Fourth in a series of thoughts about looking ahead: How will we reach and or maintain financial stability? Great Scouting is not dependent on a lavish budget; just ask your Council Executive. Every Troop, Pack and Crew I know of raises money to support its program. I am not concerned here with the specifics of how money is raised and the rules of fund raising so much as the broad concepts involved....
Recruiting Scouts from those who have been Webelos is very different than recruiting form those who haven’t. Much has been written on Webelos transitions so I will not retrench the subject here. Here’s discussions of retaining the Webelos you recruit and some notes on transitioning Webelos leaders. By way of review – Find all the Webelos Dens in your community within reasonable driving distance of your Troop. Offer them support, camping opportunities and (perhaps most importantly) Den Chiefs....
What does Scouting cost? Depends how you look at it; I think Scouting is free. I’ve volunteered in our local government for a dozen or more years. If I hear someone complaining about their water bill I point out the water is free, it’s the pipes that cost money. Making water safe to drink, getting it to your house, and treating wastewater costs money – but the water itself is free....
The BSA’s annual report for 2008 shows that membership numbers are continuing to decline as the ratios of Scouts to leaders remain steady. The table below reports membership changes from the past four years and analyzes the sizes of units and leadership ratios. I am counting on more mathematically talented folks to check my work and the assumptions I draw from the numbers. 2005 2006 2007 2008 Change % YOUTH Tiger Cubs 243,609 247,017 241,851 231,471 -12,138 -5% Cub Scouts 834,562 819,882 800,729 798,060 -36,502 -4% Webelos Scouts 667,153 634,962 645,406 636,104 -31,049 -5% Total Cub Scouts 1,745,324 1,701,861 1,687,986 1,665,635 -79,689 -5% Boy Scouts 879,789 860,675 851,572 844,939 -34,850 -4% Varsity Scouts 63,637 62,161 62,016 60,940 -2,697 -4% Total Scout/Varsity 943,426 922,836 913,588 905,879 -37,547 -4% Venturers 249,948 244,266 254,259 261,122 11,174 4% Total Scouts 2,938,698 2,868,963 2,855,833 2,832,636 -106,062 -4% UNITS Cub Scout Packs 51,469 51,077 50,780 50,213 -1,256 -2% Venturing 20,117 19,920 19,920 19,998 -119 -1% Boy Scout Troops 42,811 42,269 41,947 41,628 -1,183 -3% Total Traditional Units 122,582 121,530 121,034 120,262 -2,320 -2% ADULT LEADERSHIP Cub Scout Leaders 493,165 480,457 480,316 470,400 -22,765 -5% Boy Scout Leaders 520,591 519,557 524,962 528,534 7,943 2% Varsity Leaders 23,380 22,799 23,356 23,392 12 0% Venturing Leaders 63,821 63,500 65,645 65,621 1,800 3% Council Leaders 45,269 43,638 43,829 44,406 -863 -2% Total Leaders 1,146,226 1,129,951 1,138,108 1,132,353 -13,873 -1% Unit Ratios Scouts per Troop 20....
When Webelos and their parents visit one of our meetings we send the Webelos to our Senior Patrol leader who sees that they are welcomed and join in the activities. The parents meet with myself and a couple of Assistant Scoutmasters. I used to have a set program for visiting parents. I would sit with them and go through some standard information and answer questions. Then I would ask the ASM’s to do a pre-arranged talk about some aspect of the Troop program....
During my early years as a Scoutmaster fundraising for Scouts was a miserable task I dreaded. We tried selling stuff offered by fundraising companies with marginal success. What we finally hit on was a spaghetti dinner that has been a great money earner and event for the past decade or more. There is no ‘right’ fundraiser for Scouts. Some will find success where others fail; but here are a few guidelines that have served us well:...
A good discussion of most common questions about Webelos to Scouts transition at Ask Andy: The Webelos bridge crossing ceremony is to publicly show the transition, or crossing over, from a Cub Scout pack to a Boy Scout troop. At one side of the bridge is the pack he’s leaving. On the other side are the representatives of the troop he’s chosen to join (always the Scoutmaster and most often the troop’s Senior Patrol Leader—the highest-ranking youth leader of the troop—too)....
From a letter by the 2005 National Chief of the Order of the Arrow; The Boy Scouts of America recently completed a survey of boys who had left the Scouting program. I would appreciate it if you read this letter and share the information with your unit leadership. The major conclusions from the survey are that young men drop out of the program due to the lack of a good unit program and not enough outdoor adventure....
Let’s build a “membership standards” Scouting checkpoint at the gate of our scout camp. Adult leaders can gain entrance only after they pass inspection on their adherence to the scout oath and law to enter. This way we can be sure to exclude atheists, the divorced, smokers, drug users, alcoholics, tax cheats, people who are overweight, adulterers, fornicators, the envious, homosexuals,the lustful, the prideful, the gluttonous, the dishonest, and the slothful....