Lack Of Volunteers

[pargolf44067]

Based on several posts by lots of people on this forum, as well as personal experience, it appears that we have a significant issue with attracting volunteers at both the Boy Scout and Cub Scout level.  What do you think happens down the road when those of us that are volunteering now (with or without kids in scouts) decide we have had enough and leave?  Do you think there will be a natural evolution of people that will volunteer, perhaps boys that were in scouts and are now becoming adults/parents that will backfill?  Or do you think BSA will have to do something about it?

 

I am just curious because we seem to have a whole generation of parents (trying not to generalize) that don't really want to get involved in volunteering.  Some of them are helicopter parents who only care about their kid and what their kid is doing and some are drop and run parents who just don't care.  I personally think this could be a significant issue in the near future, if it isn't already in some places.  We have had packs fold this year in our district that have been around for over 50 years because of a lack of volunteers.

 

I know there are some who think the various stands taken by BSA one way or the other is causing some of this issue, but I think a bigger part of the issue is just parents that don't like to get involved any more.

[Stosh]

I'm thinking you are correct.  I don't think people like to get involved as much as they used to.  I think churches and other non-profit, volunteer groups also are feeling the pinch.  

 

A person's volunteering is now a critical factor in college entrance and employment situations.  It used to be assumed to the point that one stood out as strange if one didn't have at least one volunteer option in their lives.

 

The pendulum will swing back the other way again soon.  We've been through this cyclically over the years.

[LeCastor]

@@pargolf44067, this isn't a new issue by any means.  Packs and Troops have been in need of more volunteers for years and years.  In his book The Commissioner's Corner, Darnall Daley talks about this issue and his advice is to take every opportunity to explain why YOU are involved and why others should also become involved in their kids' Scouting lives.  Also, he suggests giving people small tasks to do to help you personally and before they know it they're in for the long haul.  (Sneaky, huh?  )

[Gone]

 

I know there are some who think the various stands taken by BSA one way or the other is causing some of this issue, but I think a bigger part of the issue is just parents that don't like to get involved any more.

 

From my experience you've asked the right questions and provided the answer. People cannot be bothered. 

 

We put the challenge to all of our scouts to give back to scouting what they took out of it at some point in their life. If mom and dad are too darn busy to get engaged, the probability of the scout doing so later on is not good. Maybe the pendulum will swing back and future parents will become more involved, but I doubt it. Just looking at the registration stats of adults over the last 15 years, the decline is significant. BSA seems out of touch on how to fix the problem.

 

To answer the question you pose: I suspect the trend continues and adult registration and involvement in scouting declines along similar rates we've seen in the last 15 years. BSA needs to work on retention. To do that they need the right people in leadership, asking the right questions and taking the appropriate action. None of that seems evident lately.

 

 

 

The pendulum will swing back the other way again soon.  We've been through this cyclically over the years.

 

 

But @@Stosh, the numbers have been going down a long, long time. The pendulum would have to swing back in a BIG way to stop the hemorrhaging. 

Edited May 19, 2015 by Bad Wolf

[pargolf44067]

@@LeCastor, I guess I was lucky when I was SM in my troop before  .  I had very helpful and active volunteer parents, so this is why I am taking a bigger notice of this now I guess.  I always did the "small tasks" thing in the past and that has worked, hopefully it works again!

[Gone]

  Also, he suggests giving people small tasks to do to help you personally and before they know it they're in for the long haul.  (Sneaky, huh?  )

 

There's always the "Oreo Test" too.

[Stosh]

The swing took a generation to get over to one side, it may take another whole generation to swing it back.  I do believe my generation of narcissitically "doing your own thing" set the pendulum in motion.  It's going to get a generation to recognize there's more to life than looking out for oneself before we see a general trend in the other direction.  

 

Hopefully BSA and other volunteer organizations can hang in there long enough to survive.

[LeCastor]

I think the story of Carson Buck is interesting.  Initially his wife was a Den Leader and he just happened to stop by one night, got trained as a Scoutmaster, and then took off and never looked back!

 

http://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%20Disk3/Fayetteville%20NY%20Bulletin/Fayetteville%20NY%20Bulletin%201968%20pdf/Fayetteville%20NY%20Bulletin%201968%20-%200616.pdf

 

Bill Hillcourt lived with Buck in his final years near Syracuse, NY.

