Jameson76

I think sadly that will be the story for many troops / districts / councils as the year end numbers are posted. There has been a lot happening these past several years, not all of the messaging has been handled effectively. Yes many units continue to do well, but many long term volunteers have quietly folded their tents and moved on. Honest question: there is an event for to celebrate the girls joining Scouts BSA. We are one big happy family. But if the Boy units want to attend, that's great. but just can't spend the night? Why the exclusion?

I would be intrigued to know what these folks actually do on a daily basis to support the units and grow Scouting? Also, for every one of these there are the minions that do the actual stuff. Sure the average is $322 K annually for this staff, but how many other staff does this in fact spawn? What does the Director of National Jamboree do the other 3 years? What exactly doe the CSE and Director of Outdoor Adventures do? Maybe High Adventure bases, but those all also have GM's, wonder what value they bring and how many new members (you know the actual youth) this brings or members their efforts retain. I worked for a company, about 1 billion of so in sales, we had 12 locations (a distributor business) and handled about 40K orders daily. Our overall executive load was easily 1/2 of this, and no high end retirement plans. Point is I am sure these folks are busy, but what are they actually busy doing to drive sales (more youth)? Do they even have an idea what that work entails? When I ran one of our sites I would be out on the floor picking orders daily, seeing what our customers were ordering, working with the staff who actually did the front line work each and every day. On what do they do, this is the same question we ask about our DE when, on the rare occasion, actually have a question and may need some support...crickets...unless it's about Benjamins. Then he's all in.

For 2017 it is actually 19 staff that were listed. The average W2 reportable compensation for the 19 was $332,000. Interestingly there is a John Mosby who is now an Assistant CSE of Development as of March 2019 ($310K in salary for 2017 as a Regional Director). Wonder if he is any relation to the new CEO Roger Mosby?

That is 20 just at the National BSA office. This is shown in their form 990. Each council is required to file a 990 form. You can do a Google search and likely find the PDF of the document. The requirement is to show salaries over $100K

What I find interesting is that his title is CEO and President, and not Chief Scout Executive. Not sure if that is purposeful or just the new direction. I know those of us in corporate America notice when there are changes in titles at the top levels or a large organization. His real challenge will be the bloat at the top and the overall lack of business acumen. Looking at form 990 for 2017 - https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/221576300/12_2018_prefixes_20-22%2F221576300_201712_990_2018120315968954 reveals a good bit $266 million in revenue $307 million in expenses A loss of $41 million $78 million in salaries Also insurance $66 million in insurance $25 million in claims Looking at part VII you will see the salaries of those over $100k 20 or more over $100K in salary

And therein lies the issue. Many people see Scouting in many different ways. Scouting, as @ParkMan noted is a "a youth development activity, Scouting is designed to put youth into new and challenging situations in a safe environment. Because these situations are challenging, Scouts often try them, struggle, fail, and then try them again. Along the way, youth often have to assume more responsibility then they are accustomed to" We cannot and should not try to be so many things to so many different constituencies. Concentrate on what we as an organization do well, focus on that. How many companies have all of us seen that start out doing one thing, then see the next new shiny thing and head in that direction, only to have the whole enterprise collapse. Rather than focusing on winning youth with the core program, BSA seems to be constantly trying to vary the program, to chase the next shiny thing. Whether that be STEM (STEAM??), now Family Scouting, and who knows what's next.

Oh yeah - National sees this as the great untapped masses, sadly that is NOT what draws youth to Scouting I would agree. Most Scouts and teenagers will tell you that one of the great things about Scouts BSA is they get away from Mom and Dad That which can be monetized will be prioritized That is so true, a family can definitely go camping without the BSA, that will be a lesson learned no doubt Sadly we are seeing that in many Webelos and their families crossing over. We talk patrols, boy led, individual pace; and they want advancement outing, focus on keeping all at the same pace, and making sure all Scouts are monitored at all times. Basically how can they win / finish at Scouts and then go to the next thing.

Wow - I guess the new focus is officially FAMILY CAMPING if you look at Scouting Magazine The cover is all about Family Camping Note from the CSE is Family Camping at Philmont (gotta pay the new mortgage I guess) Commissioners Corner is Family Camping Some article about Madcap Family (not sure if it's Scouting related) MB article on (you guessed it) Family Life (Hey...we should all go camping!!) Main FAMILY TIME article (6 pages) So I guess that's where we're heading....

