Creating a New Scout Unit

Not every community, church, school, or organization has a Scouting pack, troop, or crew associated with it. Sometimes, starting a new group is the best way to bring Scouting to your community. With a willing group of volunteers and interested youth, it’s easy to get Scouting started near you.

How Scouting Units are Organized

Every Scouting unit requires adult leaders, youth, and a chartering organization. First the chartering organization agrees to adopt the Scouting program. Then you must recruit and train the leaders. Once you have trained leaders ready to start, recruit the youth. From there you can plan your program year, complete the paperwork, and hold your first meeting.

What is a Chartering Organization?

A chartering organization, such as a church, school, concerned citizen’s group, agrees to work with the specific pack, troop, or crew. They’ll provide meeting space, help find and approve adult leaders, and appoint an individual as the Chartered Organization Representative. This representative works as a liaison between the organization and the Scout group.

Any organization can be a chartering organization and there are no special qualifications. The chartering organization falls under the insurance of the Boy Scouts of America.

How Many Youth are Needed?

A minimum of 5 youth is required to start a new unit. the most successful units start with at least 10 youth.

What Leaders are Needed?

There are different leader requirements for different types of Scouting units. All units must have a Chartered Organization Representative. If a single organization sponsors more than one unit (like a Pack and a Troop), that representative must be the same person for both units.

For a Pack you need:

• Cubmaster (plan and lead the monthly pack meeting, keeping the kids and families engaged and excited)
• Committee Chair (lead behind the scenes administrative tasks and support efforts to run the pack)
• Chartered Organization Representative (act as a liaison between the pack and chartering organization)
• Two Committee Members (work with the committee chair to run the pack in roles like treasurer or secretary)
• Den Leader (plan and lead the den meetings for one age group, helping the Scouts earn advancements)

Not required but recommended: Assistant Cubmaster(s), Assistant Den Leader(s), additional committee members

For a Troop you need:

• Scoutmaster (support and guide the youth leadership as they plan and lead the troop meetings)
• Committee Chair (lead behind the scenes administrative tasks and support efforts to run the troop)
• Chartered Organization Representative (act as a liaison between the troop and chartering organization)
• Two Committee Members (work with the committee chair to run the troop in roles like treasurer or secretary)

Not required but recommended: Assistant Scoutmaster(s), additional committee members

For a Crew you need:

• Advisor (support and guide the youth leadership as they plan and lead the crew meetings)
• Committee Chair (lead behind the scenes administrative tasks and support efforts to run the crew)
• Chartered Organization Representative (act as a liaison between the crew and chartering organization)
• Two Committee Members (work with the committee chair to run the crew in roles like treasurer or secretary)

Not required but recommended: Assistant Scoutmaster(s), additional committee members

 **NEW** BSA Parents

We all know how truly amazing our Scouting parents are. They go above and beyond, and they constantly ask what they can do and how they can help.

In many ways, they are our best asset to help demonstrate the value of the Boy Scouts of America and to talk about what this great organization means to American communities.

So, we want to make you all aware of a newly-formed group called “BSA Parents” that is forming and will launch on digital and social media this week.

The group was formed by and is run by parents of Scouts. The group came together so parents can use the Internet and social media to talk about what Scouting means to them. As