BSA franchises

[Bob White]

Ed please,

Not the national charter the congressional charter that establishes that the BSA can only deliver the program through other organizations, the 'Charter concept' of scouting. This establishes the boundary between the BSA and the Scouting units by giving the ownership of the program to the BSA but the ownership of the units to the BSA's contracted partners, the Charter Organizations. Each party has specific resposnsibilites which you can learn from BSA program handbooks or by attending and being attentive at New Leader Essentials (or in the past at any of the leader basic training courses.)

 

Now lets get back to the part where you want the BSA to do your job as a commissioner.(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[CNYScouter]

BW - could you clarify what you mean by But unless performance criteria is changed drastically and what changes would you like to see.

 

Also our council is going to manditory training for leaders by 2007.

I also have been told by a few leaders (cub leaders) that they will drop being a leader if they are required to take training.

 

I would rather see this responsability placed on the individual rather than a unit by requiring an individual be fully trained in their position before than can be re-registered.

[SemperParatus]

BW,

 

Section 23 of the Congressional Charter states

"The purpose of the corporation [bSA] shall be to promote, through organization, and cooperation with other agencies, the ability of boys to do things for themselves and others, to train them..."

 

How does the open-ended language 'cooperation with other agencies' translate to the restrictive 'the BSA can only deliver the program through other organizations'? Isn't the CO concept a BSA mandate, not a Congressional one?

 

As always, your extensive knowledge and kind reply is sincerely appreciated.

 

****

 

The BSA National Charter [uS Code, Title 36, Chapter 2] June 15, 1916

 

21. Corporation created.

 

Colin H. Livingstone and Ernest P. Bicknell, of Washington, District of Columbia; Benjamin L. Dulaney, of Bristol, Tennessee; Milton A. McRae, of Detroit, Michigan; David Starr Jordan, of Berkeley, California; F. L. Seely, of Asheville, North Carolina; A. Stamford White, of Chicago, Illinois; Daniel Carter Beard, of Flushing, New York; George D. Pratt, of Brooklyn, New York; Franklin C. Hoyt, Jeremiah W. Jenks, Charles P. Neill, Frank Presbrey, Edgar M. Robinson, Mortimer L. Schiff, and James E. West, of New York, New York; G. Barrett Rich, junior, of Buffalo, New York; Robert Garrett, of Baltimore, Maryland; John Sherman Hoyt, of Norwalk, Connecticut; Charles C. Jackson, of Boston, Massachusetts; John H. Nicholson, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; William D. Murray, of Plainfield, New Jersey; and George D. Porter, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, their associates and successors, are created a body corporate and politic of the District of Columbia, where its domicile shall be.

 

22. Name and powers of corporation.

 

The name of the corporation created by this chapter shall be ''Boy Scouts of America'', and by that name it shall have perpetual succession, with power to sue and be sued in courts of law and equity within the jurisdiction of the United States; to hold such real and personal estate as shall be necessary for corporate purposes, and to receive real and personal property by gift, devise, or bequest; to adopt a seal, and the same to alter and destroy at pleasure; to have offices and conduct its business and affairs within and without the District of Columbia and in the several States and Territories of the United States; to make and adopt by-laws, rules, and regulations not inconsistent with the laws of the United States of America, or any State thereof, and generally to do all such acts and things (including the establishment of regulations for the election of associates and successors) as may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this chapter and promote the purposes of said corporation.

 

23. Purposes of corporation.

 

The purpose of the corporation shall be to promote, through organization, and cooperation with other agencies, the ability of boys to do things for themselves and others, to train them in Scoutcraft, and to teach them patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred virtues, using the methods which were in common use by Boy Scouts on June 15, 1916.

 

24. Acquisition of assets and liabilities of existing corporation;

 

Said corporation may acquire, by way of gift, all the assets of the existing national organization of Boy Scouts, a corporation under the laws of the District of Columbia, and defray and provide for any debts or liabilities to the discharge of which said assets shall be applicable; but said corporation shall have no power to issue certificates of stock or to declare or pay dividends, its object and purposes being solely of a benevolent character and not for pecuniary profit to its members.

