1. Legacy members and Volunteers.  I grew up in the Scouting program, and the SM and ASMs were the "father figures" I looked up and sought advice from. My fellow Scouts were like brothers to me. In essence Scouting was my surrogate family. I continued on as a Scouter even when I had no kids, because I NEEDED to give back. There was no way I could ever repay my SM and ASMs for every thing they did for me. Closest I could do is give back. When I did have kids, I wanted them to have some of the same experiences and joys that I had as a Scout, and if possible even better ones. But the program is not the same as it was. The program has been watered down. Instead of adventure, the focus is now "Getting Eagle." The old standard of advancement was " Master the skills" and "The badge represents what a Scout CAN DO (emphasis added), not what he has done." Now the standard is "A badge recognizes what a Scout has done toward achieving the primary goal of personal growth. " Look at the number "academic" requirements in MBs, as well as purely academic MBs there are these days.  And with National saying they will be "Simplifiying" the Scouts BSA program, there are a lot of concerns, including from BSA "cheerleaders" like Mike Walton about watering down the program further. And let's not forget the bad treatment of longtime volunteers by not only pros, but also newer volunteers. I have given examples in other posts of the mistreatment of experienced Scouters by pros. But go on some of any social media website, including this one, and you will have newer volunteers denigrating and insulting experienced volunteers and their concerns. I know I have been told in person and online that "you don't know what you are talking about," "(citation from G2SS, G2Am, etc) is wrong you can do..." and 'Scouting needs to change with the times." So a lot of volunteers , especially on district and council levels, are throwing in the towel. And trust me, it is EXTREMELY hard to replace them with folks witht he same knowledge, skills, abilities, time, and treasure. 2. Nostalgia. When you hear the terms "Scout," "Eagle", etc folks get images of the Norman Rockwell paintings and  Follow Me, Boys.  Scouting over the years has done so much good, that it has a positive image. Sadly the paper-pushing is slowly changing that adventure into another classroom. Worse, the dark side of Scouting is making an appearance, and folks are applying today's standards to activities 40+ years ago. Falsifying membership has slowly been coming out. The biggest obviously is the CSA Scandal. Whether you agree it is BSA's fault or not, it has hurt BSA.

If that crew is a regular thing, it would be a good idea if the unit was prepping regularly, not just when the crew comes along.  

Sadly, the time when the Government offered much free, or at cost help, is long gone.  One of the reasons for the Summit was the increasing outside pressures from some political individuals against the government allowing BSA on military bases, especially AP Hill.  It did not matter to them that while yes, BSA was getting expensive services at cost, or in some cases under, the military was getting major training opportunity in their support at the events.  Again, little was completely free  the Base personnel or its property, only at "costs".  A different perspective and a different world.   

Our eldest does Code Ninjas (learning to write code in C#, Python, Java for things like Minecraft mods) - that costs $220 a month. Our youngest (just transitioned to a Bear) does karate three times a week, I think that was $3k for 2 years.

Agreed.  Fundraising can mitigate the cost as it can in sports and other programs too.  The cost discussion started because of asserting scouting is a good value compared to other programs like sports.  Since those programs can also fundraise to reduce cost, the comparison is best done on raw cost.  What is the family cost before it is reduce by unit fundraisers.  I'd still argue scouting is a great program, but not necessarily cheaper at all.  If your scout is active, it costs money.