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ljarman

ljarman
Member since : Oct-27-2008 (Verified)
1 Ideas, 3 Comments, 86 Votes

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Ideas Posted

In the Scoutnet Applet a roster that can be generated called "UCRS New Members Added Roster" to my understanding only shows the new members of a unit at recharter.If this is so could a similar roster be created to track or show new registrants/ transfers by month?

While doing Membership Inventories (MI's) with the units I serve I have identified youths who are not currently registered in the unit. The unit Leaders then have a week and a half to have the applications and money to the Council Service Center. If a unit is a large or "super" unit with more than fifty youth the task of looking for each identified non-registered youth is immense.

A roster that identifies the youth who register by month they registered, name, and if they are a transfer from another unit would help with effective MI's tracking.
Moderator Comments
3/2/09
From: Sam Thompson, Membership Impact Department Manager

Good idea and currently being studied for future implementation.
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Comments Posted

ljarman 4 months ago
While I agree that we need to help volunteers learn to identify and recruit new volunteers adding one more knot will not get the results we need for the organization.

I think this would be a great add-on requirement to the knots we already have. Similar to what First Class Scouts have as apart of their requirements.

If, in order to earn the program recognition knot, a unit leader were required to identify and recruit X number of adults during their time as a UL to be apart of the unit committee, unit adult leadership, or other registered unit adult position. Now if this requirement were to be placed in every adult recognition booklet we would be able to encourage heretofore reluctant unit leaders who do not recruit other adults to step up and help their units grow.

How many of us have units that survive on the efforts of two people?

How many units have leaders who do not share the load, nor want to share the load who still earn their Scouters Recognition?

If “During your tenure as Unit Leader recruit four additional adults and have them go through a BSA training course for their position. Date completed _____________.” Were added to the list of requirements this would have a better impact for the longevity of our units, the youth retention rates, as well as save some money for a completely new recognition award.
ljarman 7 months ago
We tend to look at the immediate "cost now" and we do not invest to look at the "cost overall." How much money do we typically waste in printing ink, paper, and maintaining the printing equipment to print out the paper membership cards? How many of our members are involved in more than one unit, program, the O.A.? How many additional cards do we use for training completion that ultimately get lost? Now, how many years will that cost add up? Not to mention shipping expenses for the specialized/ dedicated cards for each program. I believe that we could save more money in the long run by using a more substantial encompassing card system that can be modified to reflect new technology.

It could be used for identification for all the different programs, training, awards, etc. that our members receive and do over a period of time. If this information were linked through a bar code or other device a member could be able to go to any council and retrieve his/ her BSA information. By providing a more permanent physical token of BSA membership we may see an increase in our retention rates.

At the same time we need to look at other fringe benefits to having membership cards that capture some personal info and BSA info in an encrypted format with a bar-code or chip. Member information could be stored for use in emergencies where our own POS systems could retrieve the information through the barcode readers. A hard card would be even more of a benefit for those Scouts and leaders who are displaced after a major disaster to retrieve vital contact information at the sheltering council office.

I have two plastic library cards each are bar-coded to my account at the public library, one is for my keychain the other is an actual card. I am able to look-up the history my account but also I can get information about community involvement I have been apart of, donations I have given to the library both monetary and physical, and I can also get information regarding any other activity I or my kids have been apart of. Public libraries also run on a shoestring budget yet (in the case of my local library system) they have invested the capital towards their members.

We do need to look at the costs associated with doing a plastic card or passkey, but also the costs associated with the time, effort, and current total expenditures of our current system.
ljarman 1 year ago
I also have two daughters who want to join Cubs beacuse the activities are more akin to what they have been exposed to.

Young girls do have a different approach to the outdoors and to thier environment. Heck, while my son delights in squishing a few bugs, my daughters strive to protect every creature they encounter.

We, the BSA, have a proven record for youth. I am sure that the discussion to alow young women into Venture Crews and Explorer Posts some thirty years back had the same types of comments.

Having my kids in one Scouting unit and program would deter the conflicts not just with meeting times but also with the ethical lessons they would learn from that sort of unit, rather than my wife and I having to re-instruct my daughters to be better young women rather than what is being taught in thier GSUSA troop.

Again, we have the proven record for reaching youth, why not take another step to include those young girls and women who could also benefit from the Oath and Law? Why not as one commentor stated in a related topicinclude " . . . the American Heritage Girls (as)one of Scouting's programs . . ."?(jeburke)