Jameson76

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 number of seasoned and experienced volunteers have made their personal decisions and moved on. As for newer adults being brought in with Cubs and families, they are seeing BSA as an experience and doing their time with the kids, then on to the next thing. Many are not even aware of district or council. Personally, I see even with the unit I am involved in, not many understand the governance and structure of the BSA. District is a needed evil for Eagle project approval, and that's about it. They do not bring value to the day-to-day unit operation.

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 and 100 Scouts. Big decrease. Do not see the numbers of years past coming back.

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 pandemic induced, main challenges are lack of focus (overall) by the organization on actually getting folks interested in the BSA. There is no marketing, no real effort to "sell" the BSA to kids and also families. Recruiting is a challenge, but retaining those recruited is the actual issue and having a compelling program that is not burdensome.

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 where Scouting happens, in the units. So many key district and council volunteers are so far removed from actual Scouts out on actual outings, they have lost their focus. A good thunderstorm or cold night can lead to a lot of maturity growth real quickly.

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 years. This summer the average scouts per unit was about 19. In talking with the Camp Director that was about average for all the weeks. While they had roughly the same number of Scouts in camp, the number of units per week was much higher The focus on Cubs has been a short term gain (questionable at best) for long term pain. Kids / families are burning out and leaving, also many families think Scouts will be similar and are not ready for the independence and autonomy of Scouts, They seem to expect programming for an 11 years old their kid can easily move into, as opposed to programming for 14 - 15 year old that their kid(s) can aspire to.

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 scouts (pre-covid) to 15K this year. Organization needs to do a great bit of self reflection. Also sell Summit and cut the losses

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 not been anything official from BSA National and now our local council is acknowledging they have dropped the ball. In the middle of the dressing down from our DE on daring to ask questions, he alluded to the the need for a membership chair / committee and maybe some of our unit's leaders would be interested....well, you ask so nice. BSA seems to be actively driving away leaders Raising the membership rates New registration process YPT and registration for ANY adult that camps 1 night only for cub camping...NO WAIT....never mind Endless pleas to sell popcorn Endless pleas to sell camp cards Come to camp with your unit and we need you to also help run the camp you also paid to attend We try to just run our unit, go camping, help youth (in our case boys) gain independence and confidence. BSA keeps layering admin and other interference that takes our eye off that goal and sucks up time.

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

Camp is $380 per Scout. This includes 1 off site per scout for horseback ride or river rafting Less than 5 Scouts - no free leaders At least 5 Scouts - 2 free leaders 25 to 34 Scouts - 3 free leaders 35 to 44 Scouts - 4 free leaders 45 to 54 Scouts - 5 free leaders 55 to 64 Scouts - 6 free leaders 65 to 74 Scouts - 7 free leaders 75 or more Scout - 8 free leaders Leaders cost $200 per week if not free

Returned from camp on Saturday, just some observations on new scouts and troop sizes The camp we attend has about 1,000 campers per week (+/-). This is week 2 for them. They have had roughly that number for the last 15 years or so that I have attended there with the troop. Some observations. 1) New Scouts - Typically new Scouts made up roughly 25% - 30% of the attendees. This year it was about 15%. Mainly this is due to Covid we presume and the decimation of the packs in 2020 and 2021. Possibly this will improve, but it did have an impact 2) Troop size - In the past to have 1,000 Scouts there were usually about 38 - 40 troops in camp, average of maybe 26 Scouts per troop. This year there were 56 troop is camp. That is an average of 18 Scouts per troop. A drop of 30% in size to camp. Obviously this is anecdotal and one snippet of data, but it is interesting. The camp ran well, Scouts had a great time, much fun was had by all.