Total Area Youth

[baschram645]

Our DE recently emailed all the unit leaders a file called Total Area Youth(TAY). This is a list of scout aged youth in our district by public, private school as well as youth that are home schooled. It provides you with the number of youth for each school by grade and total for each school. I am sure this will help me focus my efforts in recruiting in the future (nice to know how large your target audience is).

 

My question, is this being used in any other councils and what is the success rate in recruiting new members?

 

Bryan

(Used to be a Bobwhite)

 

[Lisabob]

Hello to a fellow BOBWHITE! Welcome to the nest.

 

The TAY figure is something other councils and districts use as a comparison point. My understanding is that the national office in Irving also sets objectives that it would like to see everyone meet, ideally, in terms of % of TAY being served (though whether a district uses these as their actual goal is apparently up to them). Our DE recently shared our figures too and I must say I was surprised at the rather small sliver of boys we serve, once you get past cub scouting.

[ScoutNut]

Our District usually hands these figures out yearly. It helps us to see what % of eligible youth our unit is actually serving.

 

I do not think anyone (except possibly the DE whose performance review is based in part on these numbers) really keeps track for any kind of "success rate". We use it mainly for informational purposes.

[Eamonn]

Not that it's a big deal but we have always used the term "Total Available Youth".

The information can be a nice tool.

Many Councils will break it down by School District.

This of course means that Recruitment efforts can be placed where the effort might do the most good or might have the biggest return.

Sadly the number can't tell us how many of these youth were in Scouting and have quit.

The number can also be a little misleading to someone who doesn't know the area.

Rural areas where kids are spread out might have a low number of TAY served due to the distances some families would have to travel to a meeting.

I used to track the numbers.

At one time I noticed that our percentage of TAY served had gone down while our membership had increased, the explanation I got was that there had been a unexplained bubble in the birth rate!!So while our membership had gone up it hadn't gone up enough to compensate for the increase in births. We were heading in the right direction but going too slow!!

One sad thing about the decline we are now seeing in membership is that we can't blame a falling birth rate. The TAY is in fact very high.

I don't think the number does much to help with recruiting. As Lisabob posts when we see that we only reach less than 25% (In most Councils with Cub Scouts, about 21% in Boy Scouts and less than 1% Venturing) and turn the numbers around -Look at the number we don't serve!! I think we have to admit that there is room for improvement.

Ea.

 

 

[de4bsa]

If your council/district is serving 25% of TAY in Cubs and 21% of all TAY in Boy Scouts then you need to pat yourself on the back because that's not the norm. Only about 20% of all councils/districts serve that many Cubs. Only about 15% of all councils/districts get 21% of Boy Scout age youth. At the end of 2005 my district was only serving 12.4% of all available Cub age kids, 7.8% of Boy Scout age kids, and 1.3% of Venturing age kids. I can't currently find my 2006 numbers although I'm sure they are slightly worse.

 

Ask your DE if he/she has an Index of Growth chart. You will see serving 25% of your Cub TAY puts you in about the 80th percentile nationwide.

 

The chart can also provide you with other useful information. How many direct contact leaders you have trained, the % of kids going to summer camps, the % of kids receiving Boys' Life, etc. You can see how you closely you stack up to the National Standards. Looking at my chart always makes me want to have a good, strong drink.