gpurlee

Thanks for following up on the lead! Some interesting findings on retention: "By far the biggest family-related factor affecting both retention and recruitment was the cost of Scouting, which arose in 20% of interviews. Several leaders commented that Scouting can be quite expensive when accounting for membership fees, uniform and supply costs, and the costs of summer camps or high adventure experiences. " It raises the question of whether we are pricing a significant number of potential and current Scouts out of the program.

The future of the national high adventure bases in the bankruptcy proceedings has been a repeated topic. The newest base, the Summit was planned as a cornerstone to an effort to stem the membership decline and to attract a new generation of Scouts. It was envisioned as “Disney World for Scouts” that would have the impact in the 21st Century that Philmont had in the 20th Century. It would be a blend of high adventure, state of the art facilities and technology. The Summit would become the permanent host site for the national jamboree and would have the capability to host the world jamboree. It

Thanks for sharing this study. For a hundred year old organization that has impacted millions of youth and adult, the Boy Scouts of America has had an amazing lack of serious, rigorous research. Instead we have relied upon anecdotal evidence to build our case that we are an effective program. It was announced in 2019 that Montclair University was launching an in-depth study (Building Evidence in Scouting Together) of the impact of Scouting which was funded by a multimillion grant through the Bechtel Foundation. I am not sure where that study currently stands.

Welcome to the forum! We are glad to have you here.

To the original poster, it historically has been difficult to find a good, active chartered organization who will actively participate with your unit. The vast majority, despite the charter agreement, have viewed the relationship as providing space for a community organization, not the ownership and accountability for the program. And this is likely to haunt several chartered organizations in the not too distant future - perhaps for decisions that were made decades ago by a whole different set of leaders. Keep in mind that there is an option now that the council can be the "sponsor" of yo

Lots of great opportunities. Our first trip into the Boundary Waters was through the BSA northern Tier base. The rest of them have been with private outfitters once we had the skills and confidence to go on our own. We have enjoyed the Gunflint Trail south of Ely a lot. Great trips in the past to Colorado and the Rocky Mountain High Adventure Camp. Rode Amtrak out of Chicago to Denver which was an experience in itself (both very good and very bad). Stayed in beautiful Salida, Colorado. Rafted the Arkansas River, rode mountain bikes on a world class trail, hiked to near the summit of

Welcome to the forum. I am not familiar with the proposed camp. To my knowledge, it has not been discussed at any of our International Representative recent teleconferences. It looks like it is aimed at a Rover age group, similar to a moot encampment? Appears to be a beautiful region, reminds me a bit of Kandersteg in Switzerland.

Probably worth at least $0.02.

Lol - not sure firing everyone is within the Judge's domain. However, I suppose a liquidation achieves almost the same result. Seriously, there will be a lot of questioning and second guessing for years to come of what could and should have been done differently at the national level from sixty years ago to today.

The Game of Torts You are invited to play along and respond to the question at the end with this fictional account based on real world events. You shift restlessly in your seat as the judge stops her tirade and looks at you, waiting for your response. As a member of the court appointed mediation team, during the past year and a half, you have had a unique vantage point to witness one of the most complex and emotional cases that has ever unfolded in federal court. Now in the early fall, it seems that the events are poised to soon reach a climactic moment – although

The impact of this abuse scandal and the resulting bankruptcy threatens to swamp not only the national BSA but also a number of local councils, chartered organizations and insurers alike. Not to ignore the multitude of shattered lives. This series of events is likely to literally become a textbook case that will be studied for decades. Coupled with the impact of the pandemic and the devastating effect on the image of the organization, from my perspective, the path to survival for the BSA continues to narrow and become increasingly steep. My fear is that not only may the national organization

Welcome to the forum. You will find a lot of good ideas, great conversation and a wide diversity of new and experienced Scouters. We look forward to what you will add and learn from participating in the forums.

Some observations from our troop and council regarding the achievement of Eagle rank from five decades as a Scout leader. (1) Clearly statistics show an achievement rate today of two to three times the rate in the 1970's. (2) The explosion of district and council merit badge weekends has made it easier (too easy?) to achieve many requirements. This has accelerated with virtual classes now being available. It used to be rare to see a Scout with 25 merit badges on their sash. Today, frequently sashes almost collapse under the weight of 50 or more badges. (3) Many troops now provid

Weather can be very unpredictable and being prepared can be a challenge. Over a long period in Scouting, I remember dealing with a tornado passing very near camp while we were away from any manmade shelters as well as at least three lightning strikes in the immediate camp area. Portable weather radio, weather apps on cell phones today and improved forecasting make it much easier to be prepared. My most vivid weather lesson, however, came as a private pilot. I had flown my son and a couple of his friends to a nearby state park that had a runway. We spent a great morning on the lake and

