Hiawatha Seaway Council Boy Scouts of America 2009 Membership Plan

1. Hiawatha Seaway CouncilBoy Scouts of America2009 Membership Plan

2. Membership Vision – The Hiawatha Seaway Council will have a 3% growth in membership density. • Key Facts • To increase market share membership must be viewed as a year long campaign with a final push in September. • Membership and new unit growth are the purpose of our existence. • In order to build a strong road your direction and foundation are crucial to the longevity of that road. • The direction toward positive growth can only be attained through a strong foundation that retains and keeps our youth motivated. • School night and boy recruiting are only two small pieces of the puzzle that make up the Membership Process. • Strong unit rechartering fused with effective commissioner service will insure stronger units that can deliver a better program to our youth. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore is not an act but a habit.”- Aristotle

3. The Hiawatha Seaway Council Membership Plan is linked by multiple levels that will guide us to positive growth. Quality Growth “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength , not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.” - Vince Lombardi

4. The Right Road to Quality Growth • Quality membership growth cannot be done by any one person. It will take everyone from the District Executive to quality unit level membership chairs to achieve the status of quality growth. • You will be on the right road when you have the right team recruited. “Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.” - Abraham Lincoln

5. 2009 Membership Growth Plan • March • Fall recruit materials ordered. • Conduct school access inventory. • Conduct council and district membership meetings. • New unit progress update. 12 step process • Boy Scout Troop open houses completed. • Rechartering progress updates. • Conduct dropped boy recovery campaign. • Conduct dropped unit recovery campaign. • Webelos to scout transition progress update. • Camp promotions progress update. • Order of the Arrow pack visit wrap up. • RV Show spring recruit. • District training sign up progress update. • Conduct post winter sports recruitment. • Lapsed Unit Survey • April • Develop list of 5th graders not transitioning into a troop. • School access study completed. • Conduct Council and district membership meetings. • New unit progress update. 12 step process. • Recharerting wrap up. Develop list of late units and recovery plan for them. • Conduct dropped boy recovery campaign. • Conduct dropped unit recovery campaign. • Camp promotions wrap up report. • Order of the Arrow pack visit wrap up. • Train our leaders. • Halloween welcome event kick off committee meeting held. • Unit leadership inventory conducted and completed. “Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.” -Napoleon Bonaparte

6. 2009 Membership Growth Plan • May • Webelos to scout transition final report. • Conduct council and district membership meetings. • School access study final report. Schools scheduled. • New unit progress update. 12 step process. • District recharter final report. • Dropped Boy Recovery Campaign final report. • Dropped Unit Recovery Campaign final report. • District Training status report due. • Halloween welcome event committee meeting held. • Camp o ree roster checks against registration. • Fall leader status per unit. • Launch bring a friend to summer camp program. • Conduct post spring sports recruitment. • Fall Kickoffs • Launch Family Camping Overnight • Inquisite Meeting survey • June • Conduct District Program Kick offs. • Conduct Fall Recruit Training. • New Unit Progress Update. 12 step process. • Launch fall Halloween welcome event. • School Night Flyers run and packaged. • Promote and manage bring a friend to summer camp program. • Summertime pack award tracking. • Unit summer camp status. • Family Camping Overnight “The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” - Chinese Proverb

7. 2009 Membership Growth Plan • July • Summer activities, bring a friend. • Check all camp rosters against registration. • Send out reminder emails about Fall recruit and verify all plans are still in place. • Summer camp visits with units. • August • Verify all fall recruit plans are still in place. No Surprises. • Continue checking camp rosters against registration. • Continue summer camp visits with units. • Set up local radio and TV promos, live remotes, breakfast events. “If we do not plant knowledge when young, it will give us no shade when we are old.”- Lord Chesterfield

