Scout Update - October 2014

Scout Update

October 27, 2014

Membership

Very proud of our membership volunteers lead by Dominic Amara and every Cub Pack! Our membership is up over year to date Oct 31 and with a week to go, that increase will surely grow! October marks the 5^th consecutive month of membership growth!

Program
The big program story for the fall is Pumpkin Fest! Over 2,000 Cubs Scouts and families participated in pumpkin themed program at Camp Sayre last Saturday.

Pumpkin Fest is simply one great moment in an entire series of great program developments at Camp Sayre. Over the past few years we have added programs, services and great new facilities. NOW, after all that hard work we are really hitting our stride. Each weekend we serve hundreds of Scouts through innovative and exciting programs! Check out some of the recent comments….

•         “Everyone from the camp master, to the dinner staff, made our weekend fantastic...it was nice to see what a Boy Scout camp and council can be...all about customer service and most importantly...the boys!”- Scout Master Oct 4, 2014

•         “We had a great time. The camp-wide campfire was quite fun for all.  The staff are very enthusiastic and helpful. Dinner was great. Thank you.  We will come back next year!” – Cub Master Sept 27,2014

•         “Everything from beginning to end - communication, activities, and supervision at events - was beyond our expectations.”- Parent Sept 20, 2014

•         “The staff was engaged and knew what they were doing.  And they taught in a hands-on mode that works really well with both kids and adults. It was an excellent experience.” – Scout Master Sept 20, 2014

Development

The hospitality breakfast steering committee met yesterday and confirmed the event will be held on December 11^th honoring Manny Costa, CEO Costa Produce. The event is well on its way toward achieving the goal with $10,000 already pledged from the committee!

The popcorn sales were down slightly. The development committee will host a debrief early next year (after the logistics and delivery process is complete) with unit popcorn kernals to identify possible causes and address any concerns.  

Marketing
Groupon and Living Social! Part of the growth at Pumpkinfest came from our recent marketing committee effort to reach out and attract families to Scouting through our quality programs. about 10% of the Pumpkinfest campers came through social media coupons and otherwise wouldn’t have felt invited.

Also, in an effort to make Scouting more accessible the Marketing committee has launched a new blog. www.30SecondScouting.com This blog provides cool outdoor, nature, STEM and related Scouting hands on activities in 30 seconds or less! Check it out and leave a comment on the programs you and your Scouts like the most!

Internal National Measurement Standards
Since 2010 Scouting has embarked on a national continuous improvement plan. Boston Minuteman often scores high, however, the entire country has struggled in the past two years.

Property Improvements!

Although it’s not nearly as exciting as the new Ropes Course or Shooting ranges this month the team will be finishing up some Camp Sayre projects completing the pavilion, re-surfacing several large pot holes and the dirt roads through camp, as well as adding a few parking spaces.

Also in November we’ll receive a phone and internet upgrade that’ll increase everyone’s ability to high speed internet and access wifi while at camp!

The properties Committee is in the process of developing the 2015 priority camp improvement projects at Sayre and Storer.

Scout Update

 Development

Salute to Scouting – September 30^th

The Salute campaign is off to a strong start thanks to our board and many long time supporters including State Street, TD Bank, Amica, PWC, Deloitte, KPMG, BCBSof MA, Pyramid Hotel Group and many others. This year looks strong as Patricia Jacobs has recently secured over $65,000 through generous contributions from AT&T, Bruins and WEEI.

Hospitality Update – 4^th quarter

Jim Carmody, Tom Kershaw and Jim Dina are working together as the steering committee for the hospitality event.

Properties

Hayden Lodge Sewer

This approved project was delayed for over a year as we dealt with other more pressing and costly infrastructure issues. However, the project is now complete, capping of the most important “non visual” improvement for Camp Sayre.

Pavilion

The new welcoming pavilion at Camp Sayre is near completion. This will serve as the organization headquarters for out of camp trips such as Cub Scout Canoe trips, Rock Climbing excursions, and trips to the Freedom Trail.   

Storer Improvements

All summer our Scouts and leaders enjoyed the new paddle boards, the brand new rifle range and appreciated the new grass on previously barren parade field.

