volunteerism decline?

[ronvo]

While good leaders for our program are becoming fewer, we are not the only organization facing this probelm as we all know.

 

I think it doesn't have so much to do with willingness to help but the willingness to commit oneself to an organzization. An article I read sometime ago discussed how the numbers in fraternal organizations (e.g. Kiwanis, Lions, etc) have declined.

 

Also if you look at the numbers of men in these organizations that number has declined even further given that they at one time were exclusively male and now allow females, just as BSA does for leaders.

 

So I don't believe the problem is with our program - but rather something in our culture/society. Too much TV, self indulgent activities? Too many people of leader age who grew up in the me generation?

 

I really don't see that there is a solution.

 

ronvo

 

[SemperParatus]

A good, long depression may be the answer...the kind that shaped and molded the 'greatest generation'.

[evmori]

ronvo,

I feel people are over scheduled. Too many committments & not enough time to do them all.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[rkfrance]

I hope we can do without a depression to improve volunteering.

 

Maybe if we only had hundreds of channels on TV and unlimited 24/7 satellite radio, oh and don't forget your choice of millions of video games, cell phones with unlimited minutes, and ... to keep everyone constantly distracted. Add to that scouts, soccer, baseball, choir, church, 4H, planning the family picnic, coaching, ....

 

I think the biggest problem we face today is people don't know how to prioritize their time. For each kid added to the mix, the problems grow exponentially. Jonny has to be here at the same time Sally has to be there, while I need to be over here, and my spouse won't get off work until.... People don't even know how to be a family anymore.

 

Add to the problem, no one has to think now. Everything is prepackaged and microwavible. We live in an instant society. And if you add anything to the mix that isn't instant, or looks like another job, why would a sane individual even consider giving up the time they don't already have to go help someone elses kid. I mean, come on, it's an hour I get to ship my kid off to someone else and make them take the responsibility for raising them. Maybe we should have year round school too.

 

I don't have the answer. I just know that the solution isn't in a nice packaged box that you can get at Walmart.

 

If you can figure out how to reinstill personal responsibility back into people, then you might be able to improve on finding people to volunteer.

[cubbingcarol]

I tend to agree with Ed. Overstretched. Think about kids these days, some are into numerous sports, gym, dance as well as a host of other things. Who gets these kids to where they need to be. How many of you are also a coach or assistant? Don't forget to factor in job commitments. Then there are religious activities as well. Wow, I'm tired after just typing up all this stuff. No wonder we have fewer committed adults. I'm lucky to have as my assistants, my best friend (he has no children), and my mother. I really feel for the single parents.

 

Carol

[madkins007]

There are several big issues in today's society that affect MANY organizations like the Scouts- overall reduction in volunteerism, reduction in charitable giving, etc.

 

As far as 'overstretched' or over-scheduled people goes, that may be a part of it, but I also think that many of these oganizations make it increasingly hard to be a volunteer.

 

I've had to drop out of several groups I was associated with over the last several years for different reasons. One instituted a 'minimum hours' requirement. Another added a 'mandatory classes' requirement and then scheduled the classes at bad times for me (to make things worse, I had been a volunteer there for year and had indeed taught these classes in the past. If I took time off for the classes, they did not seem worth the effort.)

 

Another made us sign liability waivers. Now- I don't mind that much, but they were sneaking in clauses that excused even negligence and such on the part of the organization or staff. I'm perfectly willing to take my chances with nature or the risks of the position, but if they injure me or cause me to be injured, I want to be able to recover my real losses.

 

 

 

Another thing I notice now is that I get very little 'us' time with my spouse. My parents just kicked us out of the house for hours at a time when they wanted some privacy ("See ya when the street lights come on! Have fun!") We don't do that much anymore. If we get little 'us' time, we get almost NO 'me' time. If I volunteer, out of which bank does a big chunk of that time come? Yep- bye bye 'me' time!

 

I KNOW some of our parents thought something like 'hey, I wanna help, but I also want some time apart from the little rascal... er, I mean, darling!'

 

 

I think there are other issues, but the bottom line is I think you are right- fewer volunteers in most groups, at ANY level of quality or training.

 

However, I DO think that PART of the problem is indeed our program. It may only be a small part, but I think that we could make it a LOT more attractive to potential volunteers.

[Oak Tree]

There's a well-known article and book on this topic, Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam.

 

You can see the article, or search for the book on Amazon. He suggests that there are a number of potential causes for this societal effect, including technological transformation of leisure time, mobility, higher divorce rates, movement of women into the labor force, and so on.

