Leaderboard

It is sad and I ironic. Our neighbor, while I was a Cub Master, was a district leader for Campfire. By coincidence, the wife of our ASM was what we would call the District Commissioner. Only over a much larger area. She was well connected to the National office. I was lost when I started in cubs and the neighbor gave me all her notes. The program was fantastic. I was what I still feel Cub Scouts should be. But both friends admitted that they felt the future was bleak. Campfire had changed it's membership policy to accept gays and the membership numbers were taking a huge hit. It also star

Perhaps it's a regional thing, but I'm a CC and I've never thought of anyone as subordinate. My thinking is that we're all volunteers filling pre-defined roles. I sometimes describe it that we're all just actors playing a role in Scouting.

No. If there are parents who don't trust you, there's no amount of proof (short of them riding on your handlebars) that will convince them otherwise. And if you are a smart as you seem to be, there's no data that you couldn't fabricate. Earn the badge old school: scout's honor from the best MBC you can think of. If that person is Mom, so be it.

Price should have known better than to ring up a private Lear jet every time he wanted to go somewhere. Tillerson had been a CEO too long and had apparently forgotten the most basic tenet of leadership...first be a good follower.

I have worked in government at various levels and what happens is if costs go up we have to do the same work with less people like most workers. At some point we do not have enough money to do something we have layoffs and it just doesn't get done. One thing I have seen again and again and again is governments services being stripped away by private companies who charge more for the same service and the public just pays more. It is not unusual for the private efforts to collapse and the government has to take it over again. At the local level we have had the state legislature both deman

This is a real concern. The membership numbers have been bad for a long time, but locally the numbers are getting very bad. Bad to the point that 75% or more of the units are on the bring of collapsing. The numbers are bad. I just never expected this years numbers to be as bad as they are. All the recent program changes seem to address the continual loss. IMHO, BSA has done some good and bad things. Girls in scouting ... I think this is a good change. Not only does it open up BSA to many more youth, it also brings BSA into the modern era. Unless it is a physical issue (foo

This question is bigger than BSA. Many national youth programs may falter if benefactors of all types cease to believe in them. If only partisans would take the money they blow on these hideous TV campaign spots and sink it into local youth programs ... That would tip the scales for me ... an ad that said "Instead of bashing the politician we hate/dread, we donated the money for the remainder of this spot to boys and girls clubs. Enjoy the next 25 seconds of air paid by other sponsors. See you at the polls!"

BSA is one of the largest youth organizations in the USA in terms of revenue and membership. BSA won’t go away. It may be smaller, different and even have to restructure debt, but I don’t see BSA vanishing.

This is a life lesson situation. As a person of good conscious, you will make decisions to preserve your reputation. I say this as you not only want to be a good person, but you want to be perceived as a good person. It will recur during your life with situations that are fine and situations that might be close to the line. Parents as MBC is fine. Parents often expect more of their own scouts than generic leaders. I know with my own sons they "EARNED" their badge and it was often a whole summer project. For their Eagle projects, my influence probably grew their project 200%.

Just give me a little online store that I can buy handbooks, merit badge manuals, patches and uniforms and our troop can continue on just fine. We also need an insurance policy in place. That is all our troop really needs to keep on scouting.

Good points and to add to them one must (for the sake of this discussion) separate CORPORATE BSA from Scouts running around camping Is BSA Corporate sustainable? - Not sure. There has been noted mismanagement of assets and spending. Most notably Summit and fixed retirement benefits exposure. Also has the overhead been structured to match the field reality?. That being said BSA National is one entity and I believe that local councils are a separate entity and then the units are in fact other entities. As members we are not obligated to pay council debts as the council is not obligate

It is not a question of just the dedication of the Scouters it is two different questions IMHO: (1) Is Boy Scouts of America, a Corporation able as it is currently configured and organized, and with current revenue streams and debts a financially and organization sustainable organization. This question which includes social issues such as a national decline in membership organizations, etc. I think there is a reasonable case to be made for the financially viability of BSA the corporate institution given the evidence of consolation of many Councils due to falling membership and declining f

Over the years, I have given much of my life to the BSA at most levels from the Tigers to council. Looking back, I believe that National's actions and decisions for the organization are more self-serving to National than the rest the organization. Can an organization with that kind of leadership sustain itself? Canadian Scouts and Campfire Kids are still around. Barry

I believe the best units are the ones where the CC has the vision of the program and recruits a like-minded Scoutmaster/Cub Master with the gifts to make it happen. We all have our gifts and when we use them correctly as a team, amazing things happen. Barry

I think this may be the start of a new thread.

Yes. For a while it has been been popular to say govt should be run like a business but I never bought into that idea. While budgets and financial controls should exist in both, the inherent differences between governmental agency and a business are to profound to be run the same way. To wit, the primary function of a business is to make profit. This is accomplished by maximizing the delta between income and expenses. In simplest terms, providing the least service (goods) for the highest price possible. The primary function of a government agency (should be) to provide a service to

On cross over night our Pack does simple AoL rank advancement recognition with the recipients, followed by whatever thank yous the parents offer the retiring AoL Den Leader, then we have the boys back up in front who are bridging over. This second group receives a Completion of Cub Scouts Certificate and then crosses the bridge to their new Scoutmaster who provides a new necker, handbook, and wisks them away on the troop's bus to their first meeting, a welcome reception. Nobody goes home empty handed.

Well, I guess the main attribute of a CC is a knack for asking adults for stuff. I think there are real advantages to a pack CC who also serves as a troop MC.

Don't cross tbe streams. It would be bad.

I think one important quality for a CC is to remember that the other members of the committee are also volunteers and are not servants to be ordered about for one's amusement. If you suspect that I have experience with a CC who forgot this, you would be correct.

"Why worry? Each of us is wearing an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back." Those are more in the category of chemical weapons.

I can give you something worse.... at the end of summer camp a couple of years ago one patrol, for reasons no one could fathom, put the used, damp and dirty scouring pads and cloths back in their patrol box. Left their to fester till they were next used a couple of months later. Wow. What a smell.

Oops! Guess studying for child development and looking at requirements at the same time isn’t good

All our dens had at least two leaders, some had more. But we recruited that way. Recruiting a co-leader is a lot easier than recruiting a den-leader. Sharing the load 50/50 doesn't appear as challenging (scary) as taking on the whole den program by yourself hoping and the assistant will take off some of the pressure. Co-leaders plan together and assume equal ownership. Personalities take over after a couple months exposing the true doers who typically stepped up to carry the load. Because of burnout, we combined a few Webelos dens with a minimum of three adults during the meetings. I only

All but one of our dens have ADLs. Some of our ADLs also handle some Packwide activities (planning a B&G, etc). They have been immensely helpful.

If an organization doesn't have the resources to run the program, why does it think it has the right to continue? Businesses go out of business every day. Organizations close down all the time. Churches stand vacant all around the country. It's the cycle of life. Things come and go. Why in the world does BSA think it is exempt from such things anymore than General Motors thought itself to be too big to fail at one time. Maybe with the emphasis on adult involvement, adult volunteerism, etc. the boys think it's dorky and not fun and too expensive, could it be said that the organization is