Silver Beaver and similar awards

[SeattlePioneer]

hello Eamonn,

 

 

Heh, heh! Good story --- I hadn't heard that one!

 

 

 

Someone gave some practical wisdom about the award of Silver Beavers ---- that they are awarded by representatives from the council and all the districts in the council.

 

A person who is going to get the award is likely someone who has had occasion to interact fairly widely in the council, so they have made acquaintance with people who will be making the decision.

 

There are certainly many people who are happy never moving beyond their unit, but they may be handicapped in getting a Silver Beaver because they simply aren't known on a council level.

 

 

An alternative might be to give the decision to a small committee appointed by the Scout Executive that might have the time to look into nominations in more detail ----but I suspect that would simply create more and probably worse biases.

 

As I look at the Silver Beavers awarded in my Council, there were one or two awards from each district and two from council volunteers ---one an able Vice President for Membership.

 

Nothing there I can see to quibble with very much. We "Do Our Best."(This message has been edited by seattlepioneer)

[BrentAllen]

Maybe the BSA could come up with a Cheerful Not Award. Yes, that is spelled correctly. I could think of a few nominees.

[Eamonn]

Anyway...

Seems in the area where I live we have 3 groups:

Group 1 The program types

Group 2 The Camp Workers

Group 3 The "Suits"

 

Most times (Not all the time) For someone who is involved in program (Read: Working with youth) To receive a Silver Beaver, he or she would normally have been awarded the District Award of Merit.

The District Award of Merit is normally given for service to the District, above and sometimes beyond service given to a unit.

Our Camp Workers are a group who almost seem to live up at the Camp. We don't have a Camp Ranger and some of the projects that these guys take on are beyond belief. Many of these guys are skilled tradesmen who donate their time and energy, saving the Council a fortune. Very often because they do what they do when no one is in camp they are not well known.

The "Suits" tend to be people who have donated a significant amount of money to the Council. Some have served on the Board, some just are willing to give their support.

Of the groups the program guys are the most vocal! A good many of them think that Awards are only and should be only for the people who work with the youth.

We award 3 or 4 Silver Beavers each year.

To the best of my knowledge we only have two Distinguished Eagles and one Silver Buffalo.

We also only have one person with the International Scouter's Award (me)!

And No, I don't think I'm butt kissery!

I do think I might be a

"Card holding member of the good old boys Club."

And I'm not ashamed of it

Ea.

 

[SR540Beaver]

Basementdweller:

FOS presenter

Camporee Chair

District committee

District Eagle board

presenter at Roundtable

butt kissery

Card holding member of the good old boys Club.

 

I'm not sure how it is in your part of the world, but those things are done by unit volunteers in my neck of the woods. They are SM's, ASM's Committee members, etc. While still being in the trenches and serving the youth of their units, they also give above and beyond at the district and council level to extend their reach in service to youth. The council FOS chaor is an ASM from my troop. He didn't do it to get the cool patch and coffee mug they give to donaters. The camporee chair is our Committee Chair who is also a Cubmaster. He also served as the Webelos Woods Chair. He did it because the efforts in the past were less than desirable and attendance was suffering. The District OA Adviser is an ASM in our troop. He does it because he wants to provide even more opportunities to the boys in our district and deepen their commitment to service. The District Training Chair is one of our committee members with a son in the troop, a son in a pack and a daughter in girl scouts. She does it so that the kids will have trained leaders. The District Chair is a committee member from our troop. We have 5 or 6 registered adults who serve on monthly Eagle boards.

 

We aren't butt kissers or part of any good old boys club. We are just dedicated Scouters who care about the kids in our unit as well as the kids in the district and council. We give extra time to help with the things that many of the other unit leaders won't. Heck, we have one unit of fair weather campers who might camp 6 months out of the year.

 

Tell me, who would you nominate for Silver Beaver? The worker bees or the guys who do scouting almost as an afterthought? From my experience, the camps, the OA, the districts, the training staff and the council have open doors for anyone who wants to roll up their sleeves. Everybody is welcome to give of their time and talent and those who do the most will probably be recognized at some point, even if they don't seek it.

 

Edited to add, we are the largest District in the Council and my unit is the largest unit. That is why so many of us volunteer outside the unit. All that being said, only one SB awarded in our District this year and it goes to a lady who is not in our unit, but works equally as hard as our extra curricular scouters do. I know her well as we were fellow Troop Guides on a WB course together and she was a great choice for SB.(This message has been edited by sr540beaver)

[Eamonn]

Sorry SR540Beaver

When you post:

"I know her well as we were fellow Troop Guides on a WB course together and she was a great choice for SB"

It does kinda sound like you might be nearing membership in the good old boys Club.

