How Many New Cubs Do You Want to Recruit This Fall?

[SeattlePioneer]

Pick a number!

[Locust Fork Leader]

For my den or pack? LOL!

 

I have 4 that will be WebsII come June 1st. I don't really want any new webs II which I know sounds bad. The boys I have right now are just about ready for their arrow of light and the thought of trying to get someone up to speed after the fall recruitment is scarey! My boys will be ready to cross over by Dec of this year no later than March.

 

Now for the pack I know that we NEED Tigers, and Wolfs. We have NONE. That's going to be our main focus come recruiting time.

 

Tracy

[kenk]

First, our Pack is one of two sister packs in the same schools. At one time there was one Pack, but it grew too large and was split into two. Both packs draw out of the same elementary school (k-3) and middle school (4-8), and we hold recruiting together. The only difference is that one has pack meetings on Wednesday nights and the other has them on Thursday nights. First we see if any boys/parents have a definite pack preference (to stay with siblings/close friends/specific nights), then we split up the remaining boys to try to even out pack & den sizes.

 

Second, let me specify that each Pack typically has one den of each grade level, though I recall one "year" that had two dens. Our current wolf den is way too big at 12, but the leader and parents all want to stay together, but the den leader did is "own" recruiting and was quite succesful. The den leader is going through his second generation (his older boy crossed into Boy Scouts last year, so he is VERY experinced and loves it. I myself find my den of 6 boys to be a wonderful size.

 

Our goal has been to have at least one healthy den of each grade and consider a second one a great bonus, so long as it doesn't pull too many boys from our sister pack.

 

Each pack will typically want:

 

Tiger Cubs: 10ish - this is because we have a fair dropout rate and a few add-ons later. A Tiger Cub den of 10 seems to end up with 6-8 boys by Bear or Webelos.

 

Wolf: 2-4 new boys. This helps make up for loss due to boys (actually usually parents) who decide scouting isn't for them.

 

Older grades only see 1 or 2 new boys per year. I don't recall getting a new boy just before Webelos 2, but I suppose its happened.

[zippie2223]

Hmmmm (the very least we will always take more)...

We have 3 Webs1- I would like 2 to 3 more with a dedicated Leader (the leader we have refuses to get trained)

We have 4 Bears and 2 part-time Bears- We would like maybe 2 or 3 Bears

We have 4 Wolves- I hope to get a another leader and with about 5-6 wolves

We want as many Tigers as we can handle with dedicated Leaders

 

What we need most is Leaders and Committee Members. If we have those, the kids will follow.

 

[mbscoutmom]

15-20, I think. The kindergarten class at the school has a lot of boys, so I'm hoping for a good-sized Tiger den. I'm also working with a homeschooler's group to set up separate dens for them. There are enough interested for a homeschooler's Tiger den, at least. I hope we'll get some more for our regular Wolf and Webelos I dens, too, because they're very small right now.

[OneHour]

9 years ago: 68 cubs started out (split from our brother pack)

8 years ago: 24 cubs - pack size 86

7 years ago: 26 cubs - pack size 91

6 years ago: 31 cubs - pack size 102

5 years ago: 35 cubs - pack size 108

4 years ago: 53 cubs - pack size 132

3 years ago: 44 cubs - pack size 121

2 years ago: 38 cubs - pack size 104

last year: 32 cubs - pack size 96

this fall: hoping for 2 tiger cub dens, 1 wolf den, 1 bear den and 3-5 webelos 1 or around 30 cubs would do us just fine! Target pack size 98. Prediction - 34.

 

1Hour

 

ps: at one time I thought that 100 boys are way too many, but nowaday, after our second year webelos graduated, the pack feels very emptied with 60+ boys!

(This message has been edited by OneHour)

[msnowman]

Well, with a school population of 190 (grades K-8, boys and girls), and an out going K glass with just 6 boys and a 3rd grade glass w/ just 3 boys, I'll settle for the 3 new Tigers we registered today. Yes, I know, the registration forms can't go in until June 1, but today was our Pack talent show and recruiting.