 

25. Executive board; powers.

 

The governing body of the said Boy Scouts of America shall consist of an executive board composed of citizens of the United States. The number, qualifications, and terms of office of members of the executive board shall be prescribed by the by-laws. The persons mentioned in section 21 of this title shall constitute the first executive board and shall serve until their successors are elected and have qualified. Vacancies in the executive board shall be filled by a majority vote of the remaining members thereof. The bylaws may prescribe the number of members of the executive board necessary to constitute a quorum of the board, which number may be less than a majority of the whole number of the board. The executive board shall have power to make and to amend the bylaws, and, by a two-thirds vote of the whole board at a meeting called for this purpose, may authorize and cause to be executed mortgages and liens upon the property of the corporation. The executive board may, by resolution passed by a majority of the whole board, designate three or more of their number to constitute an executive or governing committee, of which a majority shall constitute a quorum, which committee, to the extent provided in said resolution or in the bylaws of the corporation, shall have and exercise the powers of the executive board in the management of the business affairs of the corporation, and may have power to authorize the seal of the corporation to be affixed to all papers which may require it. The executive board, by the affirmative vote of a majority of the whole board, may appoint any other standing committees, and such standing committees shall have and may exercise such powers as shall be conferred or authorized by the bylaws. With the consent in writing and pursuant to an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of said corporation, the executive board shall have authority to dispose in any manner of the whole property of the corporation.

 

26. Annual and special meetings; quorum.

 

An annual meeting of the incorporators, their associates and successors, shall be held once in every year after the year of incorporation, at such time and place as shall be prescribed in the bylaws, when the annual reports of the officers and executive board shall be presented and members of the executive board elected for the ensuing year. Special meetings of the corporation may be called upon such notice as may be prescribed in the bylaws. The number of members which shall constitute a quorum at any annual or special meeting shall be prescribed in the bylaws. The members and executive board shall have power to hold their meetings and keep the seal, books, documents, and papers of the corporation within or without the District of Columbia.

 

27. Exclusive right to emblems, badges, marks, and words or phrases.

 

The corporation shall have the sole and exclusive right to have and to use, in carrying out its purposes, all emblems and badges, descriptive or designating marks, and words or phrases now or heretofore used by the Boy Scouts of America in carrying out its program, it being distinctly and definitely understood, however, that nothing in this chapter shall interfere or conflict with established or vested rights.

 

28. Annual report.

 

On or before the 1st day of April of each year the said Boy Scouts of America shall make and transmit to Congress a report of its proceedings for the year ending December 31 preceding.

 

29. Reservation of right to amend or repeal chapter.

 

Congress shall have the right to repeal, alter, or amend this chapter at any time.

 

 

[evmori]

I have the same question Semper does cause when I read the Congressional Charter, I got the same impression. And facts, not opinion, to verify, please.

 

And no, Bob, I don't want the BSA to do my job as commissioner. I do my job as commissioner just fine. But thanks for offering the assistance.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[Bob White]

Semper, for the sake of brevity I will refer you to this BSA fact sheet. http://www.scouting.org/factsheets/02-507.html

 

Please take special note of the two items that follow the line that reads "When community organizations establish a new unit, they must take these two important actions to ensure a quality Scouting program: that appears under the heading How Community Organizations Use the Scouting Program

 

This information can also be found by attending New Leader Essentials, a 2-hour course that explains the history, methods and structure of scouting. Prior to 2001 this information was a part of all basic leader training courses as well (for decades!).

[SemperParatus]

BW,

 

Thank you. Yes, I have seen the material you referenced, but that is BSA (not Congressional) literature. When I read the Congressional Charter it only states in 'cooperation with other agencies'. Now, I suppose the last part of Section 23 'using the methods which were in common use by Boy Scouts on June 15, 1916' could possibly place some restriction that the CO concept is mandated by Congress, but only on the basis that the CO concept is a deemed to be a 'method' that was in common use by Boy Scouts on June 15, 1916. Of course, relying on this clause would pose additional problems in that the BSA could be precluded from ever adopting different 'methods' than those that may have existed on said date.