I think and I might be wrong? That most groups, not just Scouting have a group within the group that tends to gets things done.

While I don't think anyone sets out to be a "Member". It seems that they get drawn in.

As more people get to know them, more people ask them to do things, which of course means more exposure and more people asking.

Are there a few self-promoting egotistical twits out there?

Sure, of course there are.

I've met them in Scouting, in my church and in other organizations along the way.

For the most part they are harmless and do more good than harm.

Nearly all the members of the Card holding good old boys Club in the Council which I serve are not in any way kiss-ups of any kind. In fact most are very passionate about what they do and who they do it all for. While thankfully they might at times have a hard time saying "No." They are most definitely not known for suffering in silence.

Ea.

[Eagle732]

I just attended our council recognition dinner where they give out the Silver Beaver awards. Lots of hardworking volunteers that spend a tremendous amount time and effort to help Scouting were recognized. But also a few that seemed to get the award for other reasons such as political or monetary. Also the executive board seems to be made up of big donors and politically connected but no one from the trenches. Maybe a few Scoutmasters, Cubmasters and Committee Chairs would bring things back into focus.

[SeattlePioneer]

As I understand it, District Chairman and Council Chairman are ideally supposed to be well known business and community leaders who can bring more people of power and wealth to Scouting.

 

In my council, the council chair is real old money, with a lot of family wealth. In addition, he has a fine personal Scouting history, including Eagle. As an added bonus, his family has pretty much rebuilt one of the council campgrounds with their donations, and the camp director has bad problems using up all the money donated on useful camp projects. Plus the guy is very personable, handsome and probably in his late 30s. How can you argue with all that?

 

If the council can attract movers and shakers and people with money and the power that goes with that who are good people and support Scouting, I have no problem if their volunteer history may be limited.

 

Our Council Membership Vice President sits on the Board and was one of three or four people who selected our current Council Chair. She is a former District Chair and has been working hard to build up the volunteer end of the membership function in the district and council.

 

Just guessing, but a council board probably needs a combination of movers and shakers, money people and Scout savvy volunteers.

 

 

Perhaps things could get out of whack with too many money people or too little influence of volunteer Scouters. I see a balance on our council board, and that seems to be working very well.

[Doc Meyer]

District Chairmen serve on the Council Executive Board to represent the interests of grassroots Scouters. Executive boards need to wield power and influence -- something many grassroots volunteers cannot generate.

[SR540Beaver]

Eammon,

 

I knew it would sound that way when I typed it. If there is a good old boys club.....and I've heard there is here just like everywhere else, it must be implied rather than physical. So far no one has presented me with a card or invited me to a meeting. I haven't been consulted on new members. Maybe I just didn't get the memo.

 

My experience is that there are folks who love the program and are often willing to expand their efforts by working outside their unit. Is there the occasional glory hound? Yes, but they are easily recognizable. The folks in my unit might be viewed as trying to take over the district. Not true. We do it because everyone else asked turns it down. We're not always the first go to people. Do we worry how it looks? Yeah, we do. Would we be willing to let other people step up next year and run the show? You bet ya. Until then, we want to make sure our district provides a quality program to all the scouts in our district.

 

Personally, I had several men in my young life in addition to my father that greatly influenced my in regard to service to others. It is one of the main reasons I am a unit scouter. I want to give back by being a positive influence in the life of other young men besides my son. When I had the opportunity to staff WB, I jumped at the chance. While getting to wear 3 beads was kind of cool, it wasn't my motivation. I saw WB as a multiplier. Instead of just directly reaching the kids of my one unit, I could potentially indirectly reach the kids of 48 additional units by teaching their unit leaders. I like to think that is the motivation behind all the members of the "good old boys club". They are the ones who always show up early, roll up their sleeves and are the last ones to leave without anyone asking. I suspect you are one of these people!(This message has been edited by sr540beaver)

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello Doc,

 

 

 

Few if any District Chairs serve on our council executive board:

 

http://www.seattlebsa.org/Main-Website-Content/Chief-Seattle-Council-Board-of-Directors

 

 

The Council Commissioner is there. Our VP for Membership was a DC before taking that post, and she is now on the board.

