Tron Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 6 hours ago, Eagle94-A1 said: I do not know where you live, but in my neck of the woods $237 IS a lot of money for folks, especially with multiple kids. I am in a rural area with high poverty rate. As for value, (sarcasm on) what's a professional? Are those the paid folks who are supposed to help units with recruiting? I have heard of these mythical creatures, and thought they were extinct since it has been so long since I have seen one.(sarcasm off) If I wasn't trying to laugh, I would be crying. I'll jump on the pity party. 64% of my town lives at or below the poverty line. $237 is not a lot of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle94-A1 Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 17 hours ago, Tron said: I'll jump on the pity party. 64% of my town lives at or below the poverty line. $237 is not a lot of money. Glad you got a good job, cause i sure don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InquisitiveScouter Posted yesterday at 04:42 PM Author Share Posted yesterday at 04:42 PM (edited) UPDATE: 01 March ended the grace period for those memberships which expired on 31 Dec. Those expired memberships have now dropped off the rolls. Let's look at the updated numbers now... As of 03 March, numbers pulled moments ago... Same Month Last Year: 980,311 (Mar 2025) all programs... Total Current Youth: 781,539 (Mar 2026) a 20.28% drop from last year. Last Year End: 907,950 (This is the 31 Dec 2025 number in the system.) This changed by +1 from previous reports. (weird, huh?) Dec 2024 End of Year number was: 986,520 These numbers include Learning for Life, 33,478 on the books now. Edited yesterday at 04:45 PM by InquisitiveScouter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InquisitiveScouter Posted yesterday at 05:04 PM Author Share Posted yesterday at 05:04 PM Taking out the LFL numbers, we now have 748,061 members in all unit based programs. Last time it was that low? 1933 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yknot Posted yesterday at 05:18 PM Share Posted yesterday at 05:18 PM 5 minutes ago, InquisitiveScouter said: Taking out the LFL numbers, we now have 748,061 members in all unit based programs. Last time it was that low? 1933 Thank you for posting numbers. The nadir during Covid was at one point around 650,000, but that low included a lot of paused not lost memberships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InquisitiveScouter Posted yesterday at 05:24 PM Author Share Posted yesterday at 05:24 PM 3 minutes ago, yknot said: Thank you for posting numbers. The nadir during Covid was at one point around 650,000, but that low included a lot of paused not lost memberships. That was in Scouts only, not all programs. All programs 2020 was about 1 million. https://nam.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/05/Change-the-Way-We-Work-Together.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InquisitiveScouter Posted yesterday at 05:27 PM Author Share Posted yesterday at 05:27 PM Those slides from 2024 NAM. You'll notice the projection for end of 2025 was 1,224,000, all programs. Actual 2025 end was 907,950, so 25.8% below projected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jameson76 Posted yesterday at 08:25 PM Share Posted yesterday at 08:25 PM 3 hours ago, InquisitiveScouter said: UPDATE: 01 March ended the grace period for those memberships which expired on 31 Dec. Those expired memberships have now dropped off the rolls. Let's look at the updated numbers now... As of 03 March, numbers pulled moments ago... Same Month Last Year: 980,311 (Mar 2025) all programs... Total Current Youth: 781,539 (Mar 2026) a 20.28% drop from last year. Last Year End: 907,950 (This is the 31 Dec 2025 number in the system.) This changed by +1 from previous reports. (weird, huh?) Dec 2024 End of Year number was: 986,520 These numbers include Learning for Life, 33,478 on the books now. The current group of professionals and key volunteers know how (in some cases) to raise money. Grow program, not so much. Sad part is they are raising money on the nostalgia of the BSA, not the current BSA No real effort being made to add units or expand the program. Lots of excuses as to why membership decline, just no real honest effort to make updates so people (families) may want to buy what is being sold 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yknot Posted yesterday at 11:27 PM Share Posted yesterday at 11:27 PM 5 hours ago, InquisitiveScouter said: That was in Scouts only, not all programs. All programs 2020 was about 1 million. https://nam.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/05/Change-the-Way-We-Work-Together.pdf The 650,000 was a membership snapshot number posted on Scouting Forums before they closed it to general discussions. It wasn't from NAM. The NAM reports use annual numbers which for multiple years during and post Covid were artificially inflated for a variety of reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcousino Posted 23 hours ago Share Posted 23 hours ago Add those numbers to the loss of formality paying military members, and the shortfall gets worse. Looks like we are in a death spiral: fewer members lead to higher dues, which lead to more member losses. We will likely follow the Girl Scout lead, with maga-sized councils and less council contact. Single units covering large areas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeS72 Posted 23 hours ago Share Posted 23 hours ago 3 hours ago, Jameson76 said: No real effort being made to add units or expand the program I guess that all depends on where you are located. The goal here is for each of our districts to add at least one new unit each quarter, with an emphasis on every current charter having both a pack and troop. We are also putting an emphasis on contacting every family who had someone not renew their membership, find out what caused them to leave, and see what we might be able to do to bring them back into the program. If units, districts, and councils continue to just look at declining numbers and not look at why they are declining and work to mitigate those reasons, the decline will continue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeS72 Posted 23 hours ago Share Posted 23 hours ago 21 minutes ago, jcousino said: Add those numbers to the loss of formality paying military members, and the shortfall gets worse. Looks like we are in a death spiral: fewer members lead to higher dues, which lead to more member losses. Heard second hand that a member of the national executive committee was at a council leadership summit and told people that the membership for scouts from military families was something they had already been working on and that there were large donors lined up to cover the costs. If accurate this should actually help with overall membership numbers, as I am sure there are a lot of kids out there who would like to join but the program is out of reach on a military salary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle94-A1 Posted 21 hours ago Share Posted 21 hours ago 2 hours ago, MikeS72 said: I guess that all depends on where you are located. The goal here is for each of our districts to add at least one new unit each quarter, with an emphasis on every current charter having both a pack and troop. I wish. My troop folded in December after years of begging council for help. They said they needed to start new units instead of helping existing one. They didn't like the fact that I told them that National predicted membership and units would decline for a few years after the lawsuit before stabilizing, and that it is easier to keep a stable unit going than start a new on. And at my new troop's meeting tonite, we had visitors from the only other existing troop in town. They are joining us on a camp out this weekend. 2 hours ago, MikeS72 said: If units, districts, and councils continue to just look at declining numbers and not look at why they are declining and work to mitigate those reasons, the decline will continue. Oh we know what is causing the problem, we are not recruiting. And Council is not helping us in this matter. One CST's stats. Look like those councils with metro areas are doing well. Rural areas not so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcousino Posted 1 hour ago Share Posted 1 hour ago 19 hours ago, Eagle94-A1 said: I wish. My troop folded in December after years of begging council for help. They said they needed to start new units instead of helping existing one. They didn't like the fact that I told them that National predicted membership and units would decline for a few years after the lawsuit before stabilizing, and that it is easier to keep a stable unit going than start a new on. And at my new troop's meeting tonite, we had visitors from the only other existing troop in town. They are joining us on a camp out this weekend. Oh we know what is causing the problem, we are not recruiting. And Council is not helping us in this matter. One CST's stats. Look like those councils with metro areas are doing well. Rural areas not so much. So what are they calling a new unit: 6 youths, 2 new youths, 4 for another unit, all 6 from a failed unit, with 4 never coming back. The real metric should be 10 new scouts gain. for every 12 scouts who did not recharter. You will need to bring in 22 new. Real numbers that affect membership gains 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now