Membership

July, 2014 1.4% Membership Gain – again one of the highest gains in New England and the country. We have grown and maintained strong membership over the past several years, we anticipate reaching our membership previous 2011 high water mark by the end of the year of early the following year.

The strong spring and summer recruitment combined with ever increasing retention puts us in a strong position to maintain this growth for year end.

Program

Scouting for Food

Congratulations and thank you to Margaret Casey and Matt Budz from Knox Trail who took the lead on Scouting for Food. Because of their combined efforts Scouting will receive media attention through WCVB-TV 5 as our media sponsor, and Anthony Consigli of Consigli Construction has agreed to serve as chairman for the collaborative effort.

Summer Camp

All our camps received high customer service evaluations from Scout leaders and parents! We are grateful to our camp staff and directors who work tirelessly to provide the annual “mountain top” experience for 2,700 scouts and families!

Collaboration

Boston Minuteman Council and Yankee Clipper Council have entered into discussions to identify possible collaborative relationships or efficiencies, designed to further our effort to help Scouting thrive in every zip code. You may have received an electronic survey about this process – if so, please share your thoughts.

Building a Stronger Council

On the ground floor

Last fall we embarked on a “quiet capital effort.” The intent was to support our strategic and transformative initiative that would enable Scouts and their families from every walk of life to enjoy The Scouting Outdoor Experience. Camp Sayre, with the Egan Center would provide a high quality Outdoor Scout program every weekend!  

In many ways we are developing a brand new take on how to serve Scouts and their families while we continue to provide the classic Scouting structure. The project is designed to grow and build simultaneously.

As we outlined the process we decided to just approach our board members and “close family members” for our initial contributions. We set our sites on high impact projects that would provide immediate quality program. Over the past nine months the weekend attendance at camp has sky rocketed and the results at the end of the first quarter 2014 are 900 times greater than the first quarter 2013. The programs for this spring have already created a waiting list. It’s clear now that we will need to re-establish some old campsites, increase parking, renovate EVERY cabin and so much more.  

In many ways we feel like 104 year “Start Up Organization.” Each month we need are marketing something new, refining an administrative procedure, developing additional lesson plans, training new volunteers and staff members, all while we continue to “run an old school Boy Scout Council.”  

Yesterday our board capital pledges reached $523,350.

At this point we have only asked 27 board members and friends and we equally proud of our 100% participation rate.

A Long Way to Go!

While $523,350 is a LOT of money it is also spread out over 5 years and we need to develop the program, inventory, procedures, marketing, staff (volunteer and paid) at the same time. Not to mention the camp improvement projects NOT covered by $523,350 and the other camps and the standard operations. Whew!

The Overriding Message

It’s really not the amount raised, or even the program waiting lists or the exciting new COPE course or any of those details it’s really observation that we are all on the same page and working together.

The overriding message is how the puzzle pieces fit together –

• It’s the economy of scale that allows us to provide these programs for our ScoutReach youth
• It’s how the location and program together provide natural parent engagement opportunities
• It’s how older scouts volunteer on weekends and strengthen their skills – in turn strengthening their troops
• It’s providing high quality outdoor experiences for Cub Families immediately
• It’s challenging unique outdoor programs for older scouts like Ice Climbing and building a snow shelter, or rock climbing or the Ropes Course
• It’s the dedication of our board, the combined vision that developed the strategic plan!

Thank you!

More to come….. 

District Operations and the Council Web Page

District Operations

Communication and "fixing the council web page"

We have started to embark on an effort to improve district operations. As part of that effort I have attended the majority of the district committee, Roundtable, commissioners meetings. I have also held several (about 20) individual meetings with Cub Masters and Scout Masters in the past 45 days. Additionally, we sent out a survey about roundtables and received 80 responses. One of the responses from the survey was an e-mail response that simply said "The web page is pathetic." This created a great learning opportunity for the recipient of the e-mail as well as a great learning opportunity for all involved.

