Adding to the Annual Charter Agreement

[click23]

A few weeks ago I had a meeting with our DE and a prospective new chartering organization. I did a google search to find a copy of the annual charter agreement to have as reference material and I came across this, http://arlingtonscouts.com/pdf_docs/annual_charter_agreement.pdf

 

It is a annual charter agreement from the Erie Shores Council that has been modified.

 

Under "THE CHARTERED ORGANIZATION AGREES TO:"

changed from "Encourage the unit to participate in outdoor experiences, which are vital elements of Scouting." to "Encourage the unit to participate in council outdoor experiences, which are vital elements of the Scouting program."

added "To cooperate with the council in its fund-raising effort through the Friends of Scouting Campaign for units."

added "Require each adult leader to participate in a council sponsored youth protection training seminar."

 

under "THE COUNCIL AGREES TO:"

 

added "To assist the chartered organization with a religious affiliation in the promotion of the religious emblems program."

added "To join with the chartered organization in promoting and encouraging the practice of the daily good turn as a part of basic citizenship training."

added "To work with the chartered organization in extending the Scouting opportunity to the greatest possible number of youth and families."

 

I am not sure if this is there current form or not, the insurance section does not match the BSAs current revision.

 

 

[BadenP]

Well click thinking back to my DE days the "official" charter agreement is from National and is to be used throughout the country. If any council modifies it to promote local preferences it becomes invalid and all any leader would have to do is submit a copy to National and let them go after that SE. If National is thinking of changing the charter agreement and this is a first draft attempt, that's a whole different matter and its time to get your COR to the council executive committee meetings. This agreement reads more like a local hack job to me, time to get your and other COR's involved.

[Axeman]

I have 2009's Annual Charter Agreement in my desk and it reads the same. IIRC, the charter agreement changed from the previous format to the current format in 2008.

 

Regards,

 

Axeman

CR/UC

[BadenP]

Not to say you are in error Axeman but I have a copy of our charter agreements from 08, 09, and 10 and none of them show those changes. If our council isn't using them I have to wonder how valid or official those agreements click mentions really are.

[Axeman]

I pulled our charter agreement from 2007. Our 2007 charter agreement (No. 28-182Q) is a different document. The 2008-to-present charter agreements include, word-for-word, the changes noted by click23.

 

The newer documents also feature Council-specific image and text.

 

Curiouser and curiouser. I will ask our DE about it.

 

Regards,

 

Axeman

CR/UC

[Axeman]

In my previous post I should have written "our present charter agreement includes, word-for-word, the changes noted by click23."

 

AFAIK, the Annual Charter Agreement No. 524-182 (2009 printing) is the most recent agreement between the council and the chartered organization to operate a pack, troop, or crew. I can not say with certainty that this is the agreement currently available from the National Distribution Center. I can say that I easily found five different versions of the annual charter agreement on the internet: No.28-182L, No.28-182Q, No.28-182R, No.28-182S, and No.524-182. All five are similar in format, and all five contain similar information under "The chartered organization agrees to" and "The council agrees to" headings. In all five there are six bullet points in the left column, seven bullet points in the right column.

 

Our annual charter agreement has eight bullet points in the left column and nine bullet points in the right column. The revised and additional bullet points read as noted by click23.

 

I compared the charter agreement from the Erie Shores Council to our charter agreement. The two documents are very similar. The two documents are not identical. There are differences in grammar, punctuation, and layout. Our charter agreement appears to be locally produced.

 

I read through the Charter and Bylaws & Rules and Regulations of the Boy Scouts of America this morning (yawn) and did not find anything that prohibits local councils from generating their own versions of the annual charter agreement. It is possible that I missed something.

 

It is the considered opinion of SWMBO that I should not pursue this line of inquiry with our council professional staff. I think that this is sage advice (I ask too many questions), yet I am still curious about this.

 

Regards,

 

Axeman

CR/UC

[BadenP]

Interesting indeed Axeman, brings up the point who is the CO really making the agreement with, the BSA or the local council? They are two different entities with different purposes, and I still find it hard to believe that the National office would allow local councils to alter these agreements, if for no other reason for consistency as well as legal issues. Still nothing from the BSA surprises me anymore, Mazzuca's reorganization has done nothing more than create internal confusion as well as decrease National's efficency to an all time low.

[click23]

BadenP, the Annual Charter Agreement is clear that it is an agreement between the CO and the local council.

