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The challenge may not be stay or quit, but get started. For current Scouts, if it gets North of $50 many will reconsider. For NEW members, especially Cubs, you need to sign up little youth PLUS yourself. Fee is $50, to sign up you, your kid is $100, plus uniforms, books, possible pack dues; you could be looking at $250 - $300 to get involved

Anything above $50....

From what I have read, and been told, the answer is no. CSE Surbaugh mentioned how he had no children, do he could focus on his career. Many workers bees at National have little to no experience in Scouting, either as a youth or Scouter working with an unit. And those that have the experience tend to be ignored. I am told the head trainer has the job because of her PhD in leadership management, and has never been involved previously.

As I'm seeing other posts and reading about camps closing across may councils, LDS separating, negative BSA legal commercials during prime time TV, and price increases, I have to question what is going on with marketing, protecting the scouting legacy, and whether scouting is on the downslope. Long gone is the public support of scouting like Waite Phillips donating Philmont to the BSA. We need some of our wealthy folks in or out of social media circles to save camps too. My beloved Silver Trails Scout Reservation in the thumb of Michigan just announced a buyer for that camp. Crossroad

I was looking through my father's old Boy Scouts "Handbook for Boys" the other day. It's from the 1949 printing, and I figure he got the book not long after that, as he turned 10 in 1950. I was very surprised to see that there were advertisements in it! I saw ads from Goodyear, more than one shoe/boot manufacturer, a knife company, Coca-Cola, and others. I've attached a few pics. I personally wouldn't mind seeing ads in the modern Scout book, as long as they were relevant to the outdoors or the program and not for video games. Thoughts?

My expert patch goes on the temporary pocket, the RSO patch is on my blaze orange hat that I only wear at the range.

Our unit doesn't sell it. We do other fundraisers. Many units in our area don't participate. The parents refuse.

Popcorn is lousy product, and selling it is the second-lowest form of fundraising (the lowest being car washes). I still remember the day in the '80s when it was announced that popcorn would be "the" official product. What? At what prices? You are kidding me? For popcorn? So even then, National's strategic decision making was questionable.

In my opinion, popcorn encourages hucksterism in scouts. The product is of dubious quality and outrageously over priced and most scouts know it. They hear the feedback from people who say they can buy better product at a fraction of the price and yet National keeps exhorting them to peddle it. In any other youth organization my scouts have been involved with, the fundraisers offered something of value that didn't feel dishonorable to sell. Don't know why BSA can't find another fundraising partner.

This is one of my personal irritations with the way they run these programs. If you ask the Council popcorn reps how we are supposed to sell popcorn that is priced at 4-6 times retail value for the product, they'll say something like "You don't try and sell them popcorn, you sell them the program and ask them to help support the program by buying popcorn". But at the same time, scouts are forbidden to solicit donations directly. So... it's against the rules to overtly solicit a donation, but tacitly soliciting donations via popcorn is just fine.

If National registration was the "all-in" cost of Scouting, I could easily sell an increase to $75/year. But it's not. To most people all that fee gets you is your name in a database. Registration fees don't cover the cost of one badge or pin, much less a camping event. Anyone that has done an actual cost study on the true cost of Cub Scouting, knows that it already takes close to $200 to put a kid through a year of Scouting. That's just to run a bare-bones program for Cubs (no trips, no campouts, etc.). That's $600 in popcorn sales before we even begin paying for outings and adventure

Check out Boys' Life and Scouting Magazine. Sometimes I feel like those publications are nothing but ads.

It's part of Surbaugh's new marketing campaign...."Scout me OUT!"

The adults have a different agenda, or they are supposed to have a different agenda. I taught that adults are responsible for Character, Fitness, and Citizenship. Scouts are responsible for Patrols, camping, advancement, relationship with adults, growth in making decisions, decisions base from Oath and Law, leadership and uniform. Scouts don't have much of a problem with their responsibilities, it's the adults that can't seem to stay in their lane. So, to your point of the SPL driving a fun program; scouts know what fun is, so the scout should be driving the fun. You are right to

Sounds fair. I think there's another issue. Where does this drive for efficiency come from? Scouts are busy. Parents are busy. Everyone is trying to cram more into a week. Asking for more volunteer hours is like squeezing water from a rock. Unfortunately, scouting growth is kind of like a good loaf of bread, it takes time to rise. The longer it takes the better it tastes, and using yeast can really wreck it, not to mention make it less nutritious. (Can you tell I'm hungry?) I was surprised the first time a scout told me one of the best things about scouts is you can just hang out wit

The look and feel of merit badges has evolved quite a bit since scouting first began in the early 20th century. In the beginning, merit badges were embroidered on a square piece of cloth. Later, the edges around the embroidery began an inexorible process of shrinking, and being rolled up along the edge. It wasn't until the 1960s that merit badges which looked like the kind we give scouts today started to emerge, with no cloth background apparent and a neat twilled border all the way round. The different stages of merit badge evolution are identified as "Type A" through "Type K".

Hello are we allowed to wear the NRA patches for instructor and the USA Archery patches on our uniforms? Thanks.

Temp insignia. So it goes on the right pocket.

