yknot

Other youth organizations have met similar challenges of having to adapt to changing demographics and, at least in terms of membership, been able to maintain or succeed where scouting has flagged. In BSA scouting, it's been a decades long leadership problem. Good leadership can motivate and herd the cats into some kind of common path. I think a lot depends on who Roger Krone is and on what he does in the near future.

Most of these programs are pretty well publicized to the employee and most of the council websites near me have a matching gifts/volunteer button with search tool for volunteers to find out if a company has one. If your council isn't publicizing it, keep bringing it up at Roundtables and see what happens. Keep in mind some people like to keep their giving habits private, so saying they know nothing about it might be an easier way for them to say stay out of my stuff.

It just may mean they are volunteering somewhere else and donating the hours there or even to another charity if they choose. Many of these corporate giving programs are capped in some way. At least that's my understanding.

Part of the reason for that might be that many corporate giving programs exclude religious organizations unless it is a separate entity, like a food bank that serves the entire community. If your CO is a church for example many companies won't issue funds unless the scout unit has its own 501c3 and is open to the community at large, not just members of the church.

@AwakeEnergyScouter, you might want to read a subdiscussion among some of the regular commentators under the thread "2022 Membership Numbers". It was in Issues & Politics, starting on about the top of page 5 with a post by Eagledad. Click as well on the links in subsequent posts by other regular commentors, although to be fair I don't recall Qwaze in that one, for the illuminating articles and interviews with people like Jordan Peterson and James Damore which some of them posted to support their views, or others agreed with. The discussion dismayingly goes on for about 48 posts to page 8.

Scouting can be great for many kids but for some it can also feel like they are being benched if they aren't into the increasing focus on advancement and Eagle. About 60 million kids out of 74 million are involved in sports. 4-H has been growing steadily and there are 6.5 million US kids enrolled. Obviously, these activities are increasingly appealing and affordable to a broader range of kids. There are less than a million in scouts and that decline has not been caused by sports or 4-H or anything other than scouting's own difficulties in remaining relevant, relatable and accessible to kids.

It can be extremely memorable, but so can a winning sports season. Kids are individuals and if they and their families have to make choices, they should be making them based on the full picture.

Cornell's backyard bird count is next week for anyone with interested scouts. It's also a great community awareness/recruitment opportunity. https://www.birdcount.org/

Well, I think a culture of growth would incorporate different attitudes and practices towards girls in scouting. Does anyone have early 2024 membership numbers yet by the way? That's probably the clearest indication of where we might be headed.

Hi. I didn't say that. You are actually quoting Armymutt.

Indigenous groups are no different than any of the immigrant groups that have arrived here. These are communities like any other that are capable of working out ways to deal with contentious issues in their past -- there's no difference with anyone else. That's what these laws are meant to do.

The problem with membership is organizational.

This came out a few weeks ago in the typical BSA dribbling way. The $25 new scout fee was a terrible idea so it's good they got rid of it. I'm still waiting to see 2024 membership numbers. I am guessing membership numbers were lower so it made more financial sense to get $5 from everyone vs. $25 from fewer than anticipated new members.

I don't know how the new law affects this but in the past, affiliated or even unaffiliated tribes had a pathway to request them for funerary ceremonies if remains or if objects for their own musuems.

It's policy in your state as of last year and the policy was enacted with the broad support of tribal associations in your state. Several schools have given up Warrior appelation.

This has been long overdue and likely will have spillover impact on the BSA's continued inappropriate appropriation of aspects of Native American culture.

Anything notable was discussed at the subsequent committee meeting and became part of the minutes.

Our campout critiques were always delivered in the form of roses and thorns at the meeting following the campout. I think the idea that everyone thinks of both a positive comment as well as something that could be improved was helpful to getting useful feedback.

It will be the last year for at least a full two maybe three year cycle depending on how long they now keep lapsed memberships on the books before there is any stability in the year to year numbers.

The past couple of years National has reported growth on January 1 using the December 31 numbers but after March 31 you would see that it was an actual loss not a gain for the reasons you note. Based on what we were shown here in early December, it seemed like that wasn't going to be able to work for 2024. I just wondered if anything had changed. Keep in mind with the new rolling membership strategy, the March recharter cut off may lose some of its significance. I'm not sure how they are going to work it, but I think BSA said new rolling memberships would have a six month renewal grace period

Like PACAN I'm still looking for some national 2023 membership numbers. As far as I can tell, BSA hasnt yet published a year end recap unlike most prior years. The last numbers kindly posted by Malraux didn't seem to trend toward an increase for 2024 but you never know.

I think they can say you can't do it, but I don't know that they have a way to prevent you from fundraising if you decide to ignore them. The popcorn thing is a huge problem for many units and you would not be alone in going rogue. Far from it. They do have some sticks they can beat you with though so be prepared. Our units opted out -- politely, but firmly -- and endured a lot of threats. But we continued to make an in lieu contribution to council from our new, more successful fundraising efforts and our membership grew, so within a year or two they left us alone. Hopefully you're in a reason

Keep in mind there are currently 75 million school children in the US and close to to 10 million adults working in K-12 educational settings each year. While CSA is a concern in any setting where adults have access to kids, the numbers in scouting spike high given the relatively small slice of the population involved.

There is no point comparing sports to scouts, either as an activity or as an expense. Ten days at Philmont can break down to be just about as much.

I think the arctic fox numbers you cite are for parts of Scandinavia where they are doing poorly. Elsewhere they are doing OK. My oldest son went to Svalbard on spring break hoping to see polar bear among other things, which supposedly outnumber the human population there, and saw not a one although conditions were not optimal -- near whiteout most of the time.