Cub Scouts—Retaining Volunteers

Critical to sustaining Cub Scouts is retaining quality volunteers. Because Cub Scout volunteers are often parents or relatives of the Scouts, they can be recruited with relatively little effort. To retain them, it is important that the parent volunteer—like any volunteer—believes that the time they spend with the organization is worthwhile. In addition, it is important that the volunteers enjoy the experience.

In Cub Scouting, it is important that the volunteers have fun, and there are a number of ways a pack can ensure this. When the Cubmaster is setting up the meeting, organizing awards, or planning the opening ceremony, volunteers can keep pre-meeting pandemonium to a minimum by engaging the gathering Scouts with songs, skits, or jokes. During the meeting, volunteers can perform skits or be given skits to perform at the next pack meeting. Cub Scouts love to see parents and other volunteers make total fools of themselves, and when they do, everyone has fun.

The bottom line is that a volunteer who believes that their time is well spent and is having fun will continue as a volunteer and sustain the organization.

Scouts BSA—Supporting Scoutmasters and Succession Planning Sustains Scouting

All of our Scouts BSA units have great leadership traditions centered on youth-led troops. But as Scouts transition in and out, the role of the Scoutmaster is key to fostering those traditions and often demands many hours from that Scouting volunteer. As commissioners, we need to ensure these Scoutmasters are not stretching themselves too thin. Whenever we see them taking over too many jobs, we should encourage them to delegate to ASMs and committee members. Ask them to focus on the two main goals of our program: character and leadership development. If it is not something directly linked to advancing those two goals, they should be delegating to other Scouts BSA volunteers.

Another vital aspect for the long-term success of our Scouts BSA troops is a good succession plan. When a new unit Key 3 member steps into their role, ask them to start thinking about who an excellent candidate would be to take over their job next. This strategy will ensure continuity in the delivery of our program. In addition, it helps us advance our program and reminds someone who might feel overwhelmed with new responsibilities that there are other volunteers they can rely upon while they are growing in their new role.

Venturing / Sea Scouts—Retaining Older Youth (ages 14–20)

These two older youth programs  expand the possibility of leadership development beyond the age of 18. While their uniforms are different and their awards are different, their aims and methods are the same: to move youth along a personal development continuum in the Scouting movement.

Involvement in a Scouting program at this age extends the possibility that each youth grows in their ability to support their community, to learn more about who they are and how they lead, and to begin