How do we recruit new scouts?

[Eagle732]

A simple question with many not so simple answers.

 

Our troop is what I consider small with 16 scouts. We would like to see it grow to about twice that number which B-P considered to be a good working size for a troop. We have a good program, I'd put it up any other troop around. We camp every month, scouts choose the trips, backpacking, canoeing, bike hikes, caving, camping, rock climbing, etc. We're boy led, SPL, PLs, PLC meets regularly to plan, sometimes things are a little rough with the execution but at least they try. We have a great bunch of boys with no disciplinary problems and a great core group of parents who really enjoy each others company when we camp. We don't have boys quitting either, we loose them to aging out or if they move, but rarely do we have one quit.

 

We try to have a good relationship with the packs nearby. I was CM of the pack in our area a few years ago, I'm still on the committee. The other pack in our area is small but I have reached out to help them, Webs are invited to outings with us throughout the year but few attend. We are having an open house next week, invitations were sent by mail, I hope some attend but who knows. When we do get new boys it's from families with experienced scouters. Last year we had 3 of 5 boys who joined had dads that are Eagles. (In fact all but one of my ASMs are Eagles).

 

The problem we have is that we are in a small community and kids seem to want to go to the mega troop (80 - 90 scouts) 12 miles down the road. They see a large group of boys and all the activity (which is adult led) and perfect organization. We don't even get a glance as they drive by each week to go somewhere else for Scouts. And we're not the only unit in our district in this position, I know of several close to folding. Each suffering from loosing local boys to big troops further away. Small units with good programs and dedicated leaders.

 

Is this the future of Scouting? Large troops where the boys don't get the individual attention they deserve? Small troops folding, losing most of the scouts who won't bother to transfer and loosing the experienced leaders, some with decades of service (almost 30 years for me)? How should this be addressed, if in fact it should be addressed? Should we let the fittest survive and let the weak fold? Can we level the playing field between the mega troops and the small units and if so how? It seems like the district and council would be able to do something to help. It seems to me that it would be in their interest to keep the small units afloat.

 

Cub Scouts was easy, go to the local elementary schools, put on a show, have a sign up night and get 30 new boys. I did it year after year, but the Boy Scout thing, this is tough!(This message has been edited by Eagle732)(This message has been edited by Eagle732)

[Eagle92]

For a long period of time, my troop growing up had no feeder pack. For the most part it was word of mouth recruiting and siblings.

 

We did three things though that made our presence known.

 

1) At the Scout Shows, we had a "bo'sun's Chair" ride. Basically 2 tripod towers, one 30' the other 15', a length of cable, and a chair mounted on a pulley. We had about a 3O minute line of folks wanting to ride it. We got a few scouts that way. Eventually the council stopped the shows, and when they did restart them, we couldn't do the event as it fell under COPE requirements, and I wasn't certified at that time. By the time I was, they stopped again

 

2)Our annual fundraiser was working cleanup at a local festival. Yes it was a dirty job, but we had it so organized that you only really worked 15-20 minutes/hour. And we had 1 hour on/one hour off, so there was planty of time for recruiting.

 

3) We had den chiefs working at a neighboring pack. We got a few new members that way. Not many as that CO started a troop. BUT having DCs was one of the reasons that saved my troop as we had a relationship with the CO already. Long story short, that CO wanted a troop, and had a small, 1 patrol troop of 11 yos. When our new IH wanted us gone, that troop merged with us, and we moved.

[Stosh]

Your situation sounds very familiar with my local situation.

 

Small troop in town, boy-led, and yet the parents send their boys off to the mega-troop 10 miles out in the country where it's adult-led. Their attrition rate of loss for the first year scouts runs about 75%+. By the time the boys quit they have such a bad taste in their mouths for BSA, they don't go troop shopping, they just quit. Over the past 3 years we have taken on about 7-8 boys, they have taken on 40-50 boys.

 

They had two boys Eagle this year, so did we.

 

I just keep doing what I'm doing, inviting the three packs to consider a boy-led program, invite, invite, invite. Short of kidnapping, there's not much one can do.

 

Parents like the mega-troop idea until they realize their boy isn't getting much out of the program. The T->FC program can leave a slower boy in the dust and will quickly fall behind. They can't afford to not have the new boys at FC because there's another group coming in on their heels.

 

It looks good on the surface, all the boys working quietly on advancement, a time and place for a game. Flawless flag ceremonies, etc. etc. etc.

