Keeping Focused

[jhighscoutdad]

Im writing my Commissioner Science doctorate thesis on our Webelos to Scout Transition (W2S) plan. The districts plan was very effective upon initial release in 2006, but has not remained a focus of attention by the Key 3, District Committee, District Commissioner, or the professionals. My goal is formulating a means of keeping us focused on this very good plan in the face of the ever-changing personnel charged with implementing the annual plan and supervising the district. Key players like the District Chair, District Commissioner serve only 2-year terms. Their terms overlap, but somehow important history does not get passed along.

 

I am looking for suggestions I can take back to my fellow Committee members to help keep W2S in focus -- but in reality -- this could apply to any on-going initiative. Should there be an assistant district chair for administration created; maybe an annual planning meeting to, among other things, reviews these ongoing initiatives and update for the new scouting year; an annual district committee self-evaluation to include a review of special initiatives?

 

Id appreciate any feedback and suggestions. Of course my overall goal is to do this for the kids, not just obtaining a diploma.

YIS John

 

[UCEagle72]

In our neck of the woods, the W2S transition is focused on by the District Programs Chair and the District Membership Chair.

 

And while I understand your concern, the Key 3 usually has a lot of different items that they need to concentrate on. If they have good people in those two positions on their District Committee, then, they, themselves, should be comfortable that the program will happen and will happen well.

 

We transitioned 90% of our Webelos this year during the traditional cross-over period, and found another 5% when the Troops started doing their school kick-offs this past fall.

 

[jhighscoutdad]

Thanks for the input. As a former Key 3 member, you are correct about the "many fish to fry" comment. :-)

JLH

[infoscouter]

The district Membership committee is supposed to be made up of several members, one of whom is the Webelos Transition Chair. The crux of an effective Webelos to Scout transition in the district is for a highly committed individual to be place in this position.

 

http://scouting.org/filestore/commissioner/pdf/33080.pdf

 

See page 10

[hotdesk]

I would agree with the last two posters. We have a GREAT district committee. Our Membership Committee looks like this:

 

VICE CHAIR OF MEMBERSHIP

Cub Scout-Fall Roundup

Cub Scout-Spring Recruitment

Webelos to Scout Transition

Boy Scout Open House

 

They completely handle (with a few application pick-up exceptions) the district's part in Membership. They make announcements at roundtable (to keep us informed of the district's progress towards its goal), work with units to schedule open houses and recruitment events, and have pioneered some great programs.

 

I would also say that the true membership recruitment drive isn't going to be lead or directed by adults. It's going to ultimately come down to the scouts themselves. When packs visit troops, they Boy Scouts need to shine and need to know what's expected by the Cub Scout scouts, parents, and leaders. These are the ones that any great program needs to work with!

 

[jhighscoutdad]

Thanks to you all for your great replies. I assume that these Membership committee members tend to not leave their positions after only a year or two years of service. It appears that PART of the solution for us is to focus on the Membership chair and his/her committee members and be sure to get some folks who will be willing to stick around.

 

I appreciate any other comments and suggestions.

JLH

[John-in-KC]

Some questions the DE should ask his Commish and Chair each year:

 

- What is the percentage of Webelos who joined Boy Scout Troops? (X)

 

- Do we think X, whatever value, good enough?

 

If it's good enough, then there are other problems for the Key 3 to worry about, and the plan is still working.

 

If X is not good enough, then the DE, Commish, and Chair talk to each other and ask: What resources can we give unit serving Scouters to encourage/assist/support transition?

 

Then, it's up to the Commissioner's Service and the Operating Committees.

[jhighscoutdad]

Thanks, John.

[Eamonn]

Couple of thoughts.

 

Membership is and should be important to all of us.

However,it seems nothing other than maybe finance(Money) seems to upset the volunteers in my neck of the woods as someone harking on about numbers.

Yes! For my sins, I've heard "All you care about is numbers".

Which I do have to admit hurt me when it was said.

 

Most times when we look at Membership we will find that success breeds success. Well run units with energetic and enthusiastic teams of adults who get on well together and work well together while offering a great program tend to retain and attract more youth members.

 

In just about any BSA publication, it states that recruitment is a year round activity.

While I don't know of any unit that is lightly to turn a new member away. For the most part the local units tend to rely on the Fall School Round-UP (mainly for Cub Scouts. But we do have a few SM's that go into the Schools and do "Boy Talks" To the 5th and 6th Graders).

Troops mostly wait and see what this years Cross Over brings.

Troops that share the same CO and the same number as a Pack expect the boys who will be crossing over to join that Troop.

Most times that is what will happen.

There are one or two Packs where there is no Troop. But it seems that there is some unwritten whatever you want to call it that the Lads from these Packs do tend to join one particular Troop.

We have had situations where the Webelos Scout Den Leader for some reason doesn't like or get on with the Boy Scout Leaders and has done what he or she can to herd the Lads who are crossing over into the Troop which he or she thinks is better or best. As a rule the Troop where their son will be going.

