All About Best Buddies 360

Launched by Best Buddies International in 2021, BB360 is the organization's new, official online database, providing a "one-stop shop for managing your members, events, and more." This resource is especially helpful for allowing chapter leaders and advisors to efficiently organize and match new members each school year. While some states may have already hosted BB360 trainings, the YLC hopes to help facilitate a smooth transition to BB360 for all new and continuing chapters. Here is an overview of BB360 to benefit your chapter!

Overview

BB360 is a comprehensive online management portal for both chapter officers and advisors, designed to oversee members and matches, create events, promote communication, and more. General chapter members do not have access to the portal, but will submit their registration forms, match surveys, and any additional information to BB360 for chapter leaders to view. 

If you are a chapter leader and already have login access to BB360, great! If not, make sure that you have filled out the preliminary registration form at bestbuddies.org/join so that your chapter advisor can provide you with a unique login. Upon logging in, you will see the home page containing a dashboard with information pertaining to your chapter, such as registered members, matches, upcoming events, and survey results. As more and more members sign up for your chapter using the link above, the number on the dashboard will continually update. You can also click on any of these panels to see specific information about your members or events in detail.

BB360 Sections

There are also several other sections in the top panel that allow chapter leaders to stay organized and up-to-date with Best Buddies. In the "Roster" tab, you will be able to see a comprehensive list of all members who are registered for the current school year. Under each individual member, you can click on their registration to see specific information about them, such as their grade level, email address, phone number, and type of membership. When making matches for each peer buddy, you can also click on "Add Match" in the top right corner of each member to successfully match a peer buddy and buddy with one another. Moreover, you can sort the member roster by certain factors, such as alphabetically by first name or email, to view the data in a more organized manner. One tip is to click the "Export List" button when referencing the roster. By doing this, you can open a spreadsheet that allows you to easily create an email list for your chapter!

Next, in the "Events" tab, chapter leaders can create new events to keep their members informed. To create an event, click the "New" button in the top right corner, where you can add all sorts of information to specify your event, such as the start/end time, location, description, and registration link. This section has been especially helpful for my chapter to plan our events in advance and create a tentative calendar for the year.

In the "Reports" tab, you can view personalized reports about your chapter, such as member and parent contact information and matches. You can also receive links for surveys that Best Buddies recommends to send out to members approximately four times a year: around the start of the year, in mid-October, before winter break, and at the start of spring semester. 

Finally, in the "Chatter" tab, you can communicate with other chapters from around the world. If you have a question about nearly anything related to Best Buddies, you can post it to the "Best Buddies Leaders" group and another chapter officer/leader can provide you with some advice. For example, if you are having trouble with recruiting members, you can ask this question in Chatter to receive ideas from other chapters!

We hope that this blog gave you an overview of BB360 and provided some tips to help you navigate this online resources. If you have any other questions pertaining to BB360, feel free to take a look at this reference guide published by BBI: https://www.bestbuddies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/BB360-Quick-Reference-Guide.pdf

Feel free to leave a comment below with your own tip about BB360!

In friendship,

Nathan