Cburkhardt

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,

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?

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

$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.

While I do not have the specific numbers, I am generally aware through national contacts that Sea Scouts maintained membership and grew marginally during 2022. Its future will probably continue as a micro-program as long as it continues to be a low-cost/no-cost program to councils and restores more of its pre-covid/pre-bankruptcy membership.

Early on, the bankruptcy discussions on these posts had a broader perspective including the impacts on both the BSA as an institution and claimants individually. There was a natural narrowing of the discussion and claimants led the way as the bankruptcy proceedings focused on the complex technical treatment of the claims and establishment of the trust. Now we are beginning to deal with the how the bankruptcy is significantly impacting the future for various BSA entities and it going-forward members. This discussion will ultimately include things like mergers, local council bankruptcies

First, I’ll answer the original poster’s question. She exhibited objection to hearing religious viewpoints being shared at a BSA meeting (apparently a district BSA function), concern that her child might hear a religious viewpoint at some future BSA event and wants to know how she can avoid such circumstances. The answer is simple. The BSA will not limit the sharing of a religious prayer at one of its events. The BSA will not restrict a group of girls in our Troop from deciding they wish to pursue a religious badge. The BSA will not prohibit me from presenting my optional Sunday morning “

The BSA’s Declaration of Religious Principles is a wide-open policy that welcomes all. In our Troop this certainly includes the girls who are still trying to figure out just what it is that they believe. It is the business of their families to help them sort those issues out. People who want to filter certain religious or philosophical beliefs from their children’s ears are free to do so. You just can’t use the BSA to enforce your personal views on others. This is because the BSA is not a temple, church or other religious, ethical or philosophical organization. Varying groups have tr

I believe the declaration of religious principles as actually observed within the BSA is effective and appropriate. Those of us who have been deeply engaged for decades in promoting the operations and quality of the BSA have gone through many cycles of discussion and sometimes conflict regarding what the BSA should or should not do as its unpaid volunteers offer program to young people. I read through this thread and congratulate many for the low key and relatively accepting postings on a topic that has sometimes elicited rage. The BSA is sufficiently large and diverse to function as a

Mergers. We will see many of these and for good reason. The principal reason is to being higher-quality program resources in the form of personnel (volunteer and professional) and facilities. The days of the council service center being a critical location for meetings and other activities are long over. These mostly-underutilized locations are often oversized due to legacy staffing levels. With Zoom meetings having largely replaced shorter meetings that used to take place there, and mail order having replaced the need for in-store stocking at the service center, the better option i

Extrapolating membership results of other Scouting organizations after they admitted girls is interesting, but it is not predictive in our circumstances. We have gone through circumstances that would long-ago have destroyed any other not-for-profit organization I am aware of. This includes two decades of extreme dispute over membership standards, ten years of high-profile civil litigation against BSA councils over youth abuse, formation of a competitor organization that presents an ongoing public relations and membership campaign targeted to discourage boys and men from joining the BSA

Can we focus more on how having Girls in Scouts BSA will impact the BSA over the long run?

Here are some predictions to get this going. In 2033 ....... · Female youth membership will comprise 45% of BSA membership. · BSA will have reconfigured Cub Scouts by migrating to a GSUSA-style formation and operation model for that age group. Emphasis will be on larger dens without packs and no chartered organizations. The uniform will become a casual-style shirt with printed or iron-on insignia. Outdoor programming for Cub Scouts will be increased and upgraded. Mixed gender Dens will be allowed., but these will comprise only 15% of Dens. · After t

How will having girls in Scouts BSA impact the BSA over the long term? By long term I mean your predictions should be of impacts at least ten years distant. You can be bold if you wish -- and I do not insist that you be granular or specific with your analysis. And, it is fine to predict impacts going beyond the BSA. I want you to swing for the fences as you predict things. I encourage those of you who do not participate frequently to have some fun and post on this thread. We have had four previous postings to suggest how units and councils can improve implementation and have captured