Breaney

Our Lodge has been struggling in numbers and participation for a few years now. We recently started looking at how many of our Council's Scoutmasters were members of the OA and noticed that only 31% are members of the OA. I was wondering if any other Lodges tracked this info and what their Scoutmaster membership rate might be and if anyone had any strategies on how to increase the number. My personal belief is that there is a direct correlation between the lack of participation in the OA in our council and the small % of Scoutmasters who are members of the OA. Any thoughts are appreciated.

I am a Lodge Adviser and my Lodge is in the process of creating Chapters. Since I know the idea will be brought to me (most likely by our Professionals) I thought I would pose it here first. What are the benefits and drawbacks to chartering an OA Chapter as either a Venture Crew or Troop? If we do charter these Chapters what are the possible pitfalls I, as Lodge Adviser should be aware of and watch out for. Any and all advice is welcome.

Well to be honest I wasn't completely in favor of Chapters, at least in the short term. Our Lodge has been struggling with youth participation for a long time. I was just appointed Lodge Adviser in August and youth participation is something I've been working on. My thought was before we can create Chapters we first need to rebuild the Lodge. However, at NLATS my position was changed. My worry was, if we start up Chapters would we be putting the cart before the horse...so to speak. It was pointed out to me that right now, we don't even have a cart. The group I attended NLATS with overwhelmingly supported starting Chapters as a way of reigniting the enthusiasm for the OA in our Districts and then feeding that up to the Lodge. The Chapters would be formed geographically by our Districts which align with the Counties in our Council. For 2010 we finished the year with 394 dues paid members.

I am the Lodge Adviser for our Council and we have decided that we want to create Chapters. Our Lodge had Chapters many years ago but for one reason or another they disolved. Since none of our current members were around when we had Chapters we're a little lost on how to get started. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas, suggestions, materials, or anything on how to help us. For a little bit of background both myself and one of my Associate Advisers have completed NLATS. What we've decided, in consultation with my Chief is to create a Vice Chief and Associate Lodge Adviser position for Chapter Development. We will then form a Committee of youth and adults to set the direction and assist the Districts in creating their Chapters......but that's about it. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!