About 6 months ago we launched "the new BSAboston.org" At that time we received a ton of feedback that the current site was "terrible, cumbersome and confusing." The negative feedback about the website has been persistent for years. So we asked a ton of questions, recruited a talented group of volunteers to build the site, listened and developed the new site. The negative feedback in the those days was mostly from new members, parents, Cub Scout Leaders and others who didn't understand the "language of the BSA" and frankly, didn't want to understand that language. They didn't care which district they were / are in..... they just wanted to sign up for camp. So now we are excited that we sell out new and innovative camp programs and the new web page - while not perfect has a lot to do with that increase. (Winter Camp, STEM Camp, Rock Climbing weekends, weekend programs at Sayre etc.)

But that emphasis didn't mean we could / should neglect the old site. We kept the old site and in fact still use it as our primary registration tool. The "old site" receives two major criticisms.
PROBLEM ONE - TOO cumbersome and TOO much stuff. (but once I know where to go - it's helpful)
PROBLEM TWO - Inaccurate calendar dates and events that get cancelled.

and now we have the THIRD PROBLEM of folks going to "the new site" when they are looking for information contained on the "old site"

Let's Change the Vocabulary and try to solve PROBLEM THREE first - it's not NEW and OLD - it's outward focused and inward focused. We'll make some updates and adjustments to better link the outward facing site to the internal site. Below is a mock up of some potential changes for the outward facing site. Also, we'd ask our internal customers (long term Scouters) to bookmark the internal site. Please provide feedback regarding the outward facing site through this survey.

Now let's go after PROBLEM ONE - Let's make the internal site less cumbersome. Remember the guy who said the "new site was pathetic." As he helped to provide feedback he pointed out that just going to the calendar required several "clicks" and was difficult to find. The several clicks is caused by the committee trying to be hyper-convenient by providing several views of the same calendar. The intention is wonderful - the result is confusing. The internal site has WAY TOO MUCH redundant information. about three months ago I hid over 100 links - not one complaint, nor any real visual improvement. Trimming that web page feels like a morbidly obese person losing weight. They have to lose 100 pounds before people take notice.

The mock up below shows a draft of a cleaner more direct internal customer web site. Please take a look at the mock up and provide your feedback here.

PROBLEM TWO - cancelled events and an inaccurate calendar. this is actually NOT a web page problem this is a district operations problem.  

District Operations

If you are still reading .... hopefully you remember this blog started out as an update on our district operations initiative. It seems in some instances we struggle with securing a date or developing a program, yet in other cases we do a spectacular job. The Klondike Derbies are a recent example of high quality well attended district activities. And of course Merit Badge University or the Eagle Dinner are two recent examples of quality council program (not to mention winter camp etc). So, clearly "we" can do it.  The best way to solve the calendar problem (and in turn the web page problem) is to ask those folks who step forward and run a successful event, HOW they do it. They obviously have the answers.

The process will compare their successful actions to the actions taken for programs that never quite get off the ground. This is the self reflection process that is required for growth, and constant improvement. This is the "district revitalization process," and to be clear, it's not always comfortable or easy - but it's necessary if we are going to improve. Our roundtables and our district committees are less functional than most of our troops. Our council board has gone through this metamorphosis over the past few years and I'm sure everyone would agree, the outcome is worth the effort. Aspects of our district / council operations are highly functional.

The photos below are from our most recent roundtables.

The graph is just a small percentage of the responses from the roundtable survey.

By reflecting on this feedback, (lack of attendance is also feedback) we can improve the value of our roundtables. Roundtables are just part of the District operations revitalization project. The web pages are another aspect of the district revitalization project. If we all work together, and put the Scouts first we can find all the resources (human, physical, intellectual and financial) to help Scouting thrive in every community. 

See you around the campfire

District Operations

District Operations
Recently, the council has started an initiative to attend and listen at all district committee meetings and roundtables. After the first series it was clear how passionate and dedicated every district level volunteer is to enhancing Scouting in our community. THANKS! It was also clear that we can do a better job supporting and providing guidance and support for your efforts.

