Jameson76

I have only seen the DE wander by a meeting maybe once, and they were wanting to talk about FOS. The DE came out to see our Troop run camp summer 2020 during Covid, we sort of felt they were looking for things we may be doing wrong. One year they stopped by our campsite at camp (once in my 15 years) to say I guess hello. Bottom line, the professional staff has done zero to build bridges with our unit, the largest in the district Would agree. We did have some questions on the new recharter process as the information had not been sent to units and details we were getting from oth

Finally found some details on my council, not able to find past years, but I know that overall, the council has less youth than in past years. Most surprising, and possibly troubling item is that Cubs are now over 2/3 of the membership. Maybe that will mean future growth. Another possibility is that this is where professionals and council board membership team feel the easy pickings are, so that is where the efforts are. Less risk and more oversight in Cubs, so the safety folks are happy. Other interesting nuggets: Equivalent of 15.5 adult volunteers per unit, which seems high.

So I guess the DE would need to be actually visible in the district, maybe make an effort to get to know the units, and not be an arrogant and condescending person in communications with units.

What do we want from Professionals 1) Visibility - Our District has 20 units. We have 3 units at our CO. Doing math and assuming a 40 hour week, in a month the DE should be focused on what they can do to build our units close to 3.5 days. We actually have no idea what they do. 2) Marketing - The professional should be involved in building the BSA brand. Social media, local papers, etc. 3) Recruiting - Leaders and Youth, focus on growing the brand

I know locally that seems to be how they raise the money to keep the professionals being paid, you focus on the history and the nostalgic thoughts of the BSA. No mention of current operations, more "Follow Me Boys" than actually what is happening. Local council has 40%+ of the staff either directly or tangentially involved with fundraising. The DE's, who are supposed to be building scouting locally, are primarily charged with leading FOS, popcorn sales, camp cards ..... oh and maybe if time building units in the area.

Also, there is the question, for districts where are the volunteers coming from? In the good old days, you and son (now child) would be active in Cubs and then Scouts, as child aged out, you could become involved in the district, etc. etc. With the larger number of units / adults at that time there was a supply of folks to choose and select from. As has been noted, with the disregard by pros and no real cache to be a "district" or "council" volunteer, there is no pool available. And, whether one agrees or disagrees with the policy and membership changes in BSA over the last 10 years, a

This should not be underscored. BSA spent close to $1B on the Summit when there was no need and no real overall plan to fully utilize. Well, there was / is a plan, just not a realistic plan. Look over the original presentations, it is smoke, mirrors, and hope. They could easily have setup a home for the Jamboree at a much smaller area and at a much lower costs. Why they keep pouring cash into the vanity project that is the "Summit" baffles me. Sell the place and walk away.

As a reminder, Scoutreach and efforts to serve the underserved have been used by professional BSA staff to inflate membership numbers. Below are two articles, but the abuses were numerous. Alabama Boy Scouts Accused of Padding Membership (foxnews.com) Atlanta Scouts Inflated Numbers - The Washington Post A needed effort, but the administration and potential for abuse is huge.

The SE (sorry he insists on being called CEO) for Atlanta Area Council makes waaay more than that. Thus no FOS for me.

I would agree. Certainly, a nice guy no doubt, but he is retired and 67. Now that would definitely qualify him to run for President of the United States, but why not someone in their prime? An energetic, new vision for the organization, someone who can get out and represent the BSA out of bankruptcy. As a businessperson, when I see a retired individual take over a company coming out of bankruptcy, I see someone who is either a caretaker for the next "real" leader OR someone who will be shepherding the company through its sale and breakup.

In our district we have one troop rolling into ours as they are not re-chartering, the SM's son crossed over to our troop and last 2 years we have had some of them attend camp with us. Many of our scouts an theirs go to the same school, so they all know each other. In talking with another SM recently they may nor re-charter, just not enough scouts. They are not as close to us as the first one. That is 2 troops units down in a small district. 10 years ago within 2 to 3 miles of our CO (church), we are heavy suburban, there were maybe 375 Cubs and 250 Scouts, today maybe 150 Cubs an

To put current membership in perspective, there are now about 312 youth participating in Scouts (on average) in each county in the United States. Your results may vary 979,902 participants / 3,143 counties = 311.77