 

One of my personal hypotheses is that technology has made everyone more independent. As people experience less need for others to help them, they feel less inclined to volunteer themselves.

 

Oak Tree

[msnowman]

I know is our small town people just don't seem to care. If they bother to find out about Scouting at all its to use it as a babysitter. Last fall at recruiting we had a number of boys interested in being Tigers but as soon as the parents found out they had to attend everything with their son it was "well, we'll wait til next year then". I feel very lucky this year to have 2 people interested in being Wolf leader (our Tiger leader's son was held back and she is staying with that group). The year before all of the Tigers dropped out after they received their badge. Two of the three parents said to me "Scouts just isn't a priority in our house". (The third disappeared out of school and out of town).

 

Its not just Scouts, the same thing has happened on the Rec league level for soccer, basketball, baseball and softball.

 

We can't make it a priority for these parents and if its not a priority for them, then the boys won't be there. Its extremely frustrating, but I'm hoping the increased numbers we already have signify an upswing.

 

For our family Scouts is a priority for us as long as it is a priority for The Nephew. And he isn't just into Scouts, we have worked soccer, basketball, baseball, swim lessons, 4H and friends in around it. We both are very involved in what he is doing and help where we can, not just with Scouts. Now with him in a Troop and me still in the Pack, we are often going in 2 different Scouting directions.

 

Michelle

CM - P102

[ronvo]

Interesting article Oak Tree.

 

My dad bowled in the same league for almost 30 years from the ealry fifties to about 1981. Every Tuesday night from September to May.

 

I know few people who have done that type of "commitment" to anything.

 

We just don't belong to a community anymore - few of us know our neighbors, we move around to better jobs, get laid off, upgrade our home to big and better. We have to drive 10-30 minutes to the SuperStor rather around the ocrner to the neghbor hood grocery where highschool kids we know are checkers and sackers ( sackers: someone -ususally a high school boy who sacked your groceries and took them to your car and loaded them for you - and you tipped him.

 

In the 1959 edition of th SM Handbook it talks about if you see a boy is having a problem you might walk home with him after the troop meeting to talk. !!!!!

 

We live in a different world than 100 or 50 years ago!

 

But this all stuff most of us know and the problem is way bigger than we are.

 

YIS

 

ronvo

 

 

 

 

[Prairie_Scouter]

I don't know the solution, but I can offer an observation that I'm sure we all have seen.

 

I see the same people involved at Scout activities, school activities, etc. I don't know if it's an 80/20 rule or what, but the same involved parents show up everywhere.

 

So, I don't think it's necessarily something related directly to Scouting. It's in the same boat as many other activities. Scouts don't have enough good leaders, soccer doesn't have enough good coaches, the PTA doesn't have enough good parents participating, etc.

 

Why? It's probably not just one thing. Parents are spread to support a lot of activities now. Kids have more things available to them than they did 50 or 100 years ago. Parents are working more now. More dual income families, more parents putting more time on their jobs.

 

A couple of thoughts on Scouting in the U.S. in particular. At the time Scouting was started in the U.S., we were still primarily a rural country, although this was already changing. People were used to doing things outside, and building a program around outdoors activities fit in with this pretty well. Now, we are primarily an urban society. Things like camping are still popular, but more of a niche activity, I think. Scouting takes a lot of time, relative to things like local sports, especially at the Boy Scout level. The time committment may push some people away. The political stance of BSA may push some people away. A perceived view, by some, that BSA is a conservative religious organization may push some people away.

 

I question my own role as a leader because of the amount of time it takes away from the rest of my family. The burden becomes even more because of the difficulty in getting other people to help. I wish it was as easy as "get more people to help", but it doesn't seem to be that way. And I can say that I do have a wonderful group of parents who do help, but there are many who don't.

 

So, I don't know if the problem is a general decline in volunteerism, or if we're just being spread really thin with the wide variety of activities we try to support.

[Student]

Mr. Prairie_Scouter, I believe many of us feel your pain ("I question my own role as a leader because of the amount of time it takes away from the rest of my family. The burden becomes even more because of the difficulty in getting other people to help"). You're obviously committed to the success of your program and are willing to put in the extra effort to get tasks accomplished that otherwise are left undone. I hope your family supports your commitment and what is at stake for the boys in your unit who might otherwise miss the positive influence of Scouting.

