Volunteers to include on Charter?

[DGS]

I'm a new Scoutmaster in a well established Troop. We are fortunate to have many adult volunteers who have stayed with the troop long after their sons have moved on. Past practice has been to include all of these volunteers on our charter, as well as any boys who have aged out and have any involvement with the troop.

 

We've come to a point where we are chartering almost as many adult volunteers as we are scouts (about 30). At $80 per person, this is having a dramatic impact on our budget. Some of the volunteers are very active, and come to most meetings and many campouts. Others come to a meeting here and there and maybe a campout at best.

 

Many parents are questioning whether it is necessary to charter all of these volunteers. Im trying to come up with a criteria for who should and shouldnt be chartered, but info on this topic seems scarce. There do seem to be provisions for nonregistered volunteers, but I cant seem to find anything that explains who can be a nonregistered volunteer.

 

Im trying to figure out:

-Who is required to be chartered (outside of the required positions)?

-What is the difference between a registered and nonregistered leader?

-What benefits do registered leaders receive?

 

Finally, I would be interested to hear how other troops decide who to register.

 

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

[RememberSchiff]

@@DGS welcome to scouter.com

[JosephMD]

I'm assuming that these adults are not paying their own registration fees.  This isn't a practice I agree with and what I would work to change.  A scout pays his own way, the scouters should be setting that example.

 

I wouldn't take on this role as the scoutmaster though, this is more of a committee chair job.  Refer the parent's to the committee so you can focus on your SPL's program.

[HashTagScouts]

I'm assuming that these adults are not paying their own registration fees.  This isn't a practice I agree with and what I would work to change.  A scout pays his own way, the scouters should be setting that example.

 

I wouldn't take on this role as the scoutmaster though, this is more of a committee chair job.  Refer the parent's to the committee so you can focus on your SPL's program.

 

 

Absolutely agree.  If anyone who wishes to be in a position that potentially alters a young persons life or gives them the inspiration to be the best version of themselves squawks over paying a ~$30 a year, they need to check themselves in the mirror and ask what they are doing in that position.   A Scout is thrifty, and that starts with the troops own funds. 

 

 

Im trying to figure out:

-Who is required to be chartered (outside of the required positions)?

-What is the difference between a registered and nonregistered leader?

-What benefits do registered leaders receive?

 

 

Who is required outside of the required positions? No one! 

 

What is the difference between a registered and a non registered leader? Those who are not registered are not actually troop leaders, and shouldn't consider themselves as such.  Frankly, even the parent who is only going to teach a MB over two troop meetings should register. Much of that is tied to:

 

What benefits? For the adult  A) the insurance coverage, but most important B) the ability to demonstrate to the scouts that you are in it with them.  For the unit, the  most significant, especially now the National has actually made the policy more clear, they need to have YPT at the time of registering.  The reality is that this is not a family camping organization, and I get that not everyone can be at 75% of the events, but for many that still register even ears after their kid is out it is because they feel the benefits of supporting the next generation of young people to receive the same direction and mentoring that they/their child received.

 

I do understand that there will be those that balk, but they need to think about all the parents that are there now or will be very soon that have probably never even seen them at a meeting let alone an event.  You do want the CC onboard though.  As the SM, you really are the one who should decide who is essential as ASMs, no matter how big or small their part is.  

[NJCubScouter]

Welcome to the forum DGS!

 

Why is it $80 per person?  In our council I believe it is $33 per adult ($24 to National and $9 to council.)  Of course the National fee is going up to $33 (which I suppose is a coincidence) so, assuming council doesn't increase ITS fee, it will be $42 per adult.  (I believe Scouts are $55 each including council fees.)  If your fees are $80 per adult, that means the council is tacking on $56 in fees.  That seems like a lot.

 

Of course even $33 or $42 times 30 is significant, but $80 times 30 is... well, it's unacceptable, not that it's up to me to accept it.

 

Each year we go through the list of adults on the charter and cross off names of people who are completely inactive, and then we have a discussion of people who just show up for a meeting here and there and don't really do anything, or college students who are registered as ASM's but aren't really around.  In the past, adults who were on the charter but inactive were given the opportunity to pay their own fees if they wanted to stay on the charter, but I am not sure that is done anymore.  As for JosephMD's comment about having all adults pay their own fees, I know some units do that and some adults in our troop (at least in the past) have voluntarily paid their own fees, but I guess our attitude is that volunteers should not have to pay any more for the privilege of volunteering than we already do.

[NJCubScouter]

Frankly, even the parent who is only going to teach a MB over two troop meetings should register. 

 

Well, they need to be registered and approved as MB counselors (which includes YP training) but they do not need to hold any other position to be a MB counselor.  There also is no fee if you are only registered as an MB counselor (in our council at least.)  

[blw2]

Yeah, our troop carries a few extra adults that are never really engaged or involved.  A few i think only so they can go to summer camp but for some reason they keep registering them.

