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My suggestions would be: Just like other businesses (restaurant chains, retail operations? close down (merge) underperforming councils. No discussion just do it. As much as it pains close/sell camps who have so much outstanding maintenance that cannot be supported by the council they are affiliated with. or their capacity is less than x% (each camp is probably different) Downsize and Reorganize councils by function vs districts. Districts are historically under staffed with holes in areas that should be under one person Customer service is poor...fix it...waiting weeks for answers is unsatisfactory and make the volunteers thing they don't care so they ignore the councils/districts I count 3 councils who have more scouts in April than they did in December. I would propose - but no one cares what I think - to reorg by function: Finance, Budget, fundraising Operations, Membership, registrar, advancement, eagle process, clearances, data analysis Unit Support, Commissioners, training Facilities, camps Camping, outdoor programs, summer camps, camporees,etc Anyway as I said no one would even try but the "traditional org" is not working.

The problem isn't necessarily salary bloat, it is that the resource has been mis-applied. To survive, scouting is going to have to devote more resources towards unit operations even as unit numbers decrease. That's because the bar is always being raised due to incidents and liability issues. One of the huge issues facing scouting is the degree to which it has always relied upon volunteers. Volunteers and volunteerism, though, are in general decline. Unlike other youth organizations and many nonprofits, scouting has never developed strategies to cope with this reality, largely because it requires re-engineering structure far beyond consolidating councils. Apart from not having the bodies, scouting also lacks reliable expertise. You can't train unpaid volunteers enough to be considered expert in some of these areas. The aforementioned Range and Target sports is one example. In the years ahead, that is an area where scouting is likely going to be forced to either contain those activities to places where it can provide professional level supervision, provide direct paid unit support, or contract with third party providers.

I dont think we can cut enough salary bloat to save the camps; save some maybe, but there is going to be winners and losers.

s; service to the units. If this metric is not met, the funds raised are not being used, or used improperly. I would be happy to go toe-to-toe with any council executive. Correct. This is correct. The fundraising is supposed to go towards funding program and training; however, so much is being spent to just subsidize professional salaries. We absolutely have the technology to eliminate councils. We have to do a 360 analysis and realize that we could easily get rid of 100 or more councils.

I think quality volunteers is in decline. We're seeing this right now. After 60 days of reminders we now have hundreds of volunteers in every council running around with expired youth protection training because they are of such low quality that they couldnt do free training with up to 60 days of reminder notice.

Lose the bloated jobs... save the camps.

We have the technology to eliminate most of what paid professionals at councils do now. And, I have been thinking about this a lot lately... what SHOULD council do for units, other than provide program opportunities that units cannot get (easily) on their own? Shooting sports (SORRY!! Range and Target Activities), higher level aquatics (sailing , kayaking, canoeing, rowing, lifesaving), and climbing.... You do not need swimming pools. (Although they are helpful.) But you do need a safe swimming hole You do not need dining halls. (I would submit these are actually detrimental to the skills needed for outdoorsmanship and campcraft .) Scouts should be cooking for themselves. You do not need hot showers. (Although they are nice.) Scouts should learn field hygiene and sanitation. You do not need flush toilets. (Although they are nice, too.) See above. I would admit that, due to the number of people you'd like to access your camp, that pit toilets would be a most helpful concession. And local laws may be prohibitive in many places... Heck, you do not even need running water. (But you do need a potable water source, which could include bringing your own.) You need a patch of decent ground or woods. Imagine how easy and cost effective this would be if we did not have all that infrastructure. A local council should have a good sized camp to provide access to the outdoors. It really isn't that difficult to live under canvas for a week. When BP said "A week of camp life is worth six months of theoretical teaching in the meeting room" he was not talking about the monster of summer camp merit badge mills we have created across the country.

I would expect that response as I have heard it before. If the claim is fundraising is necessaryto provide service to the units, there should still be a measureable service to the units as a result. Fundraising may be a means, but it is not the end. The metric for success is the ends; service to the units. If this metric is not met, the funds raised are not being used, or used improperly. I would be happy to go toe-to-toe with any council executive.

That is a critical issue that affects retention. There is too much spiraling and repetition in program elements, and the revamp to make it easier for adult volunteers to run multi rank meetings only made it worse. The program also repeats some of the K-5 school curriculum.

Some good suggestions @PACAN. I would add a change to the mission of the Councils and Districts to solely be "support the units". Nothing else matters. All metrics used to assess performance of Councils, Districts and their staff should be based only on their support of the units.

One of the reasons why they dropped Webelos from 5th grade to 4th & 5th grade circa 1989. Webelos was meant to be a transition, doing things more ont he order of Boy Scouts, and prepping them. When Webelos DLs no longer got separate training with an emphasis on transitioning from Cubs to Scouts, a lot was lost. Folks were not doing the 18-24 month Webelos properly, and it became a continuation of Cubs. And now that is the norm

To me, one of the hard parts may be dealing with the egos of the adults from the combined units. The fight will be over who's in control. This is the way we did it; no, we did it this way. Does not change the cause of the failed units. Until we address the reasons youth are not coming or staying, scouting will go the way of G-scouting.