If you like good news, I have some to report. The patrols in our unit are much stronger now. I nudged a little, and the SM and ASMs were quite open to the changes. There was a reforming of the patrols along the lines of natural gangs I spoke of in my original post. The patrol with the older boys chose to keep their old patrol name. The patrol of younger guys created a new patrol with its own new identity. There is now no question who is in what patrol. No more going to the list at the back of the room to check. There is now a patrol meeting during each troop meeting. These ar

Well, I said Stand Back, and my point was the problem of adults not letting scouts run the show. I think you find that the adults of successful patrol method troops somehow someway set the example of successful leadership while giving them room to make decisions. I remember asking a new ASM what he thought about our troop. This was after 3 campouts, he said “I’m surprised that the scouts side of camp mimics the adults side.”. He was surprised because the adults camp was typically out of sight 100 yards away. Just what kind of example should adults set 100 yards away, and out of sight

I'd love to see such temporary insignia on your right pocket! Especially if it's relevant for how you'd likely be serving scouts at an event. But, just so you know you're not alone in asking, and you are worthy of a knowledgeable reply let's give a nod to Mike Walton:

No doubt! 😄

DEs effectively serve as the glue that keeps Scouting moving at a local level. They help units solve problems, they encourage membership growth, they help the district volunteers to grow and expand local program support for units. They serve as task do-er at the local level for whatever tasks the larger council needs done - fundraising, new unit development, whatever. We "need" these positions because we need districts/councils to exist to provide program support to units. We "need" these positions because we need to keep trying to grow Scouting. We "need" these positions to help prev

Who else is going to coordinate for FoS to come solicit for money?

Starting a new unit will be near impossible.

I really can't see them being stupid enough to think $100 would fly, from a $33 current cost

I’m a bit pessimistic. More wealthy families no longer see scouting as critical to their children’s success and they don’t see how scouting can fit in their schedule between mandarin classes, coding clubs, sports and music. Middle class families are being priced out with national, council and camp fees. Yes, there is fundraising, but scouting is not about fundraising and if that takes up considerable time just to pay registration fees you’ll lose interest. Lack of quality new volunteers is my biggest concern about long term health. Several Troops in my area are led by older

I’m frankly a little surprised to see troops having Scouts (and parents) front the cost and then get reimbursed. That would have been impossible in my day - some Scouts barely had the $10 food fee, let alone affording $80 for the whole patrol. We were a fairly rural area with some lower-income youth. We just brought cash to that week’s meeting, gave it to the shopper, and doublechecked receipts on Friday to make sure he hadn’t pocketed any cash. That almost never happened - leftover money usually went toward picking up an extra box of Pop-Tarts or hot chocolate mix.

So many good comments here. I fear to say I think the largest obstacle to patrol success is the passion adults put into the patrol method and scouting in general. In addition, I think it perverts the program; stresses the scouts; and saps the fun and excitement from the program. When I look at the requirements for a national honor patrol, I envision a set of friends getting out doing things. In the process of that, they help each other grow, plan and coordinate. And, they take pride in their friendship and identity as a patrol. Yes, modern youth protection makes this harder,

Interesting. A location that still has a "deposit" on bottles. Our county has universal recycling, so all bottles, cans, etc. get picked up at the curb. Back in pre history, back in the days of "Paper Drives" and no official recycling I was "the dad with the pick up truck" for my daughter's school. They collected aluminum cans for recycling at the metal yard. I remember packing crushed AL cans into big plastic trash bags for week or two, and then packing them into my truck (which had a cap top) and sometimes I would have as much as two tons of cans ! Down on the springs! Might brin

As a former pro, @ParkMan 110% correct: DEs have little to no influence at the council level, let alone the National one. In fact, I find out thinks before the DEs do from this site, FB, and friends elsewhere. Clarification, got a copy of a letter one council sent saying that while no one knows how much the fee increase will be, be prepared for $100.

Why? They get a paycheck -so what? Why does that mean they need to get grief for this? Scout Executive's do have a channel into national - so maybe. But a local District Executive is an initial professional job in the BSA. DEs are employed by local councils who are separate from the national organization as well. They are not talking with anyone at BSA national about fees. No one at national is going to get a report from a DE who says "a parent in Troop 123" is angry about the new fee model. I talk quite a bit with our local DE. I have a good sense of what he knows, what he doesn'

Well, if you put yourself in cold water, that might lower your heating bill just enough!

Also, the key to survival that I have seen for Crews is to never stop recruiting and try different methods to recruit. each wave of scouts will want to do something different. If you only recruit once a year or when the crew starts dwindeling it is hard to recover. there isn't a natural crossover point like from packs to troops. Also, we have a very specific rul of no "purpleing" , mixing of blue and pink. Not dating allowed between crew or ship members.

I would hope they are not even checking or trying to enforce "rules" like that. I think that most experienced scouters already know that cotton has some issues on backcountry canoe trips: if it gets wet, it's just going to make you colder later --- not warmer --- and it's not likely to dry if you just hang it up on a line once you get to camp. I suspect they're telling you to bring a synthetic sleeping bag because they've had too many folks who had to sleep in a wet bag when night time temps can easily drop into the lower 40s or below. Nevertheless, I'm with you. Synthetic sleepin

Sadly it is not only different from council to council, but also Scout Exec to Scout Exec. While the volunteers are suppose to be in charge, I have seen the nomination process rigged first hand at the council level, and was encouraged to do the same at the district level when I was a DE. Last district event I ran, the DE overruled myself and the volunteer in charge of the IOLS training that weekend. We had been working on the events for over a year, and at the last minute the DE added a 3rd event the same weekend at the same time. We had to scramble to get additional supplies and I had to red