recruiting community members for district committees

[Lisabob]

In another thread Eamonn mentioned that he'd had success recruiting people from the community to serve on various district committees (like membership). Specifically he mentioned the head of a church and three school superintendents.

 

I want to know more. Our district membership committee is faced with two challenges. First, our #s are dwindling. We're down to three people, not including the DE/advisor, and all three of us are from the same troop. It isn't for lack of trying to recruit others, but reality is that we all know the same folks within Scouting circles so our pool is too limited. And we don't want to cannibalize our troop leadership much further either. I've long thought we needed to reach out to people who aren't Scouters in units but from a pragmatic point I guess I'm not sure how to make that work since I personally don't know a lot of these sorts of people in my district?

 

Second, we're having increasing difficulty getting into local schools. I mentioned a week or so ago in another thread that one district has shut us out of the kindergarten building completely, which seriously compromises our ability to do spring Tiger recruiting there. Another - and the largest school district in our area - seems to be moving in that direction. Rather than debate whether schools have a right to do this (that's for the issues & politics forum), my point is that we have access issues. And getting superintendents on board would surely help us. But these are extraordinarily busy folks who may not be well disposed toward scouting (else, why would they be shutting us out of schools in their districts). So tell me how you got them on board Eamonn?

 

Who else has had success in getting community members to serve on district committees? Any words of advice on this would be welcome.

[Eamonn]

Please forgive me if this comes off sounding like I'm blowing my own trumpet!!

 

As many of you know I'm very much a program type guy.

I firmly believe that everything we do starts and ends with program. The hands on stuff we see the Scouts participate in.

Take away all of our moaning and groaning and at the end of the day we as a group of volunteers do one heck of a good job.

Sadly we the people on the inside tend to think that everyone knows who we are and what we do. This is not true.

Sure people have heard of us and it seems even if they don't know what we do they think highly of us.

Trying to bring community members in can be hard.

One big obstacle is us!!

We seem to think at times unless someone is wearing some sort of a uniform and working directly with the youth; we don't need them.

Another problem can be the Council. SE's (some not all!!) when they see a recognizable name or someone who has a "Position" will try and snap them up to serve on the Council level. A lot of times just to attend meetings and with the hope they will donate a lot of cash.

I looked at what we did well and what might interest "Outsiders" in what we do?

Our District has always done Eagle Scout Board of Reviews at the District level. Sadly very often these boards were put together in a hurry, with the Advancement Chair running around like a chicken with his head cut off trying to grab a few Scouter's to sit on the board.

Eagle Scout BOR's as a rule show the best of the best and many of the projects are just outstanding.

We added ESBOR to the District Calendar. The Board would meet at the same time same place each month. We then made a list of Community people to invite to sit on the board. They could sign up for a meeting when they were free. After the board had done it's work there was time for light refreshments (Coffee and cookies) This was the opportunity to make the sale!! After the cookies we sometimes went for adult refreshments (Not in uniform of course!!)

The worst things you can do to a new volunteer is to give them nothing to do or waste their time.

Strange as it might seem finding real things for people to do at the district level can be hard.

The Community FOS Chair and captains have goals and seem to do what has to be done. But they do a far better job if they are not kept in the dark. Sending them regular reports about how the campaign is going and cards when goals are met is very important. We kicked off the campaign with a lunch. The DE used to plan this, but we signed up the manager of the CC to sit on the finance committee and she planned it working with the DE. This was also a big help with the District Golf outing. (The golf outing did a lot to attract more community involvement, not just the players but hole sponsors, car dealers, insurance agents -Hole in one won a new car!) Printers.

I never ever asked these people to do what they did for a living for nothing!! We always paid our way. Having owned a few businesses there is a line between doing something for nothing and making a donation. I knew that my company couldn't do things for nothing, but I as a person could make a donation. (Council seemed to think I could do both!!)

We also went out of our way to support the people who supported us. Buying trophies from stores.

