top of page

22 years of membership growth

When I first started the Scouting profession, I thought it was the coolest thing in the world for me to get paid to walk into a school and whip all the kids into an utter frenzy!  It's still pretty cool!

bill's 9 rules of membership growth

  1. Must Win Attitude

  2. All Hands On Deck

  3. Unit Support

  4. Expand Outreach

  5. Access Schools

  6. Build Your Team

  7. Cohesive Marketing Plan

  8. Keep Track

  9. All Seasons, All Programs

A Must Win Attitude

Kids are our business.  Membership growth is the key driver to everything else we do.  Fundraising, summer camps, weekend activities all suffer when we recruit less Scouts.  Scouts are the inspiration for volunteer and professional Scouters for all the the blood, sweat and tears that we shed.  New Scouts are the future leaders of our organization and our country.  We cannot let it into our head that membership loss is acceptable.  

​

In 2017, Hurricane Irma hit Southwest Florida Council on September 8th.  It was the fifth largest hurricane to hit the Atlantic coast at the time.  School was closed until early October.  The picture to the left was my professional staff clearing one of 220 fallen trees from camp, in the middle of September, due to school closures.  Despite that, our team managed to finish the year with membership and unit growth.  

​

All Hands on Deck

We make growing membership the main focus of our council, beyond the Membership Committee and the field professional staff.  The Commissioner staff, Relationships Committee, Marketing Committee and Program committees (Training, Activities, Camping and Advancement) should also be active in growing membership.  

Membership Roles of Council and District Committees:
 

Membership – Pull together the Council, community, schools and units to attract new youth and adults

Commissioner – Connect with units to provide the resources and guidance for long-term unit health

Relationships – Widen our network of community partners and tighten relationships with existing ones to create new Scouting opportunities

Program Committees – Drive council and district programs to meet the needs of units, both strong and struggling, to attract new families and keep current Scouts engaged

Marketing – Work with membership team in producing resources, that are focused towards identified membership gaps and get the biggest return on a limited advertising budget

​

The professional staff takes on the same work ethic.  As a staff leader, I continue to do as many school talks, Join Scouting Nights and community events as any District Executive.  In the Tidewater council, our Scout Executive will suit up and do school talks as well.  

​

​

Unit Support

Provide units the tools and training to become self-marketing machines!

​

Our council holds a minimum of 2 Pack marketing trainings called "Backpack to Retention", or another name to meet that year's recruiting theme.  Every Pack is highly encouraged to attend one by their professional, commissioner and district membership committee.  We will be expanding this effort into the Scouts BSA and older Programs with training in September and October.  The training follows our Pack Recruiting Guide.  â€‹â€‹

District Executives, or Assistant Scout Executive will meet with every pack in person or via Zoom to complete a Pack Marketing Plan.  With every Pack having a different level of school access and local resources available, it makes it necessary for there to be a marketing plan made with each unit.  There is also a goalsetting element to it.  

We provide our unit leaders with the physical resources to succeed, working around our theme of the year, which is "Wings of Adventure" for 2025.  Some  of those resources include: 

  • Balsa Wood Toy Gliders

  • Aviation Themed Fliers

  • Facebook Geofencing for Recruiting Events

  • Recruiting event promoted on BeACub.com Council Landing Page

  • Promotional Stickers

  • Wings of Adventure Leader Guide Banners

  • New Parent Guides

  • Use of Vinyl Banners

  • Yard Signs Sample 

  • PDF Fillable Unit Information Sheets​

  • New Scouts will have a $12 discount off the council program fee

  • New Scouts will get a free day pass to their district Cuboree event​

ScoutsBSA, Sea Scout and Venturing materials are being developed and will be premiering in August.  

Expand Outreach

​​

  • Tidewater Council started 15 new units in 2024 and intends to start 18 more in 2025

  • We started 14 self-funded Scoutreach units since 2022 to reach historically unserved Title-1 schools that make up 38% of the schools in our council  

  • Each District continually has 10 new charter organizations as prospects to start a new unit. 

  • Of the 10 new prospects, 5 are started on the 10 Tidewater Council New Unit Steps.

  • Council Staff and volunteers hold 2 New Unit Blitz days in 2025, in coordination with other councils in CST-15

  • Targeting locations that are currently Scouting deserts

  • Tidewater Council went from almost no school visits to 54% in 2024.

  • Each district has career interest surveys in at least one high school, to grow Exploring, Sea Scouts and Venturing

  • Every Elementary and Middle school has a presence at Meet the Teacher, Open House or equivalent beginning of school year event.