 As a follow up to the recent district committee and roundtable meetings, the executive committee (board) had a fairly lengthy discussion about the role of district operations and our ability to drive unit support. I think we are opening a great new chapter in our growth. As we discussed at each district committee meeting the success the council has enjoyed over the past few years has been due in large part to the re-focusing of the board.  That re-focusing has enabled us to maximize everyone’s effort to Scouting and provide great tangible results. The debt elimination process, re-opening the pool and all the program growth at Sayre, SOAR and Scouting for Food, improved marketing and PR, fundraising success and  property improvements at Storer, Sayre and a better facility for Cub Scout summer camp at Norse.

The District Operations side of the council has not enjoyed the same rapid improvement. The national measurement system is called Journey to Excellence and functions as a balanced Score Card – an attempt to measure all the aspects that make Scouting thrive. Our balanced Score Card results are imbalanced. Our weaknesses revolve mostly around district operations.

Specifically:

·         Four Functions of Program (activities, advancement, camp promotions, training)
·         Council / District Campaigns (FOS Family, Membership recruitment, Popcorn)
·         Commissioner Service (unit commissioners and roundtables)
·         District Key 3’s

I mention Journey to Excellence not as a end unto itself but as a measurement tool that points out our deficiencies. It’s important as we start to make improvements in district operations that we do NOT “teach to the test.” Rather we develop systems that allow everyone’s skills and talents and time to be maximized for the good of the Scouting.

Our Council President, Mike Jeans is developing a Task Force to work with me, Bruce and Sue Ellen
Over the next two months the task force will ……

·         Continue to visit and participate in this conversation at District committee meetings, roundtables, commissioners meetings.
·         Review District Operations with an eye toward unit specific needs and support
·         Develop unit by unit specific action / support plan

At the conclusion of the three months the task force will share the results and the draft plans with the entire Scouting community to ensure we heard the needs of our unit leaders correctly. Also, to ensure we developed plans that enable practical solutions for those needs.
Sharing the results will likely look like roundtable discussions, a Scouters Summit, a blog or two, several emails, and likely a written document passed out at the annual meeting. (all roughly during late April / May and early June) Revisions will be made, based on unit level feedback, during that process. The board will likely roll these actions into the Strategic Plan, the Task Force will dissolve, and the District Operation actions with an improved focus on service to units will be adopted (likely our July meeting).

In September and every month thereafter the board will review the “District Operations and Unit Service Focus” as part of our board meetings. Just as we have done with Finance, Development, Properties, Marketing etc.

I am confident that the plan we will develop together will improve communications, increase volunteer satisfaction, increase customer service, increase retention, increase recruitment, and increase parent involvement. And those actions will compliment all the other successes of Boston Minuteman. (obviously, we can’t backslide on any of the other successes we have developed)

Last Comment – please forward this blog to families, unit, district and council volunteers, link it through Face Book and otherwise share with interested Scouters. The wider we distribute this initiative the better the results.

Recent Developments - Innovation

Winter Camp SOLD OUT!

This inaugural program provides the Scouts with great outdoor healthy activities throughout February Vacation including snowboarding, skating and some creative uses of Scout outdoor skills like “Tracking the Yeti” and Engineering the “Perfect Snow Ball Catapult.”

Merit Badge University at Harvard has also SOLD OUT!

Participating Scouts have the opportunity to learn from Harvard students and  professionals in their field of interest for over 35 merit badges including Robotics, Oceanography, and Space Exploration.

Marketing Committee

Check out the three recent stories about the positive impact of Scouting.

Jan. 16, 2014 Boston Globe Photos of Scouts of 100 years

Jan 26, 2014 Boston Globe Boy Scouts’ Spirit High

WCVB.com Happy Anniversary Tribute to Scouting

Voice of the Scout – Positive Feedback from our Volunteers

"Voice of the Scout" is the national Scouting feedback survey, our 2013 responses are in and tabulated. Each Scout Family receives an e-mail survey twice a year. The e-mail is sent from national council, and therefore all responses can be compared so councils can learn from one another and best practices can evolve. While we still have a long way to go we did score 100% (Highest in the country) for Cub Scout Parents.

