Privacy Policy

1. Who we are and what this covers

ScoutNest ("ScoutNest," "we," "us") provides troop-management software for Scouting units: troops, packs, crews and ships ("troops"). This policy covers the ScoutNest web app, our mobile apps, this website, and the emails we send (together, the "Service").

Two kinds of information are involved, and we handle them differently:

• Troop information — the roster, events, messages, photos, attendance, finances and everything else a troop puts into ScoutNest. The troop decides what goes in and who gets access. We process it on the troop's behalf, as its service provider, and only to provide the Service.
• Our own information — what we collect when you visit this website, contact us, or sign up a troop. We are responsible for that directly.

If you're a parent or scout and have questions about what your troop keeps about you, your troop's leaders are usually the fastest people to ask. You can also contact us directly (see Contact us).

2. Information we collect

Account and sign-in information

Your name and email address, and a sign-in identifier from our authentication provider. You can sign in with an email and password or with Google. If you use Google, we receive your name, email address and whether that email is verified. We never see or store your Google password, and we store passwords for email sign-in only as secure hashes held by our authentication provider.

Troop and membership information

Entered by troop leaders, imported from a spreadsheet, or added by members themselves:

• The troop: unit name and number, city, state, time zone, council and chartered organization, meeting details, and a primary contact's name, email and phone.
• Adults: name, email, phone, role and position, BSA member ID, and the dates of Youth Protection Training, registration and medical-form currency (dates only).
• Scouts: name, patrol, rank, leadership positions, join date, BSA member ID, and optionally date of birth, email, phone and an emergency contact. Also the date their medical form was signed and their registration expiry date.
• Family links: which adults are a scout's parents or guardians.

Activity in the Service

• Events, RSVPs, carpool notes, attendance check-ins, checklists, activity plans, meal plans (including any allergy or dietary notes a leader adds for meal planning), gear assignments and event notes.
• Announcements, direct messages and replies, and read receipts.
• Photos and receipt images that members upload.
• Troop finances: fees, charges, payments and credits recorded by the troop's treasurer, and reimbursement records. ScoutNest records payments the troop tells it about; it doesn't process card or bank payments.

Information from this website

• If you use our contact form: your name, email, troop and message.
• To keep bots out of the contact form we may use Cloudflare Turnstile, which checks your browser for signs of automated traffic.

Technical information

Like any online service, our servers receive your IP address, browser and device type, and the pages or features requested. We use this to run, secure and debug the Service. For some sensitive actions, such as granting or revoking a member's permissions, we keep an audit record of who did what and when.

What we don't collect

• Medical details. We don't store health histories, conditions, medications or the content of medical forms. Only the date a form was signed.
• Payment card or bank details. We don't process payments today. If we add paid plans, payment details will go directly to a payment processor and won't be stored by us.
• Advertising or tracking data. We don't use advertising cookies, tracking pixels, or third-party analytics that build profiles of you.

3. How we use information

We use information only to:

• Provide the Service — show each member the right troop, calendar, roster and messages, and let leaders run their troop.
• Send the emails and notifications the Service depends on: invitations, sign-in and verification emails, event announcements and updates, and messages from your troop.
• Keep the Service secure, prevent abuse and spam, and enforce our Terms and youth-protection rules.
• Provide support, answer questions, and — during our early-access trial — check in with the troop's primary contact to see how things are going.
• Fix problems and improve the Service, using aggregated or de-identified information where we can.
• Meet legal obligations.

We don't sell or rent personal information, don't share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, and don't use troop information to train artificial-intelligence models.

4. Who can see what

ScoutNest is built so people see only what their role needs. Every troop's information is kept separate from every other troop's.

• Troop leaders and admins can see the roster, events, attendance and troop records their role allows. Roles and extra permissions are set by the troop's admin.
• A scout's birthdate, email and phone are shown only to the scout and their linked parents or guardians. Leaders see the scout's age instead. This is enforced on our servers, not just hidden in the app.
• Parents see their own scouts' information, the troop calendar, and messages they send or receive.
• Scouts see their own information, events, and messages they send or receive. Direct messages to or from a scout always include the scout's parent or guardian.
• Messages are visible to the sender and recipients. Troop leaders with oversight responsibility can also review troop messages, including direct messages, as Youth Protection guidelines expect.
• Photos uploaded to an event are visible to signed-in members of that troop, are marked for a leader's review, and can be removed by a leader.
• Profile photos are optional and visible only to signed-in members of the same troop, next to the person's name. Adults add their own. A scout's photo is added by their parent or guardian; scouts 13 and older may add their own, and scouts under 13 can't. Photos are cropped and re-saved before upload, which removes hidden details such as location. A leader can remove a profile photo, and it's deleted when the person leaves the troop.

