keeping in touch w troop Eagles

[RainShine]

Our troop has never maintained a contact list for Eagles. Anyone that went to college can attest the alumni receive communications about fundraisers, etc. It seems like basic marketing to me. Do other troops have a contact list for Eagles so they can stay in touch?

[prof]

Not with Eagle Scouts, but with one group that I work with, the graduates all start a linked in account. That works better to communicate with them and get updates from them than email.

[RememberSchiff]

Some units have tried a FB alumni account which can be a little unsettling when you see how your Eagle scout has morphed into a college dude. 

[mrkstvns]

12 hours ago, prof said:

Not with Eagle Scouts, but with one group that I work with, the graduates all start a linked in account. That works better to communicate with them and get updates from them than email.

I like the LinkedIn approach better than the FB approach.

LinkedIn is a more useful, professional kind of social media site. It's used extensively for professional networking, HR recruiting, college alumni groups, etc.  Although it's not perfect, it does have a better reputation than most social media sites and better embraces "values".  Encouraging use of sites like LinkedIn lets scouts know how responsible adults use the internet.

On the other hand, Facebook is an insecure site favored by marketers, hucksters, manipulators, hackers, perverts, and criminals. Facebook has been facing a constant barrage of civil lawsuits and criminal investigations over the past several years because they constantly invade user privacy, allow their data to be misused for nefarious purposes, target youth, and ignore privacy laws enacted in multiple countries. 

 

[qwazse]

Why just Eagles?

If the goal is marketing, why only shoot for a slice of the pie? Just sounds dumb to me.

[RainShine]

1 hour ago, qwazse said:

Just sounds dumb to me.

Well yeah you're right. My brain doesn't always work so great, need new synapses or something.

Anyway our troop has nothing. We have no records that I can find.

[qwazse]

4 hours ago, RainShine said:

Well yeah you're right. My brain doesn't always work so great, need new synapses or something.

Anyway our troop has nothing. We have no records that I can find.

Okay, that's a little easier to work with -- mainly because the more names you have, the more chance of on of those alumni being in the middle of a network of more remote alumni.

If you have a volunteer who wants to paper chase, your CO might have old rosters (in all those charter agreements that they were supposed to file). Your council registrar also would have copies boxed who-knows-where.

Lacking that, going old-school is probably best. Start with the scouts who graduated last year. Give them a call. Ask them if they have the contact info of the scouts who graduated before them, or if they remember the names of the scouts in their patrol. This could be fun. You might find a former scout who's just coming out of orbit! You might also find a few sad stories. Anyway, as the new scoutmaster, making those calls might be rewarding for you and the alumni. They might be willing to pay a visit, or they might have some land to camp on!

But, pace yourself and share the load. It's fun, but time consuming.