8. 2009 Membership Growth Plan • September • Fall recruit press releases out. • Commence Council and District membership meetings. • Conduct Fall recruit kickoffs. • Boy Scout open houses begins, invite dropped 5th graders. • Boy talks begin. • School roundups completed. • School nights completed. • Fall recruit tracking in place and reported. • Heavy promotion on Halloween Event. • Halloween event details finalized. • New leaders identified and training provided. • Commence local TV and radio spots, DJ breakfasts and live remotes. • October • Commence Council and District membership meetings. • Fall recruit clean up efforts, wrap up all school round ups, boy talks and school nights. Report results. • Continue Boy Scout open houses. • Last push for Halloween welcome event. • Send thank yous to all participating schools. • Continue with new leader training. • Check advancement reports against registration. • Webelos transition training offered. • Check Halloween event participants against registration. • Check OA event and camp o ree participants against registration. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” - -Harold R. McAlindon

9. 2009 Membership Growth Plan • November • Conduct Council and District membership meetings. • Wrap up all late school round ups, school nights and boy talks. • Wrap up report on Boy Scout open houses and results from dropped 5th graders. • Halloween event wrap up, final report and critique meeting conducted. • Check advancement reports against registration. • Conduct unit membership inventories. • Spring Recruit plan launched and training held. • Check popcorn tally sheets against registration. • Conduct post fall sports recruitment. • December • Recognitions to unit, district and council volunteers for achieving goal status. • Review of 2010 membership plan. • Plan victory celebration for Holiday Roundtables. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

10. 2009 Membership Growth Plan “Impatience never commanded success.” - Edwin H. Chapin • February • Goal (year end) sharing and promotion. • Council and district membership meetings conducted. • Boy Scout Troop open houses conducted. • New unit campaign underway . 12 step process. • Chartered 0rganization Inventory wrap up. • Rechartering progress updates. • Dropped boy campaign progress updates. • Unit Survey • Webelos to scout transition progress updates. • Camp promotions progress updates • Order of the Arrow pack visit progress updates. • RV Show promotion update. • District training promotion progress updates. • January • Professional staff growth planning conference. • Membership validation form signed and turned in. • Index of Growth Charts completed. • Goal Drafting. • Commence new unit study using 12 step process. • Council and District membership meetings • scheduled. • Conduct charter organization inventory. • Commissioner rechartering training underway. • Commence dropped boy campaign- Unit Leader Led • Commence lapsed unit survey. • Commence Webelos to scout transition. • Camp promotions scheduled. • Commence Order of the Arrow pack visits. • RV Show spring recruit training. • Launch 2009 training calendar and promotion. • List Council Membership Meeting Dates

11. Membership Meeting Content Your membership meetings must include the following information. • Council Goals for balanced growth. • District Goals for balanced growth. • Unit Goals for balanced growth. • School Access Status. • Schedules for school round ups, boy talks, school nights and open houses. • Rechartering plans and projected problems. • Retention plans, this will include quality unit status and program content. • Dropped Boy Campaign reporting. • Dropped Unit Campaign reporting. • Event, advancement roster checking against registration status. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” -John Quincy Adams

12. Post Sports Season Recruitment • At the end of each sports season your local unit leaders should be at the last two games of that respective sport handing out flyers to join scouting. Helpful hints • Always ask permission from the coach. • Hand out flyers, content should include that its not too late to join, scouting can be fun between seasons, scouting is a year round adventure. Scouting can actually help youth involved with sports to stay in shape, increase hand eye coordination and to increase discipline principals. Best times to do this. November after football, soccer and lacrosse. March after basketball and indoor track. May after baseball, lacrosse and outdoor track. “It isn’t hard to be good from time to time in sports. What’s tough is being good everyday.” - Willie Mays

13. 2010 Spring Recruit Plan South • March - Central New York RV and Camping Show • Flyer all schools in Onondaga, Interlakes, Ontario and Oneida districts directing youth and families to attend the RV and camping show. • Registration booths will be on site and ready to accept new registrants. • Recruiting will occur in March at the Center of Progress Building. • Each youth will have an opportunity to take part in exhibits, model campsites, have a free lunch and enjoy the 13000 person event. • Gifts will be provided for all new registrations. • Advertising will consist of Radio, TV spots, discount coupons. • Units will have the opportunity to pass out show admittance coupons anywhere they wish. Each unit will receive 1$ for each coupon redeemed. Coupons will be identifiable to each unit. • The complete package will be available at the January Roundtables. “Make use of time, let not advantage slip.”-William Shakespeare