See Youth safety for the full set of protections.

5. When we share information

We share personal information only in these cases:

• Within your troop, according to the roles and rules above.
• With service providers who help us run ScoutNest, under contracts that limit their use of the information to providing services to us (listed below).
• When the law requires it, such as a valid subpoena or court order, or when we believe in good faith that disclosure is needed to protect a child or anyone else from serious harm.
• If ScoutNest is reorganized or sold, information may transfer to the new owner, who must honor this policy. We'll tell troops before that happens.
• With your permission.

Our service providers

We'll update this list if it changes.

6. Children's privacy

Scouting involves young people, so we take extra care with information about them.

• Troops add scouts, not the other way around. Scouts can't sign up for ScoutNest on their own. A scout record is created by the troop, and a scout login exists only if the troop sends the scout an invitation.
• Parental consent for scouts under 13. A scout under 13 can't have a login without a parent's or guardian's consent. We check the scout's age ourselves and keep the login switched off until a parent consents; leaders can't invite a younger scout directly, or change a birthdate to make a scout 13 or older. A leader who knows the parent in person confirms them, the parent signs in ScoutNest, and we email the parent a confirmation they can cancel. Until a scout signs in, the information we hold about them is what the troop's leaders and parents enter. Our Children's Privacy Notice explains what we collect from scouts under 13 and the choices parents have.
• Permission for older scouts. Troops are responsible for having a parent's or guardian's permission before adding a scout's information or inviting a scout to sign in.
• We collect only what troops need to run the program. We don't build profiles of young people, show them ads, or use their information for marketing. The app, where scouts sign in, has no third-party analytics.
• Parents are in control. A parent or guardian can review their scout's information, ask the troop or us to correct or delete it, and ask that their scout's login be removed. Contact your troop, or contact us and we'll help.

If you believe a child's information was added without a parent's consent, please let us know and we'll work with the troop to remove it.

7. How long we keep information

• Troop information is kept while the troop uses ScoutNest. A troop can remove members and records at any time; archived scouts stay in the troop's history until the troop deletes them.
• If a troop closes its account or its trial ends without continuing, we keep its information for a limited time so it can come back or export it — we'll tell the troop admin how long — then delete it.
• Deleted information is removed from our live systems promptly. It can remain in encrypted backups until those backups expire on their regular schedule.
• Contact-form messages are kept as long as needed to answer you and keep a record of the conversation.
• We may keep limited records longer when the law requires it, or to resolve disputes and prevent abuse.

8. How we protect information

• All traffic to ScoutNest is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). Data is encrypted at rest by our cloud provider.
• Our database isn't reachable from the public internet.
• Photos and receipts are stored privately. They're shown through links that expire after a short time, never through public addresses.
• Every request is checked against the member's troop and role on our servers, so one troop can never see another troop's information.
• Changes to who holds special permissions are recorded in an audit log the troop's admin can review.

No system is perfectly secure. If we learn of a breach that affects your information, we'll notify affected troops and people as the law requires, and without unreasonable delay.

9. Your choices and rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

• show you the personal information we hold about you;
• correct anything that's wrong;
• give you a copy of it in a portable format;
• delete it; or
• stop sending you non-essential emails.

You can correct much of your own information in the app or through your troop's leaders; for the rest, contact us and we'll handle it. Because troop information is controlled by the troop, we may pass a request to the troop's admin or ask them to confirm it, and we'll tell you if we do. We'll verify your identity before acting on a request and respond within the time the law requires. We won't treat you differently for using these rights.

California residents have specific rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, including the rights to know, delete and correct personal information and to opt out of its sale or sharing. We don't sell or share personal information as those terms are defined, so there's nothing to opt out of — but you can use every other right described above.

Emails your troop sends you through ScoutNest are part of how the troop communicates. To stop them, ask your troop or leave the troop.

10. Cookies and browser storage

We don't use advertising or analytics cookies. The ScoutNest app uses your browser's storage to keep you signed in and to remember settings such as which troop you're viewing. Our bot protection on the contact form may set a cookie needed for that check. If you block these, sign-in and some features won't work.

11. Where information is stored

ScoutNest is run from the United States, and information is stored in the United States. If you use ScoutNest from elsewhere, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States.

12. Changes to this policy

We'll update this policy as ScoutNest changes. The date at the top shows the latest version. If a change significantly affects how we handle personal information, we'll tell troop admins by email or in the app before it takes effect.

13. Contact us

For privacy questions or requests, use our contact form and choose "Privacy or data request." A real person will reply, usually within one business day.