"Go the Distance"/Retention Scholarship Program 

 Completed

Everyone agrees that greater retention is critical to sustained membership growth. I would propose a national level scholarship account for every Scout where they earn money towards secondary education with each advancement. It would provide a tangible and economic reason for remaining in Scouting and incentivize parents to encourage their children to continue. The award would only be paid out in full for the Scouts who make it to Eagle, but the amount earned to date could be viewed at any time.

The tracking would be based around Scoutnet advancements and the program could be funded by current Eagle Scout Scholarship designated dollars and the additional revenue generated from retention increases. Local councils could add prizes or contributions around making it from Webelos to Scout or participating in product sales and Family Friends of Scouting every year.

The idea being that once you have a substantial amount in the account you do not want to forfeit it by quitting. If Eagle is too much to ask then you could get lesser payouts at the various advancement levels in Boy Scouts, but nothing if you do not cross over.

Alternatively you could ask families to opt into a fund at registration with an additional $1 or $2 and make similar contributions at rechartering each year. The fund would be self sufficient with the dollars forfeited by those dropping out providing a great return to those that make it to Eagle. Smaller payouts could occur at Life or other advancements if the program works. This would encourage some parents to put some skin in the game and the payouts could be really attractive given the current low % of kids that make it to Eagle.

I am sure that tracking and administering this type of program would be a challenge, but something that forces parents and kids to think twice before calling it quits could be a great addition.

Eagle Certificates 

 Completed

This is more of a question then innovation. Several of my volunteers has asked why the Eagle Certificates has GW Bush as the Honorary President and not President Obamaa' signature. Is there an answer that I can give them? According to my Eagle Board Chair, President Obama also has not sent out any congratulatory letters when asked, and my chair wants to know why.

Advancement Report 

I would suggest to put a Phone Number box on the Advancement Report. 90% of the time when I am entering advancements the kids are not registered. It would be so much easier and faster if they put their phone number on the form so I don't have to look it up on ScoutNet.

Advancement/youth 

When entering advancement it would certainly speed thing up if the youth were not just listed in alpha order by last name, but first name as well. It would also be VERY helpful if both the first and middle name or intial were part of the list. If a young man goes by his middle name in his unit they turn him in under that name but is registered by first name we assume the young name is not registered and spend quite a bit of time trying to correct that situation. These 2 suggestions would save quite a bit of time.

Provide e-mail address on Advancement / Training reports 

 In Progress

Providing an e-mail address on reports listed under Membership Reports (Merit Badge Counselor by Badge, Training Completed / Not Completed, etc.) would allow us to contact volunteers quickly through the e-mail merge feature in Microsoft Word to let them know what trainings they have completed or which merit badges they are qualified to teach. This would allow us to contact a much larger percentage of our volunteers via e-mail rather than spending money on postage for all volunteers.

Currently in order to obtain an e-mail address for one of these reports, one has to perform a query in Access or similar SQL program that matches the individuals Person ID number to a registrant print selection.