Midwest Scouter

RE: Permanent BSA Job Cuts. I'd better start hearing about major cuts at the very top or this will be my wife's and my last year with Scouts BSA. The amount of money certain people make and the large payout on pensions of this organization is through the roof. There is no reason on earth some of these people should be making the amount of money they are making when working for a volunteer organization. Especially, one that has a paying membership on a major decline. As volunteers for the BSA and spending hours upon hours working with the kids and watching a program being even more dumbed down because of decisions coming from the top, this is almost too much to take... There are a great many other non-profit organizations that are begging for volunteers such as those currently with Scouts BSA. Do the people at the top honestly believe we'll go down with the ship as it continually sinks. Nope! Open your eyes. Keep it up Scouts BSA, your on the verge of killing the very organization. Start Cutting At The Very Top Now! Or, We Start Leaving!

Oops, forgot to quote the information I received. Here it is below; "The annual youth registration fee will be $180, covering the costs of delivering Scouting locally, the national membership fees, and insurance. Adult fees will increase to $42 and will be payable online for the first time."

Here in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, it's going up to; $180 a year for a Youth. $42 a year for an Adult. Major Ouch!

Major Changes For Our Council - District, Venturing, Troops, Cubs, and etc. As of Feb. 2020. 1) No More Roundtables 2) Merit Badge Counselors will be now be picked by a select council panel and Merit Badge Counselors will now be available to every scout/scout troop in the entire council area instead of just a local district option.. 3) All committees within the district are to be dissolved and taken over by just one committee at the council. Example; District Committee, District Activities, District Membership, District Webmaster <<< All dissolved. 3) Only one requirement/point will be left from the original Wood Badge Training Course. Everything else, will be brand new. 4) Districts can no longer have slogan/chant names. They will be known by Alphabetical Letters ONLY. Huge power grab by the Councils. Is this all coming from the Executive Board? Because of Lawsuits/Payouts?

As reported today by the Minneapolis Star: With $6 million shortfall, UnitedWay alerts nonprofits they'll be getting less. Hurt by targeted giving, the TwinCities branch called 150 nonprofits to let them know their funding will be cut. http://www.startribune.com/hurt-by-targeted-giving-united-way-alerts-nonprofits-they-ll-be-getting-less/419447764

Being that I'm extremely active in scouting and also active at the district level, I'd rather not give an exact location or district. I'll leave it at Midwest so I don't suffer repercussions... For those that don't want to believe what I shared to the forum, that's YOUR Choice. Just remember what I wrote when it starts happening in YOUR Area. A Scout is Trustworthy...

We Now Have Our 1st Cub Co-Ed Pack (Boys And Girls) As A Pilot Program. The entire meeting room went silent when given this news by our district. It was just a matter of time...

Recently, we were informed of massive cut's coming to scouting because United Way has decided to no longer donate funds to the scout program. So far in our area: Districts are being merged to save costs. District Executive Cuts or with those remaining, are now explected to do double duty jobs. I've even heard of a few Councils now having to merge in some states. On another note - No more salary positions for DE's, just hourly because of new labor laws in 2017. We were also told as volunteers, that we will now have to do much more with less because of this... Great just great...The same ten people that presently do all the work are going to be expected to do more? Sorry, but it ain't happening folks... So, just one question - Will the executive staff at the BSA be taking major cut's to ease the loss of revenue from United Way or is the BSA going to turn into another type of top heavy Girl Scouts organization? Anyone else heard about this yet???

It's a radio frequency we can all use on a nationwide basis for scouting activities and just piggyback off of a district, council, etc., Federal Communications Commission FCC License instead of applying for one of our own.

I was wondering if anyone on the forum new of a BSA, Nationwide Itinerant, FCC Part 90, Radio License and Frequency, that our troop and venturing crew could use during some of our events/activities? In the past, there had been a few FCC Licenses that were shared among BSA Troops for nationwide use, but it now appears those radio licenses are expired. Or, do we just pay the $160 for the FCC Application and License for our own official callsign and use? Any ideas?