I send e-mails like this to our full board about twice a month - this month I thought I'd simply post the update here.

Salute to Scouting Update: Thanks to Bill Bacic and the rest of the salute committee the initial pledges have exceeded $100,000 the kick off will be scheduled for mid October giving us 8 weeks to run the “public” campaign. We are in good shape to reach the 50% of goal prior to the kick off. This level of early support is crucial for the overall success of the event. Thanks to Larry DiCara and David Warren, BluePrint Studios has agreed to provide pro bono support for all Salute to Scouting graphic needs, including invitations, program book, A/V support and collateral documents.

Storer Renovation Campaign Update: The campaign has exceeded all initial expectations in the first week. The Alumni and the Knights of Storer have exceeded $12,000 in the first week of the campaign. Thanks to Bill Sullivan, Greg Boyd, Joe Curran, Shelia Greally, Brian Cronin, Nick Tagne, and Chuck Phelan for their generosity.
Additionally, Tim Roach is on his way up to Storer today with 30 volunteers to complete the chapel! The 2011 summer camp season at Storer will boast a brand new Beautiful Chapel and a brand new, safe, state of the art, fully funded Archery Range!
Lastly, we have hired our 2011 camp Director for Storer, Matt Sheridan. Matt has served on camp staff management for over 20 years at Yagoog, and Onteora Scout Reservation. Matt is a school teacher in RI, a life-long Scouter and Eagle Scout. While I was checking his references I had a chance to catch up with an old Storer Reservation Director, Ed McLaughlin. Through Ed and everyone else I talked to, Matt receives the Storer seal of approval. Please welcome Matt to the team! TLStorerCD@gmail.com

Customer Service
After spending much of the summer listening closely to Scout volunteers about the strengths and struggles of the council it became clear to me that internal communication and customer service is an area we need to improve. To help address those concerns we’ve hired Heather Sheehan to serve as our receptionist and customer service coordinator. Heather spent 7 years in Girl Scouting as a youth and served as a volunteer for her own children. Heather started this week and has surprised many Scout volunteers when a pleasant live person answered the telephone. Please take a moment to welcome Heather to the team! hsheehan@bsaboston.org

Strategic Plan Update (list of 360 degree interviewees) Marshall Sloane has invited CEOs from the following companies and organizations to participate in the 360 degree review of our council.
Amica Insurance, Arnold Worldwide, Bank of America, Boston.com / Boston Globe, Boston Properties, Boston University, Cambridge Trust, Catholic Archdiocese, Citizens, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Cummings Property, Deloitte, Dunkin Donuts, Eastern Bank, Genzyme, Global Partners, Gulf / Cumberland Farms, Harvard Pilgrim, Hill Holiday, KPMG, Marina Bay Development, MIT, The Mitre Group, National Grid, Nstar, Pagasystems, Raytheon, State Street, Suffolk Construction, Thermo Fisher, United Way
Obviously, this list is a combination of current supporters and companies that do not (yet) have a relationship with Scouting. We are in the process of securing these meetings. Their responses will provide an interesting tapestry of feedback for us. That feedback will factor into our eventual Strategic Plan.

Long term debt / Sale of long term assets: for years Boston Minuteman Council has found itself in the difficult position of selling long term assets to alleviate the pressure from the significant debt. That process was nearly complete when I was hired, the current debt is $1.2 million. I have had initial meetings with the DCR, Nature Conservancy, Natural Land Trust, several real estate professionals and developers, five possible tenants / program partners for the Egan Center, Milton officials, and others. Through these meetings I’ve accumulated a fairly clear picture of the past situation. I am happy to report that we have several possible options and we have friends that are willing to help us.

How we make decisions about those options
“The council” is responsible to take its direction from our uniformed Scout volunteers / our customers. I’ve started that process through the series of priority meetings held throughout the summer. (results attached) I’ve continued that process through the council coordinated meeting, and a series of older scout meetings. Through these meetings the options are synthesized down to operational recommendations. Stating: “This is what our Scout volunteers want and need to help Scouting thrive in their community.”
Those recommendations are vetted through the board and balanced against all other recommendations and opportunities. Through that ongoing dialogue between both parties the direction becomes the plan. The board approves the plan and has the fiduciary responsibility to achieve that plan. Their role is governance.

This process will recur over and over again for all significant council decisions. I believe consensus is more easily achieved by adding more voices into the conversation. The more voices focused on the common ground we all share in Scouting the more readily we find common sense. I will use my blog, face to face meetings, webinars, face book and every other means of communications at my disposal to keep everyone in the loop.