 

But quitwe a few people are movers and shakers in the community, such as Phil Condit, former Boeing CEO and Rob McKenna, Washington State Attorney General and likely Republican Gubernatorial nominee.

 

I suspect most of those movers and shakers have a significant Scouting hisory as youth and quite possibly as adult leaders, but a good many are probably there primarily for their influence in the community.

 

That's what I see in our council, anyway. Yours may well be different, just as you say.

 

 

 

 

 

[Eagle92]

Seattle,

 

Serving on the exec board is part of their job description. From the current District Operations Manual national puts out found here:

 

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/commissioner/pdf/34739.pdf

 

The district chairman is a member of the council executive

board. The district commissioner meets with the council commissioner and other district commissioners on a regular basis.

The chairman of each district operating committee may be a

member of the corresponding council committee.

 

 

Also the COR is a voting member per http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/CubScouts/AboutCubScouts/ThePack/chorr.aspx

 

The chartered organization representative may become a member of the district committee and is a voting member of the council.

[skeptic]

Few council executives make the COR's to be actively involved, as it would possibly detract from their hand picked group of supporters; the same may be the case with district chairs, though ours certainly IS involved on the exec board.

 

Reality is that should most COR's actually participate in exec board decisions, many things might change. It is really too bad that so few do.

[SeattlePioneer]

Nice theory, but I can assure you that neither district chairs nor CORs sit on the Board of Directors of the Chief Seattle Council. You can check out the link to the Board of Directors if you like.

 

 

It's true that there is a purely nominal election of district officers and council officers once/year, but that takes about five minutes maximum and is a purely symbolic election.

 

There are a variety of opportunties for grass roots influence in Scout organizations, but electing officers is the least of that power as a practical matter.

 

While skeptic is, well, SKEPTICAL about grass roots influence, I suggest that having the past CEO of Boeing, Phil Condit on your board, or the Attorney General of Washington State, is not a formula for a good 'ol boys club.

 

I'm sure people like that could eat the usual Council Executive for breakfast if they thought they needed to do so.

 

 

[Twocubdad]

Ah yes, the perpetual struggle between the red jackets and the grey suits.

 

A council dominated by red jackets will starve. One dominated by grey suits will loose sight of it's purpose. A quick death or a slow one? You pick.

 

Under our old scout executive, our council committee and executive board was grossly over populated with the grey suits. It's starting to change, but slowly. The old SE operated all the levers to select council-level committee folks and naturally packed it with people who made his job and life easier. Wining and dining one guy for $25,000 is a whole lot more fun than trying to hit 250 folks for $100 contributions.

 

Besides who wants a bunch of grouchy old Scouters hanging out who know what the program looks like asking all sorts of ill-timed questions?

 

The thing is, the guys in the red jackets bring in a lot of money. Several years running the FOS presentations I did brought in over $10,000. Before the economy went to pot, my wife and I made a sizeable FOS contributions every year -- enough to get us invited to the patron dinner. Although the invitations specified business attire, I and a handful of others always made a point to go in uniform, just to make the point that us red-jacket types had checkbooks too.

 

While the money and contacts the grey suits bring are important, there are a lot of pitfalls in any organization packing it's board with whales. The big one is lack of oversight and governance. Over in Charlotte, the United Way all but collapsed because of this very thing. They packed the board with lots of high-dollar executives who could bring in the bucks, but no one was minding the store; rubber-stamping huge salaries for the executives. The house of cards fell when the board approved a pension payment for the executive director for something like $800K, IIRC, despite warning from the board's own consultants that such a contribution violated IRS regs. Of course the media got hold of it, the director got fired then sued, and contributions to the UW campaign dropped by more than half. According to the paper, one of the ways they made up the deficit was by cutting funding to the Scout council there by 75%.

 

The grumpy old so-and-so's on the board serve a vital purpose. Every organization needs someone who's job it is to ask, "wait a minute, is this a good idea?"

[Eagle92]

Why I think "program freaks" as one of my PDL-1 buddies said make the best pros. They have the background from working summer camp to realize how important program is, as well as operating on a budget to provide it. IMHO you need balance between the "Red Jackets" and the "Suits." Sorry cannot call it grey suits as the official dress uniform of the BSA is a blue blazer, grey slacks, et al

 

Seriously though a balence on the executive board is needed as we all have a role to play. Sometimes the PTB, and everyone at times, don't realize that without the "Red Jackets" you don't have folks running the program and without the "Suits" you don't have the resources to have a program.