Personally, I feel that if they don't show to committee meetings (ASM's would be to the troop meetings) they likely should not be chartered....and if they attend the committee meetings but otherwise don't have a job or do anything, I would question it personally.

I'd lean to encouraging them to sign on as counselors and leave it at that.... No sense in paying the money of they are not engaged....

[fred johnson]

Who is required to be chartered (outside of the required positions)?

• Isn't this an oxymoron ? 

What is the difference between a registered and non-registered leader?

• Background check 
• Visibility as being a registered leader

What benefits do registered leaders receive?

• You get a magazine.

Your points are good though.  As registration fees have kept going up, we've trimmed our registered leaders to those that have direct interaction or financial interest in the troop (treasurer).  Beyond that, we don't need to register everyone who takes the slightest responsibility.  If anything, asking adults to pay their own registration helps trim the extra growth of too many adults.  

 

In our troop, we have one SM and one ASM.  We have the minimum committee size too even though more appear at the meetinsg.  For us though, it's a cost thing.  

[ValleyBoy]

Council registration fee?  I have never heard of a Council requiring and fee on top of the national registration fee. 

[Eagle1993]

I know some units do that and some adults in our troop (at least in the past) have voluntarily paid their own fees, but I guess our attitude is that volunteers should not have to pay any more for the privilege of volunteering than we already do.

Absolutely agree. Note that volunteers already pay for uniforms, training and their time. As a show of appreciation of their time and guidance, we include adult fees as part of our pack fees charged to every scout (about $5). I have volunteered for many other youth programs/sports and BSA is one of the only that charges me to volunteer. $33 is not that much money and most adults would pay without objection, our Pack just thinks it sends the wrong message.

[HashTagScouts]

Council registration fee?  I have never heard of a Council requiring and fee on top of the national registration fee. 

 

 

Many councils in the Northeast have them now.  In our council, every scout has a charge (some councils I have heard it applies to adults as well).  Part of the "benefit" is that have tent camping for free at council camps on fall/spring weekends.

[NJCubScouter]

Council registration fee?  I have never heard of a Council requiring and fee on top of the national registration fee. 

 

My recollection is that it started out some years ago as an "insurance fee" and was something like $2 or 3.  Now that it is $9 for adults and something like $30 for Scouts (unless part of that goes somewhere else), I assume that is not all for insurance but I don't know what else it goes to pay for.  I am guessing that the huge increase in the council fee for youth (which I only learned about last year) is something that happened after my son aged out (which happened about 8 years ago) because I think I would have known about it if I was paying it, even indirectly through troop dues.

[NJCubScouter]

Part of the "benefit" is that have tent camping for free at council camps on fall/spring weekends.

 

Hmm. I don't know whether our council has that or not, but when I see the word "free" my alarm bells go off.  What it sounds like is that they are charging everybody for use of the council camps whether you are using them or not.

[CherokeeScouter]

I just retired my committee chair post and having been through rechartering a few years with one of  the larger troops on this forum (100+ Scouts), I can give you a couple pieces of advice:

 

1. Keep the adult roster as small as you can. I'll explain later. You need to have the SM, the CC,  possibly the charter rep, and the ASMs. Most of committee members - treasurer, adv chair - are not registered leaders in our troop. Same for Patrol Advisors. However, I think our Life to Eagle guy is an ASM. 

 

2. The list will grow mid-year if you have different adults  leading Sea Base, Philmont, etc. ALL of those adults need to registered. I typically registered them mid-year for the reason I'm gonna list below. 

 

3. All registered leaders must have current Youth Protection on file with Council or your recharter will be rejected. That means one adult who hasn't done his youth protection can hold up the re-charter of a 100-Scout troop - at least in our council.

 

4. Because we are one of the oldest "continuously chartered" troops in the U.S., getting the charter complete before the deadline was a big deal. Hence the small leadership roster. BTW, our troop dates back to 1917. Not the oldest, but pretty darn old. 

 

5. Now, to me, Youth Protection was a different matter. I liked all adults who camped with us to have YPT, even if they are not registered leaders. I just didn't want that YPT holding up a recharter. I kept track of this on a separate spreadsheet. 

 

But the poster who said the SM shouldn't be handling this is exactly right. Frankly, I think rechartering is a CC's most important duty in addition to the BORs. No  need for a SM to have to deal with that. 

 

Hope this helps.

[CherokeeScouter]

Oh, and DEFINITELY keep MB counselors off the recharter. They do their application and send it to Council with their YPT. End of story. 

 

The reason is that next year's recharter will include all the MB counselors. And so will the year after that when their YPT has lapsed. And then you have to either take them off the recharter or chase them down for YPT renewal. Plus, I'm feeling sorta iffy on all these "in-house MB counselors" anyway, especially for Eagle MBs.