Other topics in development
Four new inner city Cub Packs – with funding, uniforms and volunteer leadership
Public Relations interns to increase visibility
Program partnerships with Boston area family attractions
Popcorn sale starts today, initial orders up 34%
Massasoit and Cub Day Camp improvements and collaboration
New BSABOSTON.org on-line apps to assist in the functionality (and navigation) of the website

Thanks for your continued support. By working together we will revitalize Scouting throughout our entire council.

Direction

During my first few months I have meet with a Scout Masters, Cub Masters and other Scout Leaders to hear directly from them about their opinion regarding the state of the council. I conducted many meetings at Massasoit, Storer and throughout the districts. I facilitated the discussion through an exercise I’ve come to appreciate in other aspects of my Scouting career. The exercise creates consensus and direction while answering a single question. The question I asked “What can be done to help Scouting thrive in your community?” I encouraged the participants to think granularly and globally when thinking about “their community.”

I am committed to a high quality of program and service delivery; however, I cannot set the course. I am, after all, a servant leader. As much as it is “my council,” I am just your custodian. The council and all its assets belong to the Scouting Community. Scouting will NOT die even if councils do. That is clear. However, Scouting may become something of an Edsel. A popular car in its day, you can still find a few on the road, they are owned by eccentric, unique car collectors. Those individuals have a passion for a brand that has all but faded into memory.

The results of these meetings will help the council choose the direction that is consistent with the needs of Scouting’s most critical volunteers. (volunteers "on the ground") The decision making process is complicated by the limited resources available. I am dedicated to the public transparency of our resource allocation. If we are all going to share in the ownership of this council and its resources, then it is critical to get all our Scout volunteers “on the same page.”

Your answers have been very insightful. Often common sense is just that COMMON. Creating a direction for the council is the easy part because we all generally agree, and the further back we stand the clearer the picture becomes. Your top priorities for Scouting are:
Internal Communication: 91% this is often categorized with comments around the web site, consistency, (events being cancelled / or late announcements) difficulty acquiring answers.

Visibility / Marketing: 87% this topic is reflects comments about our image, and our presence in the community, both from a public relations standpoint, and a mass media presence.

Recruitment: 80% this topic is reflective in both Youth and adults. It often shows up as a need to make Scouting more accessible to parents: (Drop off parent syndrome) and for boys (Scouting should be cool).

Resource Allocation or “Council” Service: 79% this very broad topic is difficult to articulate, it is however, so consistently mentioned and impassioned that it requires sincere evaluation and adjustments. As I continued to respond to what everyone was trying to say I came up with two responses that seem to resonate with the feelings in the crowd.
1. Value Statement: I started asking the question, when you make a $1 contribution to Scouting (Boston Minuteman Council) How much of that $1 goes to ‘pay the debt?’ the answers have ranged from $.70 to $.40 – WOW! I then inform folks that roughly $.05 goes to pay the mortgage. In addition to shock, the deeper effect of the realization is an understanding for every $1 contributed our volunteer only receives $.30 - $.60 in value.
2. Council decision making process: I’ve drawn a simple illustration to show the council situation. With our extremely limited resources the multitude of options creates confusion. Governance (your board) has the 30,000 foot view, and is charged with seeing the options and, through me, setting the course. Trust and communication between all the folks “on the ground” and the Board (airplane) is crucial for setting the right course.



Camp and Outdoor Program: 69% this topic ranged from some granular observations about summer camp – to the global need to help Scout families appreciate the value of the outdoor program, in turn increase participation.

I’ve posted a simple chart to see the results of each conversation. To calculate the % I simply assigned a point to each answer 10 points for the highest priority 1 point for the lowest and calculated the average.

Where do we go from here?
Choosing the road(s) to travel is crucial to our ongoing success. Each “road” (council initiative) should help us gather additional resources, provide consistent and effective communication, increase trust, provide value to the “folks on the ground” and set Scouting up to be even stronger for our continuing journey. Because of our limited resources we must choose projects that wrap several priorities together.

Example, The Council Camporee: This event has such an ability to enhance a Scouts experience. Yet, the committee running the event reluctantly agreed that it was not coming together to fulfill its mission. We can (and will) however, re-schedule that event and focus our combined energy into increased communication, providing visibility, develop a recruitment / retention aspect to the event, and enhance packs and troops outdoor experience. That would serve four of the top five priorities set by our unit level volunteers.

We will host several meetings to “bundle” and “match” your priorities with council resources. The first three meetings focus on older Scouts: outdoor program, communication, marketing and retention. (September 22, 28 and 30) I’ll continue to use this online space to keep everyone informed. More opportunities to interact with the decision making process will follow.

Thanks for your patience, as always feel free to comment.