Written by Kasey Murphy

One chapter spoke to us about how they use Track It Forward to track member hours. Technology Chair Angela Trapp, Alpha Kappa Alpha - Phi Pi Omega Chapter of Tyrone, Georgia.

Angela Trapp, Technology Chair of Alpha Kappa Alpha Pi Phi Omega Chapter says: “At an international level, the sorority wants to measure our impact. The service hours that each member is contributing to each program target that we have is very important. It is very important for us to track as accurately as possible the hours that we spend towards our service programs as well as all the administrative work that goes into creating those projects and making them happen.”

The Alpha Kappa Alpha wanted to get away from using paper sign-in sheets and spreadsheets, as they found it was not tracking hours accurately. 

Alpha Kappa Alpha using volunteer software has proven to be one of the most efficient ways to track members and initiative progress.

How Alpha Kappa Alpha Chapters Can Use Track It Forward 

Alpha Kappa Alpha chapters can use Track It Forward to track member hours in different ways, but they both work! Track It Forward can be used in very basic aspects or feature-focused, whatever works best for the chapter. 

Set-Up 

The Technology Chair set up their Track It Forward accounts. Phi Pi Omega has the Vice President of the chapter as the owner, Angela as the overseeing administrator, two other technology committee members as day-to-day admins, and managing the Events Calendar, and then each committee head as a field approver. 

** A field approver is an admin on the Track It Forward site that can approve or sort hours if they are in that field. For example, Angela has given all committee members field approver access to approve and organize events and member hour logs that are placed under that committee. 

Phi Pi Omega has the hour log configured to showcase a dropdown box. So, when a member logs an hour, they must pick a coordinating activity- in this case, a committee or specific event. Here is an example below. 

Here is an example of an hour log form that an Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter can use to help run reports and data on their volunteers. And, more questions can be asked in the hour log to help narrow down the specific measurable category. 

The reports tool is really where this set-up and organization shine. Customizable reports are available to instantly download. Reports can be organized by members or activities. So, each chapter can pull hour reports for each activity they have entered in the drop-down box during set up. 

Event Calendar 

Alpha Kappa Alpha chapters can use Track It Forward basically like a virtual sign-in sheet, to track member hours in a basic function. This works nicely for many organizations and would be great for different Alpha Kappa Alpha chapters. 

Phi Pi Omega though uses the Event Calendar feature in Track It Forward to help plan events and to help members easily log their hours. The event calendar can be set up to help notify members of their RSVPs and of when to log hours. 

This is Phi Pi Omega’s settings for the event notifications. 

The event calendar helps Alpha Kappa Alpha chapters showcase to their members how easy it is to log hours. When a member signs up for an event, they can pre-fill their hour log with all the details from the event, so all the members have to do is submit them. As Angela says, “If you RSVP for an event, all of that is filled out for you. All you have to do is send your hours.” 

Here is what the event calendar for Phi Pi Omega looks like!

Alpha Kappa Alpha is a multi-generational chapter, so they have a bit of trouble when it comes to all members being comfortable with using technology. For the time being, the chapter will have its technology committee log member hours who do not wish to use the software. This helps keep the accuracy level up so Track It Forward can help report member impact. 

Beyond Track It Forward helping Alpha Kappa Alpha track member hours, they also can see how active certain members are just by looking at reports. 

“We wanted to have an effective way to document that a member is active, so they can maintain their eligibility to bring in more members,” says Angela. 

Track It Forward is happy to help Alpha Kappa Alpha Chapters track member hours, commitment, and showcase their tremendous impact on their communities!