14. Recruiting Outside the Box • Bring applications and Boy’s Life Magazines to all Doctor’s offices, Dentist offices and anywhere there are waiting rooms. Theses places like this because it is free reading material for their patients, customers and clients. Applications and Boy’s Life Magazines are supplied by Council. Remember to put computer generated stickers (furnished by the local unit) with contact information. • Unit leaders should promote and make available new youth and adult applications, Boy’s Life magazines and unit contact information to each parent. The parents should take these promotional items to their places of employment to put in waiting rooms, break rooms and places of congregation. • Churches, service organizations, parades and community centers are other great sources of recruiting. • Halloween is a great time to stuff applications into Trick or Treaters bags. • It is imperative to understand that permission must first be granted in order to place these items. “Everyday do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow.” – Doug Firebaugh

15. Positive Relationships • Schools access is something that has to be a year round program or building positive relationships with school administrations. • Research members of the school board. Find out who they are, are there kids in the program, try to establish a relationship. • Have a strong parent presence at local PTA meetings, offer them help with events, make your self or someone from your unit available to them. • Professional Scouters along with unit leadership, and district volunteers should visit schools on a frequent basis. Get to know receptionists, secretaries and other support staff. Give them a mug a recruiting pencil, invite them to your courts of honor and blue and gold banquets. • Secure the support from school administrators that you have a positive relationship with to help you open the door to other administrators that may not yet understand the importance of scouting. • Have superintendents and principals write letters of endorsements to give to prospective schools, parents and other organizations. • Don’t forget the school custodian, they open doors and clean for us, make them feel important give them a mug or a pencil as well. “Kind words are the music of the world.”- F.W. Faber

16. Leadership • Membership and unit growth in most of our council has been a professional driven program. This has to change if we are going to move forward. • We must have Council and District membership and unit tasks forces with driven volunteers. • We all have the passion of scouting, we must now direct that passion to sell the program and have the tenacity to deliver. • As a council we need to recruit these teams with dynamic goal driven people that are not currently wearing a different hat in scouting. We have these volunteers in our communities. We need to look in these following areas. • Civic club board of directors. • Ministerial chairman or leaders. • Past Silver Beaver recipients. • School Board Members. • Key Community leaders. • Local Military base leaders. • Insurance agents. • Car sales people. • Key account mangers. • Store mangers. • Local banks “ I light my candle from their torches.”- Robert Burton

17. Volunteer Recruiting • Keep the following things in mind when looking for the right volunteer. • Name • Occupation – When recruiting a volunteer for a position, it is imperative to recruit someone who, as an occupation is in a highly regimented goal system. For instance for a membership chairman the following industries have produced great membership chairs. Financial planners, insurance agents, car salespeople, car account mangers, outside sales agents. These people know how to make the sales call, prepare a presentation, make the pitch and close the deal • Personal interests - in and out of scouting. • Details - can this person pay attention to the details. • Time restraints – can this person make the time available to do the job. • Travel – does this person travel frequently. “The best way out is always through.” - Robert Frost

18. Be Pro Active We have to let our communities know that scouting is thriving. Here are some effective tried and true ways to do this. • Use community bulletin boards to advertise recruiting events. • Monthly bill inserts. Bank statement reminders. • Yard signs, in front of your homes, church lawns, school lawns, civic organization lawns etc. • Radio Station DJ cook off, cook a camp breakfast for a local station to promote scout recruiting. • Halloween Stuffers. • Hold a community pinewood derby, rain gutter regatta, soap box derby to spark interest. • Put ads in church bulletins, civic organization newsletters, public newsletters. • Have District clergy breakfasts to tap into church youth groups. • Offer to cook a camp meal for local news teams. • Develop recruiting flyers to adhere to delivery pizza boxes for home delivery. • Develop recruitment door hangers for apartment complexes, townhouses and mobile home parks. Local food chains may sponsor this for you. “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”- Albert Einstein