 

So just approaching someone who you think has no interest, piquing their interest, and then training them can lead to awesome things!

[Rick_in_CA]

My experience with parent volunteers is not that they don't care (though that does describe a few of them), but that they are very strapped for time now days. Everyone is working longer hours (at jobs they feel less secure in), they are driving their kids everywhere (school, robotics club, boy scouts, girl scouts, sports, etc.). Everyone, not just the kids, are over scheduled.

 

I have had to cut back a bit on my scouting as work and family commitments have increased. Does that mean I don't care as much? No, I just have less time. So the whole "people won't step up because they are lazy or don't care" attitude wears a bit thin. And if that is the attitude you present to potential volunteers, no wonder you don't get any takers.

[pargolf44067]

@@LeCastor, very interesting article!  Thanks for linking.

[pargolf44067]

@@Rick_in_CA, I didn't use the words "lazy and don't care" specifically and I would never present that attitude to volunteers.  As I have said, my personal history when I was SM before in my troop was that I had a great group of parents that volunteered, but now it is a little different.  I know people are pulled in many directions, and I am one of them, but I also notice that those that are pulled in many directions are usually the ones that step up and volunteer, folks such as yourself who are trying to do multiple things to help.  If you were in my troop and weren't as involved but stayed somewhat involved, I wouldn't in any way complain about it, because you care enough to stay involved.

 

I do know that there are parents, and I think several posters on this forum can personally attest to this, that don't volunteer for anything.  It is just a general trend that I have seen in my district and in conversations (which obviously @@Stosh and @ agree with) that parents are volunteering less.

[Gone]

I use to travel 15 weeks of the year, Monday to Thursday. Have a job with a large company. 40+ hours a week, usually more. Coached my kids sports teams AND was a DL and CM. Adjusted my schedule so that I could be in town for den and pack meetings. Went to scouts and became an ASM. At first did the website and other things I could do while travelling. When travel died down, took on bigger tasks. I don't buy the "I'm busy" excuse. There are plenty of ways to step up and volunteer. 

 

We make room for the things in our life that matter. What you involve yourself in are usually the most important. Those things you don't volunteer for are less important. The excuse that "I have limited time" is made to make yourself feel less guilty about saying no.

Edited May 19, 2015 by Bad Wolf

[JoeBob]

ParGolf, I agree with your observation.  And I think there are at least 4 dynamics involved.

 

1- Overscheduled - time crunch.

2- Don't care - self-centered - different parenting style (MY kids).

3- Less interest in scouting.  City dwellers don't need no stinkin' camping!

4- Less prestige in being a Scout volunteer.

 

But I had never applied it to what BSA is going to do down the road.  Based on a few other threads, it seems like BSA is doing their best to run off volunteers, not retain and recruit.  The mystical 'servant leadership' only goes so far.

[desertrat77]

I saw this dynamic last summer during little league baseball.  

 

A friend approached me.   The city called him and said "If you don't coach a team, there will be a dozen boys that won't play."   No volunteer parents or adults.

 

Well, my friend wasn't planning on coaching but he volunteered anyway.   He asked me to help.   I guessed the parents were absent, or too busy, or something.   Okay, why not, for the good of the kids.

 

Result:  every game, there were a dozen able-bodied parents that showed up to watch the games.   Some of them had sports backgrounds.   But they a) did not offer to help in any way b) showed up late to games with their kid and c) rarely got their kid to practices.   One dad volunteered to help when the season started.  

 

I see the same with scouting.   Some parents don't have time because of work.  But many are just plain cussed lazy, and there ain't no other way to put it.   They refuse to volunteer for the simplest task.   They are the ones that outsource their parenting to the community--church, scouting, sports, school.   The kids get nothing at home.

 

JoeBob is spot on--the BSA does an outstanding job of running off volunteers.   Interested adults are shunned (new guy/gal at RT?  No time to talk to them!), ignored (no WB beads, you don't exist), loaded up like pack mules (red tape, long-winded/low value training, bad software, lots of liability, little/zero support).   Some tough it out, but others say no thanks and do something else.

[Stosh]

We can't always find time to do everything....

 

But we can always make time if it's important....

 

So when the parents say they don't have time to help out, what they are really saying is, "In the entire scope of my life, your project is not important enough for me to prioritized your issue higher.

 

This formula also works for money.  The scout pants for my son is not as important as the three packs of cigarettes I'll be smoking this week.