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Stronger Families through Scouting
Recruiting Ideas -- To Help Your Unit Attract New Youth and Leaders. Every Unit Wants More Youth and Leaders ... so, here's some Recruiting Tools to welcome kids and family in your community. You can apply these with the Pack Leader's Guide to Recruiting attached below. And on the left Menu, see the pages on Creating a Calendar of Fun Activities, Recruiting Leaders (Turning Parents into Leaders), Flyers and Media, School and Community Presence, Sign Up Events, and Troop Recruiting ... this page is the Recruiting Overview.
The Key Idea: successful unit recruiting needs a Unit Activities Plan. Which Pack sounds more fun?
"Welcome to our Pack, we'll have a meeting to talk about what we might do!"
or
"Welcome to our Pack, look at our calendar of fun activities! Join Us!"
Right: activities are more fun than Meetings. Getting fun activity ideas into your Program Planning is what makes Units successful and attractive.
Recruiting Needs to be Much More than School Sign Up Nights and Buzz Ups. Successful and Sustainable Recruiting is a Process ... the Pack Leader's Guide to Recruiting describes these six steps:
There are More Recruiting Resources from the http://scoutingwire.org Marketing and Membership hub for more ideas. And know this:
AttachmentSize:
Pack_Leaders_Guide_to_Cub_Scout_Family_Recruiting.doc103 KB
1 Unit_Recruiting_Training_Roundtable_Powerpoint.pptx6.63 MB
Recruiting Resources Request Form.DOCX13.1 KB
_________________________________________
Every unit wants more youth and leaders so, here's some recruiting tools you can use to generate interest among kids, parents, neighbors and folks affiliated with your chartered organization and community.
The Key Idea: successful unit recruiting needs a Unit Activities Plan. Which Pack sounds more fun?
"Welcome to our Pack, we'll have a meeting to talk about what we might do!"
or
"Welcome to our Pack, look at our calendar of fun activities! Join Us!"
Right: activities are more fun than Meetings. Getting fun activity ideas into your Program Planning is what makes Units successful and attractive.
- If you can't tell families what you plan to do, why would they join you?
- So, Recruiting Job One is plan a calendar of fun activities
- ... even if you don't know exactly who will lead them yet ...
- If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
- ... even if you don't know exactly who will lead them yet ...
- ... to help you, here is a set of activity ideas for your Scouts for every month of the year so you can have fun like this.
- If You Build it, They Will Come:
- If You Build It (a calendar of fun activities), They (Scouts and families) Will Come.
- Then Let People Know your Plan, using both Flyers and Social Media (there are many ways to broadcast).
- New in 2018, the BSA is promoting the idea of getting a team of parents to be New Member Coordinators, acting as a "peer to peer" welcome of families into your unit.
- These volunteers don't need to know everything about Scouting and do all that unit leaders do, they just need to know their unit and be welcoming (friendly, courteous, kind, etc.).
- They can take on many parts of these recruiting steps.
- The idea (and the training modules through my.scouting.org) is excellent in "sharing the load" of new member recruiting, communicating and welcoming, but keep this in mind about the official resources:
- they assume that your Pack has a fully developed calendar and a fully recruited and engaged and trained team of leaders sufficient for your Pack ...
- so ... modify their advice that new families don't need to step up as leaders, because ... in most packs, new families do need to step up ... if there are no leaders, there is no program.
- That's why we put so much emphasis on building the infrastructure of your pack by recruiting leaders.
- The Cub Scout program is a family program -- every parent helps.
- That shouldn't be a "turn off" for parents and guardians -- the Scouting program is designed to make stronger connections between kids and adults, which will make parenting easier!
- Without parental involvement -- adult leaders -- there can't be a Scouting program.
Recruiting Needs to be Much More than School Sign Up Nights and Buzz Ups. Successful and Sustainable Recruiting is a Process ... the Pack Leader's Guide to Recruiting describes these six steps:
- Make a Calendar of Fun Activities that families like
- Let People Know -- Promote Your Fun Events! Let Families and Organizations Know your Pack Fun Event Plan -- Families join Packs that do things ... Kids join Units that Go Places and Do Things ... let them know what you're doing ... there are many ways.
- Recruit More Leaders and Helpers - one by one, find folks who can help your unit out (do this throughout your recruiting process)
- School and Community Presence -- show your School and Community the Fun of Cub Scouting, and you'll get more School and Community support.
- Once you've laid that foundation, have Sign Up Events: School Sign Up Night, sure, and Fun Events Too!
- More Fun Events. Keep expanding and extending your Calendar of Fun Events … that’s what makes families join and stay!
There are More Recruiting Resources from the http://scoutingwire.org Marketing and Membership hub for more ideas. And know this:
- no recruiting method works every time for everyone, but ...
- every recruiting method works some of the time for someone.
AttachmentSize:
Pack_Leaders_Guide_to_Cub_Scout_Family_Recruiting.doc103 KB
1 Unit_Recruiting_Training_Roundtable_Powerpoint.pptx6.63 MB
Recruiting Resources Request Form.DOCX13.1 KB
_________________________________________
Every unit wants more youth and leaders so, here's some recruiting tools you can use to generate interest among kids, parents, neighbors and folks affiliated with your chartered organization and community.