Membership is still a challenge apparently

The actual numbers for Cubs / Scouts / Units appear to be a closely guarded secret. Our council makes no mention of actual numbers in any reports. If you ask the professional / board group they judge BSA's success by the amount of money raised. That is their KEY metric. There is the report to the Nation, though not able to find one for 2021 (would have been presented March 2022) that contains membership totals. Basically since 2017 the BSA has seen a reduction of more than half the membership. Venturing, Sea Scouts, and Exploring are down by much higher numbers. While some is pa

Agree the big benefits of Scouting can happen in a troop and happens over several years as the Scout grows, matures, takes on leadership, and takes on more adventures. As an Eagle, camp staffer for many years, former DE, ASM, and with experience in training and in district leadership (way back in the day) when I involved my son he joined in 3rd grade so only maybe 3 years of Cubs, which was a gracious plenty. He was very ready to move on to the troop and get to the fun of Scouting. As a side note, when he joined the troop I was (and still am) only involved with the troop. That is

While at best anecdotal, and only a snapshot, just some local observations 1) The 2 Cub packs are our CO are basically 1/2 of what they were per-pandemic. Both were in the 110 - 120 range, now both are about 55 each. As noted the fees, etc. seem to have cut into participation. 2) Our troop is about 60% of what it was, basically the challenge is the crossover numbers. Was talking with one of the AOL den leaders, they had 12 in the den when they started, now they have 3. 3) At our week at summer camp the average number of Scouts per unit in camp used to be 26 over the last few

Well I think in general BSA marketing is non-existent and I would agree, we do many things and people do not know this. As an aside, if our MAIN go to marketing message is your youth will be safe with the organization, that is probably not the ONLY and best message we we need to present. If that is all we sell, then families will logically determine they can be safer NOT in scouting. In no way wanting to lessen the YPT focus, but that cannot be our reason for being.

I trust he will bring a more streamlined organization. With the number of Scouts and units, even if doubled, the BSA is bloated. The organization needs to get more efficient technology. The professional scouts need to focus on how to grow the program and not how to raise money and sell popcorn. The BSA is a youth organization that (for Scouts BSA) is somewhat unique in that at its best is youth led. The endless cub scouts and family camping is moving away from that and burning out kids and families. Look not further than the great and hallowed National Jamboree went from 40K scou

Not actually. Do not confuse "2-Deep" leadership at an activity with "1 on 1". The 2-Deep leadership does not mean that 2 leaders will be present at all times around all Scouts (speaking more for Scouts BSA). It means there are 2 or more leaders at the outing. 4 Scouts go fishing by the lake, all good. One of the leaders wanders by to say hello, again, no issue, multiple Scouts, no 1 - 1. Scouts are building fires at the site and a leaders is there, again multiple Scouts and a leader. Don't overthink

In our council they have decided to limit the number of merit badges an MBC can be registered for. In GTA it advised that National does not limit the number but local councils can. Not sure why they want to do this, assume it's a money grab to get that $25 fee from more folks. I know, let's drive more people away from the program

So how does the BSA justify (support??) - market with a straight face the Family Camping sale at the High Adventure bases? You could have families spending the night at BSA facilities with Scouts BSA aged youth and parents without YPT. These Non-YPT folks could be around units. Seems either ALL adults going on outings need to be YPT trained and registered EXCEPT when they are paying for lodging in "Family Camp". Nice carve out

The challenge continues to be the group (professionals) that "lead" the program. We had recent interactions with our DE as we asked questions about the new registration process. Their responses were at best condescending and at worst arrogant and dismissive. Our district is smaller with maybe 10 - 12 Troops and roughly the same number of packs. It is rare that you get insight into what a company (pros-BSA) really thinks of it's customers (actual units). The feedback referenced a very poor quality Cub Chat YouTube video and alluded to communications from National BSA. Well there has n

Sadly National and most council SE (or CEO for the really vain) only will care if it assists in the fundraising efforts. Scouts out doing things and impacting lives is of little value to the Professional Scouters. In their mind raising money is where the real action is. How can the "positive vibes" be monetized

You could have the older Scout serve as a JASM to guide the younger scout as the SPL for camp. Then the leaders in camp will never have to get out of their chair to deal with anything

Correct - For the week we attended, 41% of units were from out of council / out of state