this. I would like to do something, but recently took over as Scoutmaster so my time has been spent on more pressing items.
I will say that I still have this need and was considering using another application for this as I don’t want to mix alumni into our current structure as I am not clear on all the impacts of doing so and since I don’t have the time, I was considering just using another application. The other option is to secure a new Troop Track account for just alumni so I know I can keep it separate.
I really wish I could get movement on this from TroopTrack as I think it’s a great idea and would seed a lot of business for TT as well as make a big difference to scout troops from a longevity perspective. Are you starting an alumni association or do you have one and use something else for tracking?
Sean Nangle
Troop 834 | Scoutmaster
Sean@Nangle.org | 412.736.2331
We are looking at the same problem, and the Alumni Patrol as mentioned earlier has the problem that you not only can’t use Everyone, but you have to select all of the other patrols. It dramatically complicates the selection of who is invited.
Another option is using an external list like Google Groups, but as it looks like you have to be on TroopTrack to RSVP to an event, you would need some other mechanism to handle that for the Alumni.
An alumni group is really strategic for fundraising purposes, recognition of troop anniversaries, retirement of scout leaders, etc.