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Cburkhardt

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Cburkhardt last won the day on September 14 2023

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About Cburkhardt

  • Rank
    Skipper and Assistant Scoutmaster

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    District of Columbia
  • Biography
    Founding Scoutmaster and now Assistant Scoutmaster of Scouts BSA Troop 248 for Girls in District of Columbia. Skipper of Sea Scout Ship for young adults in District of Columbia. AOL/Eagle/Quartermaster/Vigil as Scout. Past Positions: District Chairman, Area Venturing Advisor (Central), Council VP (Abraham Lincoln, Springfield IL), Region Membership Chair (Central), National Venturing Committee V Chair, National Second Century Society Chair, Area President (Central Region Area 8), National Income Development Chair, Council President (Pathway to Adventure, Chicago), National Advisory Council, Assistant Webelos Den Leader.

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  1. Councils are intended to support Units. A unit exists to work with a Chartered Organization to operate unit programming for young people. A council exists to grow, improve and preserve Scouting at the unit level through its professional and volunteer staff. It also exists to provide program opportunities that a unit cannot conduct by itself (like summer camp and certain activities). Councils exist to protect the overall organization and members (especially youth) by assuring adherence to policies on things like advancement, life safety and YPT. Essentially, councils exist to serve units,
  2. I was under the impression that these international Scouting organizations (which I know relatively little about) concentrated on assisting the Scouting organization in countries around world and did not engage in political and policy advocacy. I took a three-minute peek at their web site and see mention of political and policy matters on which countries would take varying positions. Does anyone know if the BSA has granted this organization authority to adopt and express policy positions on behalf of the BSA and its members?
  3. My two units (a ship and a troop) are considered an important part of the services offered to the community by our COs. The COs believe that we are internal to their organization and directly relevant to the achievement of CO objectives and missions. Our CORs for both units are respected and active members of the COs and are effective communicators. We perform service projects each year for our COs. We agree with and advance the priorities of our COs. The idea that they would charge our Scouting units a facility use fee would be like charging a 6th grade Sunday school class a fee to use m
  4. A good District Committee provides a solid interface between Scouting and the local community. Members can be critical in the placement of units with new COs and the successful formation of sustainable units. A good District Committee assures there is a competent commissioner staff to maintain good unit practices and intervene when there are difficulties. A good District Committee helps raise funds from the local business community for the Council. Finally, a good District Committee organizes and operates supportive services like camporees and training conferences. Beginning with a
  5. With our Council's new service fee of $80/year, our Council will no longer do FOS at the unit level. Prior to this, I had my 2 units (a Troop and a Ship) make an annual unit contribution to the Council to offset our not participating in Council-organized fundraising. We will discontinue this annual unit contribution practice as a result of the new fee. It would be difficult for conduct a unit FOS and charge a service fee, because the FOS solicitation was always presented as a way to pay for the things the service fee now handles.
  6. Units should collect “all-in” dues to pay for operations and national/local fees. Everyone participating on this site knows we provide a huge financial bargain for our member families. This becomes very apparent when comparing Scouting fees to other activities for youth. When we started our all-girl troop in DC in 2019, we decided to calculate the all-in cost of our year long-program (with the exception of campouts and summer camp). This included purchase of things to keep our equipment inventory up-to-date, program materials and special activities and our annual dues to council
  7. Our mega-sized girl troop (that is not paired with a boy troop) does not rely on crossovers. We recruit at least 80% of our new members through simple open houses and similar tactics. I would focus on effectively recruiting girls. Solely relying on "crossovers" does not provide plentiful membership for girl troops. I would spend time figuring out how to recruit bunches of girls who have not been in Cub Scouts instead of figuring out how to operate a micro-sized girl troop. Your heart is in the right place and you will figure this out. Proceed with confidence. You have a wonderful progra
  8. When I serve on a council board or district committee, I want the senior responsible executive present to report on activities and be questioned on critical projects. The CEO of a company is always present at board meetings and is normally a member. Attendance of a paid employee is appropriate and not a key issue. It is the ability and willingness of volunteer council board or district committee members to fulfill their roles without allowing themselves to be overly influenced by anyone -- including professional staff. Paid employees are in the position to have more-extensive knowledg
  9. When a Council becomes fundamentally dysfunctional, it is because the council board is not doing its job. This is usually coupled with professional leadership that either overly-dominates the board or is incapable of inspiring its volunteers to fully embrace their board roles. The volunteer Board Chair (formerly known as "Council President") and other principal volunteer leaders are responsible to set policies and priorities for the operation of Scouting within a geographic territory. The Scout Executive is paid by and reports to them and not the other way around. Board members who all
  10. I have read most of your postings concerning the bankruptcy and am glad you added your voice here. Your thoughts informed many of us on topics we were not as familiar with and upgraded the quality of sensitive discussions. Many of us have had long-time engagement with the operational leadership of units, councils and the national organization and enjoy exchanging information and opinions on how the BSA can best provide safe and meaningful program for all of us to participate in. Sometimes these conversations can be very direct -- but that is only because we are seeking to encourage what is
  11. Regarding very small councils, the only way these work in a sustainable way is to (1) have camping property fully endowed and popular with out-of-council troops to break even and provide capital improvement revenue, (2) have a single professional employee (and maybe a helper) to function as a SE/DE and (3) use the camp for the service center. Those councils need to function mostly as volunteer-operated entities. If the expenses get loaded-up beyond that, it is the job of the volunteers to raise the necessary cash. When we did our combination, one of the combining councils was very small
  12. The combination I led was a 4-year project in a major metropolitan area, so it is not possible to adequately summarize the effort in a short posting. However, here are some basics: The principal challenge for the four predecessor councils was an inability or unwillingness to adequately govern and manage Scouting. Membership was dropping 5% - 10% annually and finances were on a steep decline. After years of encouraging the councils to upgrade things, national withdrew the four charters, disbanded the executive boards and directly implement a combination. There were seven camps, i
  13. The new council combination sounds like a great move. As former president of a council that was formed by a pre-bankruptcy/COVID four-council combination, I observe 8 years later that combining was the best possible move to address challenges that threatened to end essential services to youth in the involved geography. It was not a perfect process, but the things that worked were successful because we faced and acted on the big issues with complete honesty and transparency -- with the entire Scouting community providing input and being informed throughout the effort. Please do not fall into
  14. Summer Camp Experiences GREAT This Year Nothing is ever perfect, but my 2 experiences at summer camps this year showed me that we are moving in the right direction. I dropped my beautiful daughter off at Owasippe (reservation for Chicago area located in SW Michigan) to serve as a CIT and stayed 5 days with my wife. The spirit of the Scouts and Scouters could not have been better. Only 4 campsites remained available for the entire summer. Demand is through the roof. Better yet, there was relief and optimism on the part of the Scouters I met about the departure from bankruptcy. C
  15. $80 Youth $60 Adults $30 ScoutReach $25 Joining Fee $25 Merit Badge Counselors $50 Explorers These are now public. This is a $5 increase for youth, $15 increase for adults and a new fee for MB Counselors. The MB counselors are being required to pass YPT and undergo background checks as a result of the negotiated bankruptcy settlement. These fees are being subsidized by private donations to keep the increases at these levels. Without the private donations, the youth fee would be at least $100.
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