Troop Size and Recruiting?

[CharityAK]

I am a committee member, scout parent, treasurer and advancement officer of a troop in our small town. Population 5,000 and outlying areas brings total population to about 20,000. Our troop has an enrollment of about 20 scouts with only about 12 in regular attendance, another 5 showing up from time to time and 3 who don't really show up but who want to be kept on the rolls (parents hopeful that a disinterested scout will come around).

 

Of the 12 active, involved scouts, 6 are siblings which means that there are actually only a handful of parents from that pool who are willing to help.

 

Ideally, how many scouts do you think a troop needs in order for the patrol method to work adequately, to have enough parental support and to have enough boys to split the work and leadership load? Sometimes I feel we are wearing the few willing parents and boys out. And sometimes I feel the quality of boy leadership is not what it should be just because we have to work with what we have rather than having more options.

 

What do you think is a good size to aim for considering the population of our locale? There are quite a few other troops in our area as well. And how do you up the enrollment in your troop? What types of recruiting work for you?

 

Charity

[frank10]

Wow. You pack a lot into one message. Here's a few of my thoughts. (Your mileage may vary)

 

Size: A patrol works well when it has 10 scouts on paper. (8 show up to meetings and 5 show up for events). A troop works well with 3 patrols but can get by with 2. Drop to one and your SPL and ASPL don't have jobs to do.

 

Adults: you don't have all that many but you have enough if you can use them. But you have to ask them. Standing in front of the room saying we are looking for help won't do it. Steping up to a mom or dad and asking them to do something will work 90% of the time and the other 10% will at least stay out of your way and avoid talking to you.

 

Recruiting: nothing works as well as success. Start by acting like you allready have the numbers you want. Never say we can't do that because we are too small. Plan event that the members of the troop will brag about to their friends. If you have an active program the kids will find you.

Scouting serves grades 6 thru 12. If you can gain just 1 scouts from each grade you will have enough .

 

See also -> http://www.pinetreeweb.com/areyou.htm

[packsaddle]

You should be able to do it with your troop but it depends on the boys. If all of them are very young and inexperienced the patrol method will not come naturally. Someone will have to guide and teach. If you have as many as 4 older boys with good leadership skills, you should be able to work with it but my judgement is that you are on the edge and you need more boys. Demographically, the population size is less important than the number of boys of the right age. A retirement community or one with few children could not support a troop as well as a community with a younger average age. The chartering organization for our troop (known in another thread as 'my' or 'our' CO) currently has no young boys. Logically, we look elsewhere and work hard to recruit from 'outside'. If yours is the only troop, some publicity is in order for a community of that size. A nearby town in my area (sorry, the area I live in) only has about 600 people and they have a troop, and a strong one at that.

[CharityAK]

Packsaddle - you recommended 4 older boys with good leadership skills...This is what we've got to work with as far as leadership skills. The rest of the troop is comprised of recent crossovers - young inexperienced boys, but highly motivated. By the time they "come of age" they are going to be fantastic scouts! We have very little of the middle ages.

 

We have 5 boys ages 14-16.

 

Boy #1 is a screw-off (kicked out of previous troop, vandalism problems, rigging scout elections, etc.) but very charming, good social skills, charisma, a likeable kid-on-the-edge. Former SM (just resigned)was patient with him and held the line against kicking him out of the troop for infractions. Well-intentioned and wanted to help turn him around. SM-most-likely-to-be-next (we're currently in transition) will not be nearly as tolerant. Current ASPL

 

Boy #2 is a passive person, sweet, good character but no personal initiative, a follower. Weak in leadership skills, but a nice kid. Current SPL.

 

Boy #3 is a brilliant boy with amazing ideas, but also passive and a procratinator. Reluctant leader, but does a good job when pushed. Great parents (Mom is Committee Chair, salt-of-the-earth people). So brilliant he's always off in his head somewhere and you have to keep pulling him back to reality. A dreamer, philosopher, poet type.

 

Boy #4 (my son) is outgoing, good leadership skills, a summer camp staffer, a hard worker, faithful, responsible, but tends to be domineering, occasionally critical and can be impatient and verbally unkind with those he doesn't think are performing as they should. A Patton-type. We called him the Dictator in Diapers at 2yo. A Westpoint wannabe who needs to work on his communication skills (must get it from his Dad...*G*). Current PL of older boys.

