Jameson76

The two I have taken were structured as follows 4 hours during a weeknight 8 - 9 hours of on-site on a Saturday 3 -4 hours participant study and review of materials before the weeknight and on-site

Certainly the horse it out of the barn on this one, but, going forward you may want to set clear expectations for rank advancement. You are the SM and responsible for the program. For Star / Life / Eagle other the MB's, all the requirement sign offs you may want to be done by the SM. In our unit for Scout / TFoot / Second Class / First Class the requirements are signed off by Life or Eagle Scouts. Rank requirements are signed off by SM for Star / LIfe / Eagle. They go to their specific ASM for the SM conference for Scout / TFoot / Second Class ranks. SM handles those for 1st / Star /

This is one of the reasons I only work at the unit level. I do volunteer and serve on my terms. I would say the leaders in our troop (60 + Scouts and 12 + active leaders + committee) are on the same page. The District Chair and DE wanted to do a meeting on FOS, we said no, send us a flyer with detail and we will distribute. Then they wanted access to our parents e-mails, again, nope. We'll handle it Popcorn, nope. Camp cards, nope. Focus is program, outings, etc. I enjoy mentoring the youth, seeing them succeed. Helping them deliver program to their peers. Way way back in th

Well, do you raise money to have a Scouting program (volunteer thinking) OR do you have Scouting to be able to raise money (professional thinking). When well over half you expenses are salaries and compensation and not focused on program, it's an issue. My council's largest group is dedicated to raise money, so they can have more staff to, well, raise money You are being kind, it's like any management thinking is from the 30's and 40's of layered management (many layers) and nobody really makes a decision, they just sort of meet about it. My council has a lot of staff and a well pai

Don't overthink this, remember the focus should be on the Scout and delivering the program. SM or CC is not available, quick text or e-mail should be able to secure their approval, leader on site signs, and move on. If they (CC or SM) have concerns those should have been voiced long before the Eagle application is in play.

Well - That explains the focus on FOS, popcorn, and camp cards. Guess all of our fair share is needed to support their lifestyles

You can find the 990 form for your council. For my council latest one I could locate was 2019 Revenue - $14.3 M. These top 6 staff (less than 10% of the total staff) account for $1.594MM in costs or 11% of the budget. SE pay is not in fact a misprint SE / CEO Reportable compensation - $459K Other compensation - $159K Total - $618K Deputy SE Reportable compensation - $189K Other compensation - $70K Total - $259K Director of Development Reportable compensation - $155K Other compen

Out unit does not sell popcorn, camp cards or FOS. When we look at the council roster of staff roughly 30% of the folks are specifically related to "development" I was at a troop event and the area director advised that scouting was a success due to amount of money raised at a dinner When they list a new person coming on as a DE, they list FOS, popcorn, and camp cards as their main functions. Then ONLY time we see our local DE, it's about money. Honestly not sure what the guy does 40 hours per week. We have maybe 20 units in the district. 3 of those at our CO. Basically 1 day per w

The BSA has never been overly transparent on their numbers or their math. Lately they don't seem to report their numbers or generate an annual report. Their math is suspect at best. They always report that only 5% of Scouts get Eagle. This number is generated by XX Eagles in a year divided by YY Scouts registered at that time. 50,000 Eagles, 1,000,000 Scouts (now Scouts BSA) and you have 5%. Challenge is that a good number of Scouts are Scouts for multiple years. Not a big deal but I think it speaks to the casualness the BSA has with actual data. No way diminishing the Eagle rank (

Our unit has had some discussion on this requirement. In our mind the key phrasing and verbiage is "who has an identity that’s different from yours" At it's most general, the definition of identity is "the fact of being who or what a person or thing is". This really could quite literally be anyone, other than an internal dialogue. All of us have some different traits, beliefs, or characteristics than someone (anyone) else. It is not saying a person of Christian faith must speak with an atheist. That would be enlightening no doubt, but not required. They (the scout) should have t

Has National BSA just stopped publishing annual reports and membership numbers? Last one I can find is 2019 CUBS - 1,1176,119 Scouts BSA - 798,516 Ventures - 42,571 Explorers - 101,243 Learning for Life - 145,463 CO's - 80,756 My council does not seem to publish any numbers. If you are lucky enough to hear one of the chosen professionals (the great unwashed and holy) they seem to determine success by money raised. Also they all seem to be getting promoted. I guess that means more cash for them. Never see them and not sure how they positively impact