 

But then there's the boy-led program which always gives a poor first impression and a lot of explanation before the parents buy into the program. Once they do, they're hooked on the program, but getting them there is an up-hill battle to say the least.

 

Best of luck. Just remember, the boys that you do get deserve the best. Don't spend all your time bemoaning the fact that you have a small troop. Go for quality, not quantity. Remember, you have the boys that really want boy-led or they would jump ship in a heartbeat. Also, the measurement of strength is not in size, but in quality of program.

 

Stosh

[TNScoutTroop]

"Our troop is what I consider small with 16 scouts. We would like to see it grow to about twice that number which B-P considered to be a good working size for a troop."

 

Actually, what B-P said was that 16 was as many as he himself could effectively handle, but that other people could probably do better, but that even so, 32 was the MAXIMUM. (not the ideal!)

 

TN Scout Troop

[Eagle92]

I've been thinking on this some more, and this is something I was plannign on doing until I foudn out the Webelos and parents already saw it.

 

To help a troop out that sounds very similar: youth led, small rural in competition with 2 mega adult led troops, I planned to show a segments of Follow Me Boys to the parents and boys.

 

I wanted to show Lem doing the marching and he personally leading and say this is how Webelos is like with the leader's with yout sons.

 

I then wanted to jump into one of three scenes and say this is how scouting is uppose to be: youth led.

 

Scene one would be building the scout hut, with the scouts taking initiative, screwing up, then Lem providing guidance to get it done right.

 

Second possibles scene would be when Whitey makes the rescue on the hike. Some reservations as some parent may be shocked, but it was an option. SM liked this one.

 

Third possible scene would be the Wargames, wher the troop is left on their own as Lem can't tie a simple sheepshank to prevent his arrest by the MPs .

 

Another option woudl possible be the fast start video.

[Mike F]

Eagle732,

 

Sounds familiar.

Were holding strong at about 30-32 with 3 patrols for years, but recruiting slowed for a few years. We hadn't had any internal problems and retention was very good. It burned me to see local mega-troop bring in literally 30-50 boys per year, then lose most of them.

 

Our 3 patrols shrank to 2. Then those two patrols were getting pretty slim with about 14-15 members in the troop.

 

We got into a discussion about the future of the troop during semi-annual Troop JLT. Through discussion, the guys came to understand if we didn't change some things, there wouldn't be a troop for their younger brothers. They got really animated and started brainstorming ways to reach out better. They set a specific goal of recruiting enough new guys within one year to reform our third patrol.

 

Through the guy's initiative, we started doing the following:

- volunteering at District events

- SPL and a couple others started attending Roundtable and chatting up Webelos leaders

- Every visitor to troop meeting was openly welcomed and immediately included in the action (boy action - not adults - and probably the most important by a lot)

- inviting friends who were interested in outdoors, but never in Scouts

- inviting Scout friends who were on the verge of dropping out of mega-troop

 

Parents got in the act and started keeping their radar up. We had moms recruit new members while standing in the checkout line at grocery store. Dads were stopped in parking lot at work when someone asked about their "I'm proud of my Scout" bumper sticker.

 

The guys decided another way to get attention was to stand in the winner's circle at district camporee, so they pushed hard to get and keep everyone's basic skills strong. They immediately starting winning most of the top awards - to almost everyone's astonishment.

 

Our numbers had grown enough in 11 months to reform that third patrol. Today we are holding steady at 32-35 members and have the opposite problem with recruiting.

 

Bottom Line: Engage the guys and see if you can get them to accept growth as a top priority. Help them understand every contact is an opportunity to include another good guy in their awesome troop.

[Kudu]

Cub Scouts was easy, go to the local elementary schools, put on a show, have a sign up night and get 30 new boys. I did it year after year, but the Boy Scout thing, this is tough!

 

It sounds like you have access to the public schools in your area. If you did it year after year for Cub Scouts, why not do it now for Boy Scouts?

 

I found that 70% of sixth-graders want to join Boy Scouts if you define Scouting as dangerous adventure. Of that, about 28% of the audience ended up as registered Scouts after I called their parents:

 

http://inquiry.net/adult/recruiting.htm

 

 

 

[JerseyScout]

"Every visitor to troop meeting was openly welcomed and immediately included in the action (boy action - not adults - and probably the most important by a lot"

 

This is absolutely, positively key (and entirely up to the boys in the troop). If the visitors feel immediately welcome, they'll almost always stay.