[Bob White]

If you want congressional literature contact congress.

 

For the charter concept to change the congressional charter would need to change, and there is no motivation for doing so. The BSA wants the units to be responsible for their side of the charter.

 

If you are familiar with that fact sheet then you should also be familiar twith the point I keep making that is clearly refered to on the sheet (though obscured evidently as if by magic from the view of some scouteres) that the CO is specifically responsibly for the selection of adult leaders.

 

So the Program is franchised just as CNY suggested.

 

COs lease the program oon an annual basis through a contract agreement wherein each party agrees to specifc responsibilities. To this point the majority of problems raised on this forum fall on the COs side of the contract NOT the BSA's.

 

 

 

 

[OldGreyEagle]

In looking over the adult application, in the box marked "Approvals for Unit Scouters" it has space for two signatures, the Unit Committee Chair and the Charter Organizaiotn head or the Charter Organizaiton Representative.

 

I admit I got lost in the "charter" talk, but from the application, it looks like its the Unit and Chartering Organization that approves unit leaders. Where does BSA get involved?

[acco40]

How many other private organizations are chartered by the US Congress?

[SemperParatus]

OGE,

 

See Accepted box

 

http://www.scouting.org/forms/28-501.pdf

 

I guess 'Accepted' is the same as 'Approval' since the Annual Charter Agreement states that the council "shares in the approval of leaders."

 

 

 

[Bob White]

If there were 1 or 100 what difference would it make?

[SemperParatus]

acco,

 

Here is a list...

 

 

http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Society_and_Culture/Organizations/Congressionally_Chartered/

 

http://www.google.com/Top/Regional/North_America/United_States/Society_and_Culture/Organizations/Congressionally_Chartered/

 

 

(This message has been edited by SemperParatus)

[Hunt]

I think perhaps Bob is confusing the charter granted by Congress to BSA and the charters granted by BSA to community organizations and local councils. These are not the same thing. There is nothing in the terms of the Congressional charter itself that requires BSA to function in this way. If BSA wanted to change to franchising rather than chartering, I don't think it would violate the charter. Perhaps it would have to change its bylaws, but again the congressional charter doesn't seem to preclude that either.

Finally, if it was really a good idea to change the practice, and the Congressional Charter precluded it, you could probably get Congress to change the Charter.

[Bob White]

Hunt,

You didn't even take the time to read the first parageraph in the link I posted did you?

 

The federal charter requires that the BSA work through local community organizations. Everybody who wants to take part in this discussion should really have taken basic training first. There is some important information that is shared there that you need to understand. As the video tells you the BSA cannot own units they are required to distribute the program through community organizations as explained in the fact sheet in the link I posted.

 

There are three charters. There is the federal one granted by congress to the BSA that is not ours it is the U.S Congress'. We can't change it because we didn't create it. Then there is the one granted to Councils By the BSA and ones granted to the Charter organizations.

 

Just as the federal one has reponsibilities for both parties so do the BSA charters. There is just no getting around the fact that the BSA program is franchised to units and that units have among their responsibilities the selection of all unit volunteers.

 

Semper,

 

Have you taken Youth Protection Training? They spend quite a bit of time on this. They emphasize that one of the most important things to do is that the Charter Organizations must CAREFULLY select their leaders. They talk about the adult application and following up on references and the kinds of questions to ask. Does any of that sound familiar?

 

So now it's in New Leader Essentials training, Youth Protection training, the adult application, The Troop Committee Handbook, Troop Committee Challenge, The Cub Scout Leader Handbook, and in the Fact Sheet I have shown you from the BSA explaining charters, AND YET you still do not get it.

 

How is that possible?

 

7 BSA resources that explain it! Isn't that enough?

 

 

 

 

[FScouter]

What are we talking about?