 

Boy #5 (SM-to-be's son) is alot like my son. Outgoing. A good leader. Responsible. Has little brothers and is good with the younger boys. Very experienced scout with additional training and good scouting skills. Summer camp staffer. Tends to be loud and brash. Like my son, could afford to be more gracious in his interpersonal skills. But a solid kid who delivers the goods.

 

Okay...that's what we've got. How do we build this troop up? I think we need more kids - especially because I've heard some parental rumblings of discontent and wonder if we might not lose some during this transition period?

 

Charity

[matuawarrior]

Hello CharityAK

 

A good size troop is approxiamtely 30-40 scouts. This will give you about 3 to 4 patrols of 8 scouts each. This is something to aim for but its not guaranteed. You may grow bigger than this.

 

As for recruiting, the best candidates are the friends of the Scouts. If each Scout went out and invited one other person the troop will grow. To make them stick though depends on the program.

 

Another way to recruit is to send Den Chiefs from your troop to neighboring Packs. This builds relationship among the scouts and cubs. From experience, most Webelos would cross over to Troops that have Den Chiefs in their Packs. There is a familiar face in the troop that the new scouts can relate with.

 

The program is the key though to make them stick to Scouting. Nothing spreads faster than word of mouth, as Wingnut posted. If your programs is challenging and fun the word will get out. The opposite is true if its boring and dull.

 

Always encourageand invite potential candidates to go on outings with the troop. Once they go, you have them that whole day or weekend. They will know if Scouting is for them or not. This way they experience first hand, up close and personal the Scouting program. Also, they are still covered by BSA's liabilty insurance and Mutual of Omaha's Accident insurance as guests. From experience, I have always gained potential Scouts or Venturers after a campout.

 

Matua

[packsaddle]

Your descriptions are common memories for me. But I agree that you need more boys coming in. And, after all, that would be good even with a dream team. However, it sounds like you do have some good material to work with. If you can get those older boys to show the younger ones what teamwork is all about things could work out.

 

But it would be good to get the word out for new recruits...your troop is on the edge of critical mass. In our troop we collected from each boy two names of scout-age boys who might be recruited. They weren't allowed to give the same names. So we end up with a couple dozen good candidates during the year each year (keep in mind there are several other troops competing with us). Then our recruiting chair calls them (the parents) and talks up the troop. This actually works about 30% of the time. BTW, we concentrate on friends of the youngest boys because they are the ones more likely to 1) have non-scout friends and 2) have friends who will be around a while if recruited.

Also each year about this time the district does a 'round up' for cubs. We piggyback onto this with a look towards older siblings, especially where families are moving in with new boys starting school in the fall. Finally we try to stay visible with publicity about service projects. You will no doubt get some more ideas from this forum.

[EagleBeaver]

Of those 5,000 people in town, it would be useful to have an idea of how many 'unreached' Scout-age boys there really are that might join. How are the other troops in town doing? Do they have the same trouble with small troop size? Or, can they give you recruiting ideas that worked for them?

 

Try to RETAIN the scouts you have. Make sure that attendance is taken at each troop gathering and that someone contacts the boys that didn't attend. This contact is to let them know what fun they missed and that they were missed. If a scout stops showing up and no one checks in on him, that may validate his perception that he wasn't needed, appreciated, or valued. Keeping a 'customer' is much less work than finding a new one.

 

RECRUIT from anywhere you can. Try an ad in the middle school (6th grade) newspaper. Talk with your charter organization to see if they can help. Contact youth pastors of local churches to see if they know some boys that could benefit from scouting. Build a good relationship with local Packs by having your scouts help at their Pinewood Derby, Join Scouting Night, BlueGold dinner, ... any other pack event where your scouts will be visible doing a good turn. Also, Den Chiefs for WEBELOS dens can be a great way to pull boys up, but it is a bigger commitment from a single scout.

 

I would concentrate heavily on crossing over all the WEBELOS and try to get every one of them to invite a friend to join the troop (after training them on how to do it). I would then concentrate on recruiting 6th graders, then 7th, ... with a lower probable success for each year.

 

Paul