Birthday wishes from the Chief (or District/Council)

jturman

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Lots of organizations send birthday wishes by email on your birthday. Why not the Boy Scouts? It would be a nice touch. It might make the National organization seem just a little more personable. And it would be a nice opportunity to thank volunteers for their service.

Click on the title of this post. I've attached a sample picture.

If National doesn't do this, this is really easy to do on the district level and it helps volunteers remember that people in the higher levels of Scouting actually care about them. Download the membership roster in ScoutNET. Open in Excel. Hilight the birthday column. Date->Text to columns. Delimited. Next. Check the "Other" box and type in "/". Next. Finish. Hilight the three columns. Format->Cells. Under Category select General. You now have columns for birth day, month, and year. Sort by month and day and now you have everyone in order by birthday for the year. You can now email birthday wishes yourself.

Idea # 376Technology, birthday wishes

Moderator Comments

1/6/09
From: Rani Monson, Innovation Team Leader

This does not align with our priorities and is something that could be done at the local level.

Comments

jturman 11 months ago

This site wouldn't let me upload the sample picture. You can find it at http://ironhorsebsa.org/images/happy_birthday.gif

mbarbern 11 months ago

I am all for showing our appreciation of the volunteers, however, Scouting happens locally. A preprinted note from the National Office would have much less meaning than a hand written note from the local council contact. Emails are quick but a “happy birthday” email translates into “I care about you, but only if I can express it in 10 seconds or less”. A hand written note builds relationships. Take the time and send out one relationship building note each day and you will continue to strengthen your volunteer relationships.

mlanger 11 months ago

I think this is a good idea/tool. I will use this suggestion. I think something from the Chief would be great. I worked for a company that sent cards from the CEO for birthdays to all employees.

Tim McCandless 10 months ago

I think that emails of this type are very impersonal and I just delete them. I send out approx. 300 birthday and anniversary cards to volunteers and donors every year, plus about 300 holiday cards. Each card is hand addressed (by my secretary) and I write a personal note to each person and sign each card. I do a batch once a month of 25-30 cards. It takes about 1 hour of my time and 1 hour of my secretary's time each month, but well worth it.

Judy Sizemore 5 months ago

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