 

Other than that, good luck, I feel your pain. My own troop was tetering toward a final collapse two years ago (we were down to about 12 active Scouts, almost none of them younger ones) due to poor management and adults suffocating the kids, made all the worse by the Eagle mill the next town over (with 70 kids) and the other troop in town who were taking everyone from our recruitment area (we had only one new kid recruited in three years). The adult-run (not even adult led, flat out adult run) Eagle mill gets kids and keeps about half of them, but is boring as anything (very little camping). The other troop in town looked more organized, so would pull in many of the Weblos, only to have them drop out within six months.

 

My buddy and I (both former troop members in our early 20s) kicked the suffocating adults to the curb, threw control back to the kids, encouraged more adventure, and threw out those ridiculous "Scout Zone" recruitment flyers (replaced with one our kids made up). After two years, we're up to 32 kids despite ten age outs over that period. The troop was very lucky, the kids really took control of their troop and, as stated above, made every new kid feel welcome right off the bat, do the kids who were cajoled into checking us out almost all stuck around.

 

Take that Eagle mill (still staying strong with 60+ kids but we handed them their butts at the last Klondike) and other town troop (fighting for survival with six kids).

[Eagle732]

Thanks for the replies and ideas! Some thoughts on the comments so far.

 

Den Chief is, in my opinion one of the best ways to recruit. I would love to have a DC in at least each Web den in our two closest packs. The reality is I only have 8 scouts 1st class or higher and the district frowns on lower ranks taking the job. I've had one or two do the job in the past but no one is willing at this time. Our guys are into everything else and that leaves very little time for DCing. I'll keep pushing that point.

 

Agree with the attrition rates of mega troops. This is why I don't understand why District doesn't actively encourage Webs looking at smaller troops. The only thing I've seen from the higher ups is a short statement in a full page article on Webs crossing over in our Council news letter which states "Don't overlook smaller troops. Many have decades of good Scouting tradition. Your son might enjoy being a big fish in a small pond". Really! Thanks for the help!

 

I've read Bill Hillcourt's book on B-P and many others, B-P often gave others more credit than he gave himself. But B-P didn't have to deal with every other activity in the world coming before Scouts. 32 kids during B-P's time meant 30 kids at a meeting or trip (unless they had to work to put food on the table!). 16 kids today means 5 kids go on a camping trip, the rest have soccer, baseball, or whatever the sport of the season is and can't miss a game or the coach puts them on the bench.

 

Mike F's guys have some proactive ideas, some we already do. Meetings are always open, no dog and pony shows. Planning for a camping trip might not be exciting but it's real life Scouting. I remember showing up with my son unannounced at a troop meeting when we were shopping and the SM being very upset with me, he had nothing prepared for us to do. So we watched a real unscripted meeting and didn't like what we saw. Looked more like a business meeting with a side show of hazing for the poor Tenderfoot Scouts that left some personal items on the last camping trip. I'm not sure how I would know about other Scouts dropping out of the mega troop but if they want to be in Scouting we'll take 'em. Maybe my UC can help with that. Inviting friends who haven't been in Scouting but like the outdoors and talking to WDLs is all good. Parents can help with this too. Maybe we can implement these ideas.

 

Elementary school access (K - 5) is by appointment only and tightly controlled by District. No middle school access that I know of but I'll ask.

 

One of the things that I am most proud of is how our boys welcome and honestly enjoy having new members. Our troop allows Star and up, with SM approval, to sign off on requirements. They take it very seriously and I think think this has a lot to do with it.

 

Thanks again for all the input.

 

 

 

(This message has been edited by Eagle732)

[Mike F]

Eagle732,

Get all of your guys to buy in and engage.

They have friends with no scouting background who would love some dangerous adventure.

These have been some of our best recruits. (We're closing on another one to help fill in gap from low-recruiting years.)

All the best,

m

[Kudu]

Eagle732 writes:

 

Elementary school access (K - 5) is by appointment only and tightly controlled by District. No middle school access that I know of but I'll ask.

 

Before you "cold call," ask around to see if any of your parents know the principal (or a School District person in charge). For years I was told it was against "school policy" to recruit during school hours. The principal never returned our phone calls.

 

Then one of our Scouts (who was often suspended and/or kept after school) volunteered to ask the vice-principal in charge of discipline who, he said, was a Scoutmaster and would probably let us recruit. I told him to be polite and arrange through his secretary for a meeting to see him. He replied,

 

"Nah, that's not necessary. He's in charge of discipline, so I see him every day!"

