SCOUT EXECUTIVE'S MINUTE

Dear Fellow Scouters:

Here we are at the “Scouting Halftime” --- of being mid-way through the year. It is a time of success and reflection. It is a time to recognize what we have done well and what we need to improve throughout the rest of the year in order to have a successful 2007.

What did we do well during the first half of 2007? We’re serving more youth in each one of our sub-component programs of Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Venturers, and Learning for Life. We have more local active units than compared with last years. We have organized and chartered several new units and rechartered a higher percentage of the existing units. We have raised more Friends of Scouting dollars than we did compared to a year ago. Ninety percent of our local units conducted an FOS Family Enrollment Presentation. Our youth retention rate continues to be the highest in the Central Region. Camp Napowan looks full for the summer season 2007. Thanks to Lakota Lodge of the Order of the Arrow --- Camp Napowan has had many physical improvements to the property and its buildings that will make camp experience better for 2007 and for many years to come. Thanks to the Capital Campaign, we are “in progress” on several construction projects at Camp Lakota that will also make that camp better for the balance of 2007 and for the future. Both camps look better, have lots of items that have now been repaired or are new, and are in better overall shape for use by our Scouts.

What did we do poorly in the first half of 2007? We didn’t even try to conduct “on-line rechartering” or take advantage of “on-line advancement.” We still don’t have enough District Committee volunteers or Unit Commissioners to adequately support our local units. We took too long to conduct our FOS Campaign and still have a large number of families that are benefiting from the local Scouting program, but are not financially supporting our efforts. We didn’t communicate our changes in travel options to Cub Scout Day Camp early enough for local Cub Scout Packs to make their plans. We didn’t get enough people to our “Hometown Scouting” events to tell the Scouting story.

What are we going to do to improve during the second half of 2007? The overall story would be that we’re going to do a better job of communicating and executing our plan during the remainder of 2007. We will continue to focus on “The Main Things” throughout 2007 --- RECRUIT MORE YOUTH, RETAIN MORE YOUTH, SERVE PEOPLE ABOVE THEIR EXPECTATIONS, and GROW FINANCIALLY.

Best regards,
Stephen J. Taylor, CFRE
Scout Executive
staylor@bsamail.org