 

There are lots of reasons why a young Lad might not want to Crossover and join a Troop.

We have one very successful Pack in an area where Midget Football is very big and the Troop has a hard time recruiting these Lads.

Some Lads are just not interested in being Boy Scouts.

My Brother-In-Law's son just had no interest in becoming a Boy Scout, even though his Dad is an Eagle Scout and served as a SM for a good any years. It just wasn't his cup of tea. Even though his Grandmother pushed and prodded it just wasn't to be.

 

The Key 3 will of course always keep an eye on membership.

Back when I was District Chairman, I had monthly reports from the Council Service Center sent to me, which I then forwarded to the District Membership Chair.

These reports were very useful after rechartering. We had a very clear picture of how many Scouts had left the program and we used this number to set the membership Goals for the coming year.

Our Troops recharter after the Crossover Season, so we can see who went where.

The reports are also very useful after the Fall Round-Up.

 

 

I'm not really sure if a Commissioner or the Commissioner Staff have a role to play in the Tracking of Membership?

I can and do see that Membership plays a vital role in the health of a unit.

So as I see it the Commissioner Staff should be looking after the units.

I have seen Troops where all the members are older Scouts who don't seem to want or make new Scouts very welcome.

Some SM's seem OK with this. (Of course the day will come when it bites them on the tail!)

We have Troops that do a wonderful job of having Lads crossover and manage to keep them until about age 14 and then when they reach 14 they are gone. Because they seem to remain strong, thanks to large numbers of crossovers no one seems to notice that they are not retaining the older type Scouts.

My feeling is that is is the area where the Commissioner Staff can try and bring about change.

As we all know the three things that attract and retain lads into Scouts and Scouting are: Program, Program, Program.

Ea.

 

 

 

[SeattlePioneer]

I've been District Membership Chair since 2004.

 

I have a good working relationship with the DE, however, I only infrequently get statistical reports describing membership in the district. I've asked for reports and invited the DE to give me pretty much anything at all that he punches up or acquires, but I don't get much.

 

This is like putting blinder on a horse. The person driving the horse doesn't have to worry about the horse being distracted by issues the driver isn't interested in.

 

Our council Memebership Vice President seems to be provided pretty ready access to statistical information by the professional staff with which she works, and she passes that on to district membership chairs from time to time.

 

Perhaps we need a coaching session from her on what kind of data we should be asking for and expecting to get.

[Eamonn]

SeattlePioneer,

In the Council I serve,most times a quick call to the Council Registrar is all that is needed to get the monthly Membership Reports.

Back when I was District Chair. I was focused on Quality District.

The report after all the Charters were in gave a true picture of where we really were with membership.

That is to say how many members we had lost from the number posted at the end of the year.

There is a lot of information that might be useful for DE's.

I know for a number of years here in the NE.Region there was a Membership Drive that ended sometime in the summer, with prizes for the professional staff. I never paid too much attention to that!

My goal as DC was to try and ensure that we ended up plus one in each program area.

While the reports for the rest of the year were nice, they really didn't change that much until Fall when we had School Nights. Or until after the crossover season was done.

From then until the end of the year or whatever date National set as the end of the year, I watched these reports like a hawk.

We are a small District.

Most years we "Lost" about 250 Cub Scouts. -Some crossed over to Boy Scouts (Normally about 70) and some just quit or maybe never really joined. (The reports only show paid memberships and once the fee is paid they are a member for a year.)

We as a rule lost about 100 Boy Scouts, but counting the 70 New Boy Scouts we got from the Crossover. We needed 31 more Boy Scouts.

A good School Night brought in about 125 -150 new Cub Scouts. Leaving us to find about 100 more Cub Scouts by the end of the year.

This was all very do-able.

With 16 Troops each Troop only needed to recruit a couple of Lads and with 20 packs, each Pack only needed about half a dozen or so Cub Scouts.

We always seemed to have problems with new units and Venturers.

Years back we had a DE who would put pressure on Troops to sign up their older Scouts and start a Crew.

But these "Venturers" Never really did any real Venturing so I found it to be dishonest.

 

 

jhighscoutdad

Thinking about the Key 3 being focused?

Back in the time when I was a Key 3 member.

We were fixated on both Membership numbers and FOS amounts.

Because of this we were able to make Quality District nine out of ten years.

The year we didn't make it we missed the Cub Scout goal by four Cub Scouts!

I should add that we were able to have the FOS goal made into a total amount. That is not 3 goals: Family, District, Community. Just a FOS goal, this meant that we were able to focus on the Community goal and not rely so much on the Family FOS goal.

I'm not sure why? But we never seemed to have a problem with the popcorn goal. It just seemed that every year out of nowhere one family would really go to town and sell a few thousand dollars of the stuff.

All of the goals do end up being dependent on Membership.

The more members you have the more popcorn sellers you have, the more families that support FOS and the bigger the impact you have in the community. Of course having someone on the District Committee who is able to ensure that Scouts and Scouting is covered in the local press is a big help.

Ea.