 

"THE ANNUAL CHARTER AGREEMENT BETWEEN:

 

________ and the ___________ Council, BSA"

 

[Axeman]

Click23:

 

Sir, let me say first that I agree with you. I believe the agreement to be between the local Council and the chartering organization. I wrote the same thing yesterday then deleted it.

 

The annual charter agreement also states "The Boy Scouts of America is an educational resource program. It charters community or religious organizations or groups to use Scouting as part of their service to their own members, as well as the community at large." If the pronoun it refers to the Boy Scouts of America, one might think that the charter comes from the Boy Scouts of America.

 

Clear as mud. Who writes/reviews these documents (rhetorical question)?

 

I have nine annual charter agreements before me:

 

28-182L

28-182M

28-182N

28-182P

28-182Q

28-182R

28-182S

524-182

and our current annual charter, which is similar to document from the Erie Shores Council.

 

Although all nine charters are similar, no two are identical. I have come to think that the annual charter agreement between our local Council and our organization is whatever the local Council says it is, as long as the agreement does not violate the rules, regulations, policies, and procedures of the Boy Scouts of America.

 

Regards,

 

Axeman

CR/UC

[AlFansome]

 

There are 2 types of charters:

 

1) The BSA grants a charter to Councils to administer the BSA program in a geographic area.

 

2) The BSA (on recommendation of a local Council) grants a charter to a local organization to use the Scouting program

 

 

This info from:

 

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Media/Relationships/TrainingtheCOR/03.aspx

 

 

Also, here's an example of the charter application between National and a local Council:

 

http://www.wrbsa.org/professionals/miscellaneous/2009%20Application%20for%20Council%20Charter%20Renewal.pdf

 

 

There's more info on the BSA charters to Councils in the National Bylaws as well. You can sort of make it out in the slow-loading, redacted version at:

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/8919588/Charter-and-Bylaws-of-the-Boy-Scouts-of-America

 

 

[Axeman]

Thank you for pointing this out, sir. I must reconsider my position, and, in doing so, feel that I will be much closer to understanding.

 

How about this-

 

The annual charter agreement, such as form 524-182, is an agreement between the local council and the chartering organization. Once the local council and the chartering organization are in agreement, the local council recommends a charter be issued to the organization. The Boy Scouts of America issues the charter.

 

The local council may use a standardized annual charter agreement, such as form 524-182, or the local council may use their own annual charter agreement as long as the agreement does not violate the rules, regulations, policies, and procedures of the Boy Scout of America. National does not preclude local councils from drafting their own document, however such documents are subject to approval by National.

 

Am I in the ballpark?

 

Regards,

 

Axeman

CR/UC

[click23]

Yes, the charter agreement is between the council and the CO, once it is signed a charter can be issued from national. Now, as far as the local council using their own charter agreement, I am not sure.

 

If you look at the agreement, the first thing the CO agrees to do is "Conduct the Scouting program according to its own

policies and guidelines as well as those of the Boy Scouts of America." Notice that it does not agree to conduct its Scouting program according to the local councils policies and guidelines.

 

I would bet that one council started this modified agreement to make sure they could get in the door to do family FOS presentations and to help attendance at their local summer camp, and then had to add a few bits to the "THE COUNCIL AGREES TO:" side to make things a bit more "fair".

[BadenP]

In this instance click the council is the ACTING local representative or agent for the BSA National scouting programs. While the charter may state XYZ Council the wording of the "Boy Scouts of America" in the charter means just that, the National organization, not really all that confusing. If the council adds to the agreement anything running contrary to the rules or regulations of National BSA then it renders that agreement null and void.

[John-in-KC]

On a very fast google search, I found at least two Council website with Charter Agreements identical to the one click23 originally posted.

 

Paging Secret DE, Secret DE... Paging Secret DE, Secret DE...

 

Has there been a change to the format of the Charter Agreement between 2008-9 and 2009-10?

[Axeman]

Sirs:

 

I called National today.

 

Annual Charter Agreement #524-182 is the current boilerplate document printed by the Boy Scouts of America.

 

The annual charter agreement is an agreement between the local council and the chartering organization. Once the local council and the chartering organization are in agreement, the local council recommends a charter be issued to the organization. The Boy Scouts of America then issues the charter.

 

The local council may use the boilerplate document, or the local Council Executive Committee may draft their own annual charter agreement as long as the agreement does not violate the rules, regulations, policies, and procedures of the Boy Scout of America.

 

Regards,

 

Axeman

CR/UC