 

Michelle

CM - P102

[ScoutMomAng]

As many as we can get! We had 60 boys this past year in the pack, total. I crossed over 7 Webelos II, leaving me with one new Webelos II. I have 7 or 8 new Webelos I from the previous Bear Den but if 12 more wanted to join my den I'd be more than happy to take them!!! Some of the boys have moved away due to military obligations so we are now down to about 30 boys total.

 

Are you going to teach us how to get those boys to come and join our pack??? My son is working on getting his recruiter strip as a Wolf, he has recruited one for sure, and maybe a second one by the fall. The youngster keeps changing his mind.

 

Ang

[SeattlePioneer]

Scout Mom asks if I'm going to show people how to recruit the Cub Scouts they want.

 

That, actually, is my new job. Friday night at our District Recognition Dinner, I found my name listed among the District staff as Membership Committee Chair ---first I'd heard of it!

 

And I don't claim to be a marvelous success in recruiting. I merely claim to have struggled with it and been learning about it.

 

Actually, there is Scout literature that tells you everyone you need to know about how to do it, but you have to make your own choices from all the options they give you, and apply them to the situation that confronts you. That requires judgement and experience to do well.

 

Anyway, my job this summer is going to be to induce cub packs in the district to select two or three people each to be trained in the art of Cub Scout Recruiting. The Council is organizing what should be very good training for those Pack Membership Committee people in how to attract a crowd to a Scout night, and how to turn the crowd into registered Cub Scouts --- and Scouters.

 

My first effort to attract support for that is going to be to ask Cub Masters and Cub Pack Committee Chairs the question that names this thread. It seems to me to be a GREAT come on.

 

The Cub Pack that wants to recruit ten, twenty or thirty new boys has established a goal for themselves by telling me that's what they want to do. My next step is to tell them that I need the name of two or three adults who are willing to be trained in how to meet that goal.

 

That's my theory anyway, as I try to decide how to do my new job. Which I didn't ask for.

 

 

So for those who want to do recruiting but don't know how, let me suggest that the first thing you need to do is to set a goal for the Cub Scouts (and adult volunteers) you want to recruit. The second thing you need to do is to identify the two or three people in your Pack who would be the best people to conduct that recruiting effort, and persude them of the need to contribute their time.

 

Tonight I attended the Pack Committee meeting for the Pack for which I'm Commissioner. I told them that I needed three good volunteers to solicit to help recruit new Cub Scouts this fall. Guess what ---- they gave me three names.

 

My next job is going to be to get those people on board as a Pack Membership Committee. They don't know it yet, but they are going to help me recruit Membership Committees from Packs around the District, before they get a chance to recruit Cub Scouts.

 

Stay tuned to see if I succeed at that or fall FLAT ON MY FACE!

 

And those who already have succesful programs with loads of Cub Scouts, to what do you attribute your success? Do you get most parents to accept a Pack position doing the work needed to keep the Pack strong?

 

Do you have particular recruiting methods that prove to be succesful?

 

 

 

 

Seattle Pioneer

[kittle]

We would love to get about 10. But it won't happen. Last year we recruited 2 boys. We know of 1 this year. When our Web II crossover (or graduate out) in the Spring, we will be down to 5 boys: 2 - Web I, 2 - Bears, and 1 - Wolf.

[cubbingcarol]

We had our sign-up 'carnival' last weekend. We recruited...

 

6 tigers (with 1 more to sign up within the next month)

1 wolf (another 2 to sign up within next month)

0 bear (1 is supposed to sign up)

1 WebI

0 WebII

 

That brings our total up to 32 (poss 36)!

 

Yeah!!

Carol

 

P.S. We didn't have any WebII this year so therefore have not lost any.

 

[resqman]

We ended the year with 38 active boys on the recharter list. We held a Spring roundup and had 10-12 sign up between that night and the last two pack meetings. We plan on holding a Fall roundup. Before the roundup we were targeting 17 new members. We are well on the way.

 

We mostly need Wolfs and Tigers. We have a strong Bear den, two strong Webelos I dens, and two strong Webelos II dens with at least 6 boys in each den.

[SeattlePioneer]

So Carol ---

 

 

What happened at your Cub Scout Signup Carnival, and how did you promote it?

 

 

 

Seattle Pioneer

[cubbingcarol]

Seattle Pioneer, see my reply to your thread Recruiting New Cubs Part I.

Carol