Urgent Texts for Leaders

When something changes today and people need to know now, you can add an urgent text to a group message. The message still goes out the usual way (in the app, by notification and by email). The text is an extra, short nudge to adults who agreed to get texts.

Note

Urgent texts are included with the Summit and Peak plans (and during a trial). Units on Basecamp can still send the message by email and in the app. While the feature is being introduced it is switched on unit by unit, so you may not see the box yet.

What urgent texts are for

Texts are for urgent same-day changes only, never routine announcements. Choose one of three kinds:

Kind	Sent at night?
Same-day event cancellation or change	No
Safety or weather alert	Yes, at any hour
Pickup or arrival change	No

Quiet hours. Between 9pm and 8am in your unit’s time zone (Central time if none is set), a same-day change or a pickup or arrival change is not sent as a text. MySummitKeep tells you so in the composer, and you can still send: your message goes out by email, push and in the app as always, the text is skipped (it shows as “quiet hours” on the job’s recipient list, and no texts are used from your allowance), and the result tells you the text was not sent. Send the text in the morning, or rely on the email. A safety or weather alert can always be texted.

Who can send one

An adult who can already send group messages in your unit and holds a current Safeguarding Youth Training certificate. Youth leaders, such as a Senior Patrol Leader, cannot send urgent texts. Urgent texts go with members and roles; they are not available for contact groups or the alumni list.

Send one

1. Open Send Group Message and choose who the message is for.
2. Write the subject and the message as usual.
3. Tick Also send an urgent text, pick the kind, and type the text.
4. Check the preview, then send.

The urgent text box, with the preview of who will get a text.

One text message, no more

Every urgent text begins with your unit’s name (for example “Troop 68:”) and ends with “Reply STOP to opt out.” The whole text must fit one text message, so the box counts the characters you have left after those two parts. One urgent text counts as one text against your unit’s allowance.

Who gets the text

• Adults with a confirmed number. Only an adult who replied YES to the confirmation text for their number. Adults can turn off urgent texts for themselves under Settings, Notifications, Alerts Sent by Text (“Urgent unit alerts”), and anyone can reply STOP.
• Never a Scout. A Scout is never texted, and neither is a number a Scout also lists, unless it is the family number of that Scout’s own parent or guardian. When a message is for a Scout, that Scout’s parent or guardian gets a copy, and they get the text as well if they have a confirmed number.
• One text per number. If two adults share a number, that number gets one text.

Everyone in the group still gets the message itself, whether or not they get the text. The preview counts the adults who will get a text, and lists why the others will not.

Your unit’s texts

Each plan includes a number of texts for each billing year (Summit 100, Peak 300). You can buy packs of 500 texts for $10 that never expire; see Settings, Billing. The preview shows how many texts are left. If the group is larger than what is left, the people the texts do not reach get the email instead, and the preview says how many. A text pack is used after the plan’s own texts.

After you send

The send runs in the background. Open Sent Messages to follow each person: Sent, or the reason there was no text (a Scout, no confirmed number, turned off, STOP, or out of texts).