A couple of thoughts concerning the question of insurance for persons considering the possibility of creating a local alternative to the BSA. Insurance companies look at several factors including loss history, risk, as well as their perception of the environment. An environment in which there are 100,000 claims and a billion dollar plus exposure is not very favorable. I am a pilot. When I started to fly, it was was easy to get a five million dollar coverage liability policy with a million dollar per seat coverage limit. Today, the typical policy limit is a million dollars with a $

I met a girl who sang the blues And I asked her for some happy news But she just smiled and turned away American Pie Don McLean We seem to have quite the shortage of happy news at the present time. The bankruptcy is perhaps the most visible of the threats facing the BSA but I wonder if the impact of the pandemic may be the ultimate factor that leads to the demise of the organization. In scanning our midwestern council’s most recent membership statistics, it appears that our total youth membership has plummeted almost 70% compared to the end of 2019! The Cub membership has b

We had a well known national consultant meet with our church leadership several years ago. He had worked with over 1,000 churches and had published over 40 books. One of the programs he looked at was our legacy Scouting program which many members of the church had cited as one of the best programs of the church. He challenged that notion by stating that, in his experience, most Scouting programs were only community groups housed by the church. His definition of church "ownership" of a true Scouting ministry was (1) church adults actively involved in the Scouting program on a regular basis, (

With almost 100,000 claims, it seems that there is a potential wealth of information for critical research to prevent future abuse assuming that (1) researchers would be allowed to access this information within the tight bounds of the confidentiality agreements and (2) the valid claims can be separated from fraudulent claims. For example, did the abuse occur within a Scouting event or in another setting? Is there a pattern in terms of ages? Did these tend to be re-occurring episodes or isolated, single events? It seems that we still have much to learn as we attempt to develop more effective

I noticed the same comment. I think that is a valid comment but challenging to attain, especially when the activity is more challenging such as overnight backpacking or winter tent camping which precludes many adults physically. Some troops seem to address it in part by maintaining a corps of recently "graduated" Scouts who want to continue ties with the unit. However, many of them are not age 21 yet.

Interesting question. I did very detailed research of Boy Scouting in our community during that time period in the 1920's. Indiana was a hot bed of Klan activity. The governor, half the legislature and an estimated 30% of white male Hoosiers were Klan members. In many ways, the Klan was initially viewed as a fraternal and social organization. There were local instances in which a Klan member would walk down the aisle during a church service and present a financial gift to benefit the church or local organization. Sometimes the church leader who received the Klan donation was also a Boy Scout

EagleDad - in response to your question: In our large midwestern council, it appears that we are looking at a potential 70% to 80% Cub membership loss. We are right in the middle of re-chartering and will not know for certain perhaps for another month. Several of our units are late in submitting their renewals. This number seems to be consistent from what reports are coming out of adjacent councils. A lot of our cub packs have been decimated by the pandemic. While virtual meetings seem to work at least somewhat well for the older youth, it has not done nearly as well for Cub age yo

Cynical Scouter - I would agree that the Cubs will take the major hit. I would guess 70% to 80% loss in some councils. Unfortunately, this is our largest program and major losses in this program will adversely impact the troop level programs, perhaps for years to come.

I do not envy the position that many councils currently are in or will soon be in. I have worked not-for-profit management at the C-level most of my career. A very challenging set of circumstances are coming together than will challenge the continued operation of many councils. (1) Based on what I am seeing, it is possible that we are looking at a 50% plus decline in membership during 2021. The combination of the pandemic, the loss of chartered organizations, the loss of the LDS church at the beginning of 2020 and difficulty of recruiting will create a firestorm to manage. In our counci

What concerns me is that this places the largest denominational sponsor of Scouting units and many of the local churches in a potentially adversarial relationship with the BSA. There will be hesitancy to continue to sponsor units at the present time in this type of environment. Many of the United Methodist Churches have sponsored Scouting for decades. A whole new group of church leaders are now working with the packs and troops today and have had no understanding of their role and accountability as an "Owner" of a Scouting unit(s). Unfortunately, most of our COR's have not been trained, do

What changes in youth membership are anticipated in your area as we enter 2021? In our midwestern council, based upon discussions with unit and council volunteers as well as professional staff, it appears that we may be looking at: (1) A 75% or greater loss in Cub membership. A disturbing number of units are having difficulty getting minimal numbers necessary to re-charter without a waiver. (2) 20% loss in Boy Scout troop membership (3) Perhaps a 5% to 10% loss in chartered organizations. Our council is re-chartering this month. The major factor in the anticipated lo