Development

Thanks to Amica Insurance for kicking off our Friends of Scouting campaign with a leadership $35,000 annual contribution!

Capital Improvements- An INNOVATIVE APPROACH

The campaign has raised $440,000 to date! And the improvements are already underway! Check out the face book photo album for additional pictures and comments from our volunteers.

The Capital Projects are FAR MORE than simply improvements to camp that has been run down over the past 75 years. It is innovative programming……

Ropes Course

One of the only High Course programs with an emphasis on Team Building Activities. Entire troops and/or patrols (up 16 participants) will be able to climb, belay and break through their own boundaries as they work together to achieve goals.   

Environmental Education

A series of program elements that will entertain and educate youth and parents alike. Participants will dig around in the dirt and climb into the trees to learn about eco-systems, soil, photosynthesis, geology and bird flight patterns.

Open to Everyone

Starting this summer, due to popular demand, our growing Day Camp programs will be open siblings and girls between 1^st grade and 5^th grade.   

Cub Scout Canoeing

Each weekend the new van brings our Scouts and their families down to the boat launch at the Neponset River for the only officially sanctioned Cub Scout Open Water Canoe program in the country.

ScoutReach (urban Scouting initiative)

Due to our highly successful Rewards program our ScoutReach program boasts some of the highest retention rates in the country. All these great enhancements are made available to our ScoutReach participants as they EARN THEIR WAY through their good-Scout-like-behavior.

Welcoming Programs

The outdoors can seem intimidating but often folks just need a guide. However, sometimes people (even parents) are embarrassed to ask for help. Camp Sayre has 40 educational signs that allow parents the opportunity to quickly understand a skill and actively participate with their child. The posters range from how to tie a square knot, shoot a bow and arrow, build a fire, and navigate by the stars.

More and more …..

For the past 12 months we have developed and launched a dozen programs, we learn from our mistakes, make improvements, formalize the procedure and try again. This process encourages all feedback and allows us to innovate and involve everyone.

Strategic Plan

This whole project began with our Strategic Plan. Each year our strategic Planning oversight committee reviews and updates the plan. They are currently in the process of meeting and evaluating the 2013 progress. The two links below contain the summary information.

Original Document

http://bsaboston.doubleknot.com/document/strategic-plan/122793

2013 summary of Goals

http://bsaboston.doubleknot.com/document/2013-strategic-accomplishments/135085

Thanks for being involved and helping to revitalize Scouting for families in Greater Boston!

Where we are going .... the goal is is not to be sustainable - The Goal is for Scouting to thrive in every Greater Boston community.

For those of us who have participated in C.O.P.E. we know that the low elements are analogies for life's problems. The Scouts develop solutions and work together through trial and error and eventually solve the problem.  The magic of the course is not about completing the task - it's about making the connection to real life. It's special when the 13 year old says (often six months later) "I get it, it's like the "spider web" we have to think out a plan, before we just start jump into action, otherwise we won't get the whole patrol on the other side. This problem is just like that!" For a Scout, This problem of course could be anything, a weekend patrol menu, or a  camp-o-ree competition, or even better something at home or at school.

Our local strategic plan is just like that. Like a group of Scouts approaching a problem we have to work together and map out a plan. Certain aspects of our plan need to come before other aspects. Just like certain Scouts need to "go through the spider web first." Well, in this spider web analogy - we have more than half the team on the other side! And we are working well together,

In our illustration, many aspects of the council have made it through the challenge (web) and they are now stronger and able to help other aspects of the council through the web. This means over the next few years we will see all the remaining objectives in the plan achieved!


Since it's the end of 2013, let's take a look back - and look forward. With many of our aspects of the council on the other side of the challenge - the activity starts to move a little quicker. I think we are at the tipping point.

Check out our year in review video.