 

Over the last year, as part of a personal strategic project to dramatically improve our troop and Scouting membership in our district, I've been studying other (non-BSA) social organizations that have been successful in attracting new members and leaders. I have not found many "voluntary activity" success stories, but one group that seems to be quite effective are some of the new non-denominational churches.

 

Arguably the most widely publicized of these is Saddleback Community Church, in southern California. I undoubtedly have my numbers wrong, but they currently have something like 25,000 members--not bad, considering they have only been in existence for 20 years or so. They reached 15,000 members before having a building of their own, and have seeded something like 100 new churches. So they might be on to something...

 

Conveniently, the founder and pastor of the church, Rick Warren, wrote a book in 1995, "The Purpose-Driven Church", that addresses in detail the methods he and his volunteers used in building the organization. He makes a number of points that are directly applicable to Scouting, but the one that struck me as I read this thread was that a significant portion of his work is training the "senior" volunteers. And then asking them to make specific, detailed commitments--in writing--to accomplish their jobs as specified. In fact, he aks for written commitments from all new members of the church and from members as they reach new levels of involvement. This requirement would appear to drive people away, but Warren reports it actually increased the number of new members and volunteer leaders.

 

Without adding requirements beyond those mandated by BSA, perhaps we as Scout leaders need to change our emphasis slightly, to spend more time developing the adult organization of our units. To begin, perhaps we should ask for specific commitments. Several results might follow:

- The adult volunteer will understand the importance of his or her area of responsibility and the need to execute his or her duties with skill. I suspect more adults will step forward if their work has a high level of significance (rather than being just another "warm body in the room"). Given a defined scope for their work, many volunteers will rise to a higher level of performance. Peer pressure may also be a factor.

- Training takes on a new and much greater importance.

- As the numbers of trained leaders increase, the unit leadership can back off from many of the operational details required to keep the unit running. This should free up a significant amount of time to work with the Scouts or the adults.

- The Scouts are not forgotten, of course. "Boy-run" continues to apply. With additional committed adult leadership, more opportunities may open up for the Scouts because the Scouts have new resources (significant adult expertise) available to them. The Scouts don't all have to wait in line to talk to the Scoutmaster any more. Also, a pool of potential future unit leaders exists. Some of the committed leaders may eventually form units of their own.

- As momentum builds, attracting new Scouts and new adult volunteers becomes easier. People want to be on the winning team.

 

The bottom-line suggestion, then, is that we raise rather than lower the bar when it comes to volunteer help. And that we do this by clearly establishing expectations and obtaining specific commitments.

 

We're rolling this out in our troop at the current time--I'll let you all know how it goes if you would like.

 

Student

[evmori]

Student,

Purpose Driven Scouting? What a great idea! I love the Purpose Driven Life! Great book!

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[Venividi]

Speaking for myself, I recognize that recruitment of volunteers is not one of my strong points. With it not being a strength, nor something that I enjoyed doing, I didn't spend time doing it. I suspect many are in the same shoes. Here is something that I wrote many years ago when I was a cubmaster - thought the list might enjoy.

 

They're looking for volunteers again, Be quick and duck your head.

Don't meet their eyes what ever you do, Or just pretend you're dead.

 

Cub scouts and school and basketball, Soccer and PTO,

Turn them down, every request, Be firm and just say no.

 

I'm much too busy to help out, Others have much more time.

It might cost me extra money, I don't have an extra dime.

 

My work keeps me too busy, I've no time to relax,

To spend time with some kids you see, Is way too much of a tax.

 

And I've never volunteered before, I don't think that I know how,

Everyone else knows more than me, (At least they do right now.)

 

Others seem to know just what to do, That is easy for me to see,

They must have done it all their lives, What else could it be?

 

So rely on them for scout leaders For the girls and boys,

They can coach my kid's baseball team, And deal with all the noise.

 

I know that they make this world a better place; I want my kids to learn that,

Thats why I have them in the scouts, and sports and stuff like that.

 

I guess that if I admit it to myself, I've a little time to spare.

They say you can see a kids eyes light up, When they know you care.

 

So come on and volunteer with me, We'll learn how it is done,

I think that I will make the time, What it might even be is fun.

 

[ronvo]

EXCELLENT V!

 

If you don't mind I think I'll print it out and post it in our scout room and at the school night!

 

thanks

ron

[ronvo]

EXCELLENT V!

 

If you don't mind I think I'll print it out and post it in our scout room and at the school night!

 

thanks

ron