One observation is that our local soccer / baseball / basketball youth sports leagues do not do any marketing, but seem to have a bunch of participants. Honestly the best marketing is word of mouth, youth having a positive experience, inviting their friends. Our troop runs an Instagram account with 1,000 followers and a Facebook page with close to 500 followers. Not sure this translates to youth joining. This does give us a positive image in the area. For the Scouts it does give them a platform to show their friends what they do in the Troop. For the BSA we do face image headwind

@ScoutcrafterHave you read Lord of the Flies by William Golding? The patrols should sort of work like that. Though I would suggest to try to avoid the Scouts dropping boulders on the other Scout's heads. Truly the SCOUTS run (or should run) the program. In the case of the new / crossover Scouts it is tough to have one them be the patrol leader due to lack of experience. In our unit the crossovers are in the new scout patrol / program and older scouts from the troop are their "patrol leaders" for the spring and their first campout. First meeting in the fall they get rolled into the re

Which will then become ALL dens are coed (who doesn't like families right??), which will then morph to "piloting" coed troops (and there already are they are just separate on paper), and then ALL troops will be coed and it will not be an option to be single gender, because that's not inclusive. Should just get on with it and let it shake out

If only Summit had squirreled away some of the +/- $750 million ( yes they squandered that much) spent on the Disney Scouting Land into some T-Bills or interest bearing bonds, maybe they could afford staff. That balloon payment looming is not paying for itself

Not really digging the Council Fee option in the hand dandy graphic.

For my council you cannot find the information. Any stakeholders report just note Scouts at camp. Most of this is extolling the wonders of all the fundraising they do. Fully 25% of the staff employed are involved in fundraising. Ask how the council is doing, you will get fundraising numbers

No more silent swimming or stalking. Good times. Also enjoyed the start a fire with no more than 2 matches and then cook a meal on said fire with no utensils We also had to hike uphill both ways to the camp, in the snow, carrying a canvas tent

@Cecille25 To be clear Your son was at the camporee with his troop He was wearing a troop shirt that was pink This troop shirt is from the same troop he (your son) is a member of at this time The SM and ASM for the troop (your son's troop) harassed him for wearing a pink troop shirt The adults involved are the SM and ASM for the troop that produced the pink shirt Everyone involved is in the same troop (your son's troop)

This is always the question, doe we raise money in order to have Scouting, or do we have Scouting in order to be able to raise money. I am in a large council and largest part of the professional staff is fundraising, development, etc. Yes During the challenge with the Chartered Organizations (UMC) the BSA did nothing. Our council did nothing. Basically they don't care about the units. They would much prefer to not even have actual units out doing things. Much easier and less messy just to have some photos of Scouts doing things. All that is needed is a some cub packs (they'r

As has been noted, the challenge is the Council / District feels the units are there to support them, not the way it should be; the Council and District supporting the units. In our unit we have asked the question, what value does the council actually bring to our unit on a regular basis. There are the normal answers DE support (we never see the DE), ability to bring Scouting to the under served (that seems like a good cause until you really dive in and see what that actually is) In recent years there was the pandemic and the Council offered little to no input or advice, during the bank

In the 80's we did the sunrise and were in basecamp about 8:30 or so. When we walked in they thought we were trailbound, what with packs on and whatnot. Then they sniffed us They did let us go in and grab breakfast. We had to loiter about to check in. My crew was an older group, hiked 3 to 4 miles an hour and I was much much younger. We arrived at many trail camps early., Good napping and hanging out with staff that trek

Always entertaining discussion on towing the trailer. Have run across units held hostage by the Trailer Haulers that are able to dictate when and where the troop camps due to their "contribution" Glad our troop trailer is smaller, our gear is stored in a shed, and can be hauled by any SUV / truck. No extra requirements for hauling.

Camped at a state park. The troop built survival kits, we built 'boats out of boxes, painters tarps and duct tape and there was a race. Also played putt putt, and also ran a cross country compass course. The weather was perfect and much hammocking. When we got back on Sunday had an afternoon Eagle Court of Honor for 5 of our recent Eagle scouts

Southeast - council camp is $350 for the week / $360 out of council. Includes most MB fees and off site whitewater rafting