A pal of mine owns a beer distributor business. He donates a fair amount to the community FOS.I managed to talk him into giving popcorn to his customers at Christmas. He bought cases and cases of popcorn. He also sells ice. The council was buying ice for summer camp from a company that didn't support us. So we gave him the ice account. He made a few deliveries to camp over the summer. I told him about Camperships and he signed up to serve on the Camping committee.

We planned Photo-ops around activities. Not just so the people got their photo in the paper, but we made sure they came to a place where they seen what the kids were doing.

I'm still a bit of a foreign "Novelty". One good thing about my English accent is that it makes people have to listen! That along with the white hair helps make me a little hard to forget.

One of my "Sermons" at the time was "If your Scouting isn't infectious it might be contaminated."

I believe that adults need to be treated like adults. Not big Boy Scouts.

I promised people I wasn't going to waste their time. - No one needs to sit through a District Committee meeting where 20 -30 people talk about the patch design for the next Camporee. I only invited people to meetings if what they were involved with was an agenda item. I did sent minutes to all the members and all the COR's.

I did hold people accountable to do what they said they were going to do. Between meetings I met with them called them had the DE call them.

I worked very closely with the DE, making sure she was sending out all the reports and minutes.

I was very guilty of thinking and working like she worked for me. She seemed happy with this as we were meeting our goals.

At times we worked around the Council or sometimes just plowed right through. If the SE or the FD seemed to get in the way I went out of my way to bring it to the attention of the full Council Executive Board. SE's hate that more than anything!!

At times our DE was told she had to put me on a short leash!! We laughed about that.

Bringing people on board isn't going to just happen. They need to be asked. When asked they need to be given an area or specific task to do.

It's very important to celebrate goals that are met and say thanks.Never miss an opportunity to say thanks!

Good communication is vital.

Just like a Scout who misses a few meetings, you need to find out why someone isn't doing what they should be doing.

The nominating committee idea does work, even if they meet in my dining room with a bottle of wine.

Breakfast meetings don't work and are a waste of time.

Holding people accountable isn't the same as beating on them!! This is supposed to be fun!!

Happy smiling faces sell the program better than anything.

There is a time not to wear uniforms!!

Remember not everyone knows the language of Scouting. Everyone understands kids having fun and working toward becoming good citizens.

Of course money is important. The idea of putting people on the spot and embarrassing them is not only wrong, but it doesn't work!

Forming real relationships, getting to know (really know) the people you are working with is important. This means knowing more than just the name of their spouse or secretary. Make friends!!

Listening and hearing what people say is real big.

Food helps!! cakes and cup cakes are cheap!! Bring people to District events stick a hot-dog in their hand have it served by a happy kid (Dirty faces and clean hands??)

Local people love to see their picture in the local paper. Scouting for Food is good for lots of pictures of Scouts and community people -Not just the Scout but the box in the bank or the high school or the local store.

Merit Badges need lots of counselors -The local Vet, dentist, fire chief. This gets your foot in the door.

Invite Scouts who have done something to talk about it at local events and at District meetings. The Lad who has just come back from the jamboree or Philmont?

The District Committee is the same as the Cub Scout Pack, we keep on asking people to come along and help and share in the joy of helping the kids in their area.

Contact the BSA Relationships Division, they have all sorts of neat stuff -You might need to have the SE or the FD order it for you and some of it isn't free but most times they (the SE & FD) don't even know it's available.

When possible tag along with the DE when they meet with the CO. (Make sure the DE is meeting with all the CO -Real meetings, not saying hello in Wal-mart!)

Look at last years unit charters, last years Den Leader who isn't on this years charter might want to help?

The family that just gave a lot of money to the Family FOS are already sold on the program, they just need to be asked.

It's also important to know when to let people go. When it becomes clear that they really no longer want to do whatever and are either just going through the motions or not doing anything. Finding the right time and place to have an honest talk about it, is better than hoping things will get better. Maybe they would be happier doing something else? Maybe they need a break? Or maybe they are just done? It's better that they leave as a friend than hang around till something isn't working.

The main reason people don't volunteer is that we don't ask!

Eamonn.