 

Sure enough, the vice-principal called me the next day, and we were in the school auditorium the next week. See:

 

http://inquiry.net/adult/recruiting.htm

 

So, it's not what you know, it's the hooligan you know

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

 

One of our methods in the Scout movement for taming a hooligan is to appoint him head of a Patrol. He has all the necessary initiative, the spirit and the magnetism for leadership, and when responsibility is thus put upon him it gives him the outlet he needs for his exuberance of activity, but gives it in a right direction.

 

--Baden-Powell, from the article "Are Our Boys Degenerating?" circa 1918

 

[gwd-scouter]

Eagle732. I am very familiar with the "bigger must be better" mind-set of many parents/boys in Scouting. Our District also has a mega troop, though not as mega as it used to be. They have a fairly consistent drop out rate, but many of the boys just transfer to another troop rather than dropping out altogether.

 

Our Troop suffered small numbers for years, never having more than 12 Scouts at a time. There were a lot of reasons for this: Scoutmaster changeovers every year or so, no active recruitment, poor program.

 

At the point I stepped up as SM, we were down to nine boys and only five that were active. It was suggested by many that we close down the Troop and transfer the guys. Thing is, those five active Scouts did not want to go anywhere else. So, we built up the program, went camping every month even if only a couple of Scouts signed up to go, started to turn the Troop back to boy-led, and set higher expectations for all of our Scouts and Scouters. It was a tough few years, but we are now well-known in the District as a "model" Boy Scout Troop (a moniker I laugh at - is there really such a thing? LOL).

 

I started visiting with Cubmasters and Den Leaders during roundtable, called and emailed the Webelos Den Leaders several times a year inviting them to join our Troop on a campout, offered the services of Den Chiefs. I got a lot of takers for the campouts - usually to fulfill Arrow of Light requirements - but still for a few years we didn't get any crossovers. The "bigger is better" still at work. We had a boy or two just wander in to our Troop and that kept us alive for a while.

 

Something amazing happened a couple of years ago. Because of our efforts to recruit with invitations to campouts, having a couple of our guys help out with Pack and District Pinewood Derbies and with Cub Day Camp (both excellent ways to get your Troop known), we had 15 Scouts crossover all in one month. Our numbers grew from 9 to 24 overnight. That first year after the large crossover was a bit of a challenge for our Scouts, but we got through it well and last year welcomed another Den with five crossovers. We continue to have guys just show up randomly through the year, so our numbers remain in the mid-twenties.

 

Regarding Den Chiefs. I believe this is the single best recruitment tool you can use. But, you have to pick the right boy for the job or it could be a disaster.

 

 

 

 

[Thomas54]

 

I like Den Chiefs too but with a full Boy Scout program asking a Boy Scout to almost double his scouting time is hard. In addition to our weekly troop meetings we usually have two - four events a month. Now ask the scout to attend a cub scout den meeting where his dad and younger brother don't attend and its near impossible.

 

What I would like is a dedicated recruitment chair. Ll these idea are good one but the troop and committee must dedicate resources for planning and visits.

 

I also think a POR could easily be carved out for a youth position as a troop recruiter. Not a den chief that would pin the scout down to every single den and pack but a scout who arranges and visits multiple packs. The adult recruiter could attend and discuss dues and other adult interest while the boy scout troop recruiter does the bit with the boys.

 

Again this is a concept, not our actual program.

 

 

 

 

[qwazse]

We have attrition because ...

1. Although we've gained reputation for lots of Eagles coming out of the program, we are no Eagle mill. (Yep, they all work for it.)

2. Boy led, small space, when the numbers get too large, some kids feel left out. (That's what the parents tell us.)

3. Other troops close by.

4. School provides plenty of activities.

 

But,

 

1. the boys in the troop recruit their friends/younger siblings/etc ...

2. feeder pack helps but it is not a foregone conclusion.

3. did I say the boys recruit their friends?

 

So it all sort of evens out.

[Eagle732]

Along with what Kudu said about recruiting in the schools.

In this area school grades run K through 5 in the elementary schools, 6 through 9 for middle school. As a CM I was very successful in recruiting Cubs, we had a assembly during school hours, followed up with a flyer for sign up night sent home with students, and finally a sign up night a few days before the September pack meeting. We never recruited 5th graders since they would have only had about 4 - 5 months until crossover and we were there to recruit Cubs not Boy Scouts. I'm thinking that recruiting the 5th graders towards the end of their school year (April or May) might get some results. No one that I know of around here does it.