Properties: Over the past few years we have made steady improvements to our camps of about $60,000 - $100,000 annually. Over those years the investment in camps exceeds $250,000. If you haven't walked through Storer since 2010 - you should visit and check out all the improvements. It's undeniable. We still retain ownership and actively use Massasoit, however we have moved our summer operation to Camp Norse. (also in Plymouth) Massasoit still enjoys active use each and every weekend, while our summer campers enjoy a facility upgrade through the partnership with Annawon Council. Finally, as of today we have raised almost $500,000 to be invested in Camp Sayre improvements during 2014. Sayre's improvements are equally undeniable - but frankly overshadowed by the program improvements :)

Membership Recovery: Each year a certain amount of boys drop out of the program - for dozens of reasons, other interests, parent's decision, move away, older boys "age out" or pursue other activities. Each year we anticipate this and strive to loose less and recruit more so the organization as a whole continues to grow. Boston Minuteman retention is 72.11% that's right in the middle of the National retention bell curve, and particularly high for a Council with a large urban population and an investment in ScoutReach. (see the 2011 and 2013 Boston Globe articles about our urban retention). When the dust settled after the membership standards debate we were down about 600 Scouts more than usual. So to maintain our growth pattern we would have to recruit all our standard amount of Tiger Cubs + 600 additional Scouts. In the past six months we recovered about 400 of the additional 600 boys we lost. We recruited 17% more boys this year than usual, but that still wasn't enough. While that's a disappointment, it places us as the top New England. We will get back to our 2011 (our most recent high water mark) levels by June 2014.

Debt Elimination: We opened 2013 with $1,150,000 long term debt and a total debt position of over $2,000,000. This debt was created years ago and has severely hampered Boston Scouting forward progress ever since. For the past few years we have been developing our debt elimination plans and strategies. During 2013 we began to execute on those plans. In the last 12 months we have cut the long term debt in half and improved our debt position by $800,000. We anticipate completely eliminating the long term debt during the summer of 2014 and creating some surplus funds to start re-building the endowment.

Program: During 2013 we reopened the pool and today Scouts use the facility almost every weekend. We've also added guided Cub Scout canoe trips, a robust shooting sports program, outdoor skills, STEM camp, and most recently rock climbing and winter skills. These programs are just the beginning. Through these program enhancements we have been training dozens of leaders and parents. Enabling each troop and pack program to embed the programs and cost savings directly into their annual plans.

Marketing and PR: In 2013 we launched a collaborative Scouting for Food initiative. Thanks to all our leaders and Scouts in Eastern MA we collected just under 500,000 items of food for the needy and attracted significant media attention. Our results through our ScoutReach initiative continues to receive positive media feedback. Between, SOAR, Scouting for Food, select media advertising and great stories about great Scouts we have enjoyed a steady stream of positive media exposure for 3 years.

Finance: For the fourth year in a row we have significantly grown the budget and maintained an operating surplus. Simply stated this means we brought in more money than we spent in a given 12 month period. There are two methods that allow an average Scouter to feel an increase in support
1. Surplus = more money raised than spent in a given fiscal period, at the end of the year that can be re-invested in Scouting
2. Growth = more money raised and spent in support of Scouting

The surpluses we secured have been used to pay the interest on the debt - sadly that means we have not yet seen the benefit of the annual surpluses. All the benefits and forward motion has been created by increased size of the budget (Growth) NOT from the 12 month surpluses. This means the Council still lives "paycheck to paycheck." The budget has grown from $1.8 million to $2.5 million.  All that cash pressure should end in 2014! When the debt is eliminated will start to re-invest future surpluses into the program. During the past four years the total operating surpluses equaled $200,000. ($50K, $100K, $0, $50K) While we can't count on that type of production each year it certainly speaks to wonderful opportunity and a potentially bright future. Please check out our profile on "the Giving Common" for some contextual information. The information on that site is gathered through independent audits, and provides a comparison to other non-profits. We are proud of the % returned to program and after the 2013 audit is complete you'll see the long term indebtedness shrink dramatically.

Customer Service / Program Delivery

This is wear it all comes together. there is no value in all the other successes if they don't translate to practical support and programs for everyone involved.Check out the "Yelp" review about the Camp Sayre programs. The trend of our reviews has been getting better and better each month and year. Customer service as well continues to improve. However, not fast enough - we are continuing to re-tool and adjust to make the council more responsive and nimble to your needs.