  • Began 5th grade recruitment in the first half of the year

  • We promote council and district program events (Day Camp, Cuborees) to the entire community in Peachjar and Facebook geofencing.

  • Each District will have at least two community activity days or lock-in the first half of the year, where troops will collaborate in recruiting Scouts BSA Youth.

Access Schools

Nothing replaces school access for recruiting youth. Unfortunately, schools are getting more restrictive than 20 years ago.  It is still possible to get access to schools, but sometimes you have to work for it.  When I came to the Tidewater Council, there were NO school talks or Join Scouting Nights at the schools...then COVID hit.  In my time with the council, we have increased our in-school access to 54% of our schools.​

​

Chesapeake Schools is our prime school demographically.  It has the highest percentage of families with school age children; it's housing costs are lower than other areas and it has better schools.  Unfortunately, we were completely restricted from getting in.  They were in the news for an after-school Satan club, which restricted access further.  â€‹Now in 2025, we have access in Chesapeake, with their central office setting the school talks and recruiting nights for us. 

 

This turnaround came from these actions:

  • Involving the council president and council attorney in pursuing legal workarounds​

  • We monitored and documented times when other organizations were allowed to promote their activities in Chesapeake Schools

  • Our district chair in Chesapeake leveraged his relationship with members of the school board

  • Invited school board members to our Leadership Breakfast and Golf Classic

​

The district with Chesapeake Schools is currently sitting on an 8% membership growth!​

​

Click and enjoy a couple memos from school superintendents where my efforts gained school access:

Build Your Team

Our membership chair, Ben Orloff is a recently retired F18 squadron commander who was on the national committee responsible for the new Cub Scout program.  Recruiting top level people like Ben has attracted new people to the council membership committee, and our district membership committees.​

​

We have recruited New Member Coordinators to 52% of our Packs, making engaged Packs and future manpower for our district, and council manpower.

​

In my career, I have been blessed to recruit top-level membership people, which provides support at a busy time of year.

​

​

cohesive marketing plan

A cohesive marketing plan is key to bringing excitement to the leaders and potential new Scouts.

​

For 2025, the Tidewater Council are going on “Wings of Adventure”, leveraging air travel to bring an unprecedented number of youths to Scouting.  The standard meetings and joining nights will be hands-on, fun family nights. 

Key Features

  • Aviation themed Join Scouting Nights, featuring aviation themed activities for the youth.

  • Each paid new Scout will receive a Tidewater Scouting America balsa wood airplane at Join Scouting Nights.

  • We are partnering with Virginia Air and Space Science Center and Oceana Air Show for program support.

  • The Wings of Adventure theme will be featured and coordinated on flyers, stickers, online advertising and other marketing materials.

  • Each district will have an aviation themed “keep the promise” event in October, where scouts participate in the activities like target sports, camping, fishing, field games and other activities that attracted them to Scouting.  New Scouts go to the Saturday activities for free or can camp at the Cuboree for a reduced cost. 

 

Marketing and Onboarding Resources:

​

  • Balsa Wood Airplane Toy

  • Paper Airplane Flyers

  • Lunchroom and Classroom Stickers

  • Wing of Adventure Leader Guide

  • Wings of Adventure Patches at Keep the Promise Events

  • Banners

  • New Parent Guides

  • Peachjar, Google and Facebook advertising

  • Stickers

  • Yard Signs

​

Past marketing themes have included Gold Rush Wild West Theme, Fish into Scouting, Rocket into Scouting and Race into Scouting.  

Keep Track

The best laid plans are nil, without accountability.  I track of our team's progress in four main areas on membership. 

  1. Recruiting Results Scorecard

  2. ​Recruiting Efforts Scorecard

  3. School by School Tracking

  4. New Unit Tracking

These are used and updated in our weekly membership briefing and staff meetings.  Charts 1 and 2 are shared in Executive Board meetings

All Seasons, All programs

Year-round membership recruiting is essential to achieve membership growth.  It is especially important with the new year-round registration.  Key year round membership efforts in my career include: 

  • Community lock-ins at the YMCA with use of the pool, gym and outside grounds, where I have recruited as many as 24 new ScoutsBSA youth. 

  • Scout camp birthday parties, where youth invite their non-scout friends to their birthday party at Scouting facilities.  We even provide the invitation.

  • New Cub Packs starting with Lion and Tiger dens in the spring

  • Fifth grade end of year recruiting

  • Last day of Day Camp recruiting day where the staff and setup from Day Camp are utilized for a hands on Cub Scout recruiting effort  

bottom of page