Honestly do any actual Scouts (or Cubs / Venturers / Explorers ) really care if they are Bronze - Silver - Gold - Chartreuse?? Do they even know if they are Bronze - Silver - Gold - Chartreuse?? Do they even know what JTE is?? My point is that JTE seems to be (is??) adult leaders reporting things to other adults leaders who then report to other adult leaders who then report to more adult leaders. The intent is good and at it's heart there can be benefit. In practice it's a form that unit leaders fill out as another leader finalizes the recharter form(s). One more piece of paperwork.

I guess my issue or heartburn with JTE is that it reaks of corporate culture hamstrung into a youth program. JTE is really just KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) warmed over and put into a format for units.. In business and in working with contractors and remotes sites you have KPI's. How long to get stock received, inventory accuracy, turnover, time to get orders out, accidents (technically lack of accidents hopefully) etc etc. This give the managers objective and consistent measurements to see how the process is working. Note that these are in fact NOT self reported but typically pulled from the system(s) governing the operations and can assist to make improvements. The data drives the results reported (KPI's) and then actions are taken as these are reviewed. The JTE "scorecard" should record and reflect the subjective measurements of how a troop is functioning. That is the hard part, it needs to be subjective as Scouts are not cartons going across a dock or an item picked from a bin. So BSA National took the easy route and quantified it so it was all nice and tidy. The Short Term camping "goal" is a great example. Are all outings created equal? Well that is a great debate. If the Scouts choose where to go, plan their menus, plan the activities, etc that is an outing. If the leaders tell the Scouts where they are going and what they will be doing, that is also an outing. If you camp 2 nights or only 1 night on a weekend, is one outing better than the other? Car camping or hiking? Stay on a ship or do a lock-in...are those "outings". Not sure what the solution may be, but the scorecard and numbers are likely not the best method.

Pretty easy solution, don't deal with the adults in the district or council. Anytime I've had to deal with the DE, District folks, council folks, or Council professionals it becomes painfully clear that we have vastly different perspectives and vastly different reasons for being involved with Scouting. Just say NO to roundtables, JTE targets, the wood badge cult, non specific membership drives, popcorn sales, getting worked up over district training targets, council "demands", MB universities, camp cards, Trainer's EDGE, etc etc etc For me, as you seem to note, Scouting is great way to be part of developing (in our case) young men and seeing them grow and take on challenges. Camping out in the dirt, the mud, and the burned or forgotten food. Seeing a Scout who is incredibly upset that the rain is heavy and cannot get his tent setup in the dark, but then an older Scout assists. Seeing that same young Scout the next day having the best time paddling about the lake in a canoe. For many not at the unit level my perspective is they have not seen an actual Scout out in the wild for a good bit. Many have forgotten the "why" of doing Scouting and are just busy doing Scouting. They feel that what they are doing is the most critical part of Scouting. While it is important, the most vital part is youth facing leaders assisting and guiding the Scouts as they run the program. Be the best leader you can be at the unit level, watch the youth mature and sit in on some BOR's and it is always encouraging.

Good Lord we've started quoting the Rolling Stones to help explain what the BSA executives may be up to. I did not see that coming

From your lips to the volunteers ears. This would shake up some underlings

Stuck in the 70's...try the middle ages. BSA has been succession by the royal heir that survived the intrigue in the kingdom. The leader is not the one who can lead and move the BSA to greater heights, it's the best politician who can make backroom deals. No challengers or boat rockers allowed. Also no outside ideas. Must.Drink.The.Kool.Aid We can all see how great this model has worked out in Congress and Federal Agencies.

At least the former YPT training was in fact training. To be compliant you need to do A B C, if you see non-compliance do X. If you are aware of issues report to cops and council. Now we have 90 minutes of agenda indoctrination to make sure we know that child abuse is bad.

So...with that type of logic, and in that world, I can be a leader, taking youth on outings and adventures, doing all the Scouty things one does, then...suddenly....on December 6 I will (I guess like Mr Hyde) transform into some sort of raving lunatic endangering youth? Better solution is for BSA to figure out the calendar foolishness, because either it's good at the time or recharter or it's not. It is up the the Scouter to be current when the annual recharter rolls around. Remember...BSA does not exist just to support and promote YPT training, this is just part of the overall program training. It is part of who we are, not WHY we are.

Are you looking at the numbers for the year as compared to last year (November 18 vs November 19) or are you looking at Jan 2019 vs November 2019? The reason I ask is that BSA does not adjust any numbers out for crossovers or age outs until recharter at the end of the year. For example, if you have a pack of 45 and 10 Webelos crossover in March and you add 10 at School night, BSA will indicate 55 in the pack, while the pack (correctly) would say they were at 45. Those 10 Webelos would now be also showing in the Scout troop they crossed over to in March That troop that had 50 Scouts and 10 aged out while they added 10 new crossovers would show as 60 on the books, operationally the unit leader would say they had 50 Real indication will be the annual report for 2019 which will be reflective of the recharters actual numbers, units not rechartering, and importantly the 20% loss (+/-) from the LDS departure. 2018 Annual Report numbers Cubs - 1,231,831 Scouts - 789,784 Ventures / Sea Scouts - 55,101 Explorers - 109,613 TOTAL - 2,186,329 2019 PREDICTIONS Cubs - 1,108,648 Scouts - 631,827 Ventures / Sea Scouts - 52,345 Explorers - 98,652 TOTAL - 1,891,472 Drop of 13.5%

With all the legal clowns involved, surprised it doesn't run 12 pages, not including amendments and exhibits....

Agree on ask the organizer. Hopefully they have a method. One of our Scouts Eagle projects was organizing with the local middle school a giving tree for Christmas. A good bit of double blind so nobody knew who was getting the gifts, they shopped and then wrapped and labeled as per the school counselor instructions. The Scouts had a fun time shopping.

Cue the "We Need the Dues" gif from Animal House.....

Sad truth is that troops of less than 5 are not really a troop, they are not really a patrol. It is really tough to have an engaging outdoor program with so few Scouts to interact with. I wish them well, but there may be more to the story.

Typically the COR is not directly involved with the unit operations as a COR. Seems this COR wants to be the CM or CC, he may want to be large and in charge because that's what he wants to do and NOT what you need or want him to do. The Chartered Organization Representative (COR) is the direct contact between the unit and the Chartered Organization. This individual is also the organization's contact with the District Committee and the Local Council. ... If the chartered organization has more than one unit, one representative serves them all. Nothing in that involves direct unit operations / program There is a pretty good guide - https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/04-113.pdf Below is sort of what they are supposed to do, run program is not really one of these. ❑ Serve as a member of the unit Key 3 team and meet together several times a year. ❑ Serve as a liaison between your units, your organization, and the council structure. ❑ Encourage unit leaders and committee members to take advantage of training opportunities and to regularly attend district roundtables. ❑ Promote well-planned unit programs. ❑ Organize units to serve the youth needs of your organization and the community. ❑ Promote the recruitment of new members. ❑ See that youth participants and adult volunteers advance from one program phase to the next. ❑ Assist with annual unit charter renewal. ❑ Suggest unit Good Turns for your organization. ❑ Encourage unit committee meetings. ❑ Encourage the pursuit of Journey to Excellence performance. ❑ inform and engage organization leaders and members. ❑ Encourage active outdoor unit programs. ❑ Emphasize advancement and recognition. ❑ Secure district help when needed. ❑ Use approved unit finance policies. ❑ Encourage recognition of leaders. ❑ Cultivate resources to support your organization’s units. ❑ Represent your organization on the council and district levels. ❑ Serve on your council’s relationship committees when asked

We stopped there heading back from Skymont Got a replacement lid for a dutch oven Skymont clean site award is the Cracked Skillet award. Much to our surprise we actually have won it a few time

Again people speak of commissioners and the reason the role is not commonly understood is that so few folks / units have actually seen one. They may file reports, but very few are seen in the wild. The commissioner should know the units leaders, the CC's of the units, the key unit leaders (not the leader or CC, but the ones who actually gets stuff done). This would entail more than maybe an annual visit. Honestly if you query most units about their commissioner you will get "who??" or "what??" Not saying it could not or should not be a useful role, but the execution is often times lacking.

Wait - Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve is valued at $371 million dollars? The site is maybe 13,000 acres, that would be $28,500 per acre. Seems a bit pricey.....