Sample community guidelines

Use these sample community guidelines as a starting point for your internal policy and the guidelines you share with community members. Customize the language, reporting contact, and consequences to match your institution’s policies before publishing them.

Sample community guidelines

Overview

The goals of this community are to assist alumni in their personal and professional pursuits, help maintain friendships and connections formed while students, build strong and mutually beneficial ties among alumni, promote goodwill, and increase engagement with [Organization Name].

To meet these goals, members need a safe and welcoming space built around shared interests. Please read and follow the guidelines below when using this community, including the alumni directory, messaging, Groups, Events, Opportunities, and Asks & Offers.

Guidelines

Please:

• Treat others online as you would treat them in real life.
• Be tolerant of others’ viewpoints. When you disagree, do so respectfully.
• Respect the privacy and personal information of other alumni.
• Communicate with courtesy and respect.

Please do not:

• Make personal attacks against other community members.
• Use defamatory remarks or make false statements about others.
• Post prejudiced comments or profanity.
• Bully, harass, or make inflammatory remarks to other community members.

Use messaging and email responsibly

Messaging and Email Marketing tools help alumni stay in touch, facilitate networking, and promote shared interests. Appropriate uses include:

• Inviting alumni in your area to a networking event or local activity.
• Coordinating a class reunion.
• Contacting an alumnus for advice, to reconnect, or to invite them to join a Group.

Do not use messaging, email, or personal contact information available through the alumni directory for commercial, advocacy, promotional, or political purposes.

This includes names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, social media accounts, student information, and employment information. Prohibited activities include:

• Soliciting business or personal services.
• Fundraising outside approved Campaigns.
• Cold-calling.
• Mass mailings or broadcast emails.

Consequences for violations

We will act when we identify behavior that violates these guidelines. Depending on the situation, action may include a warning, removal of specific privileges, or account suspension or removal.

Report behavior that violates these guidelines to [your community support contact]. and support@360alumni.com.

Agreement

By logging in to the community and activating your profile, you agree to follow these community guidelines.

Publish and maintain your guidelines

1. Review this sample with your internal stakeholders, including alumni relations, communications, legal, and privacy teams as appropriate.
2. Replace placeholders such as [Organization Name] and [your community support contact].
3. Confirm that the rules align with your privacy settings, messaging practices, and approval process for user-generated content.
4. Publish the finalized guidelines where members can easily find them, such as in your resources menu, footer, welcome message, or profile activation communications.
5. Apply the guidelines consistently when moderating your alumni community.

Clear guidelines help protect member privacy and make your alumni engagement tools more useful for networking, chapter activity, alumni event management, and professional connection.

Related articles

• Planning your community
• Setting default Privacy Settings for your community
• Messaging Users in 360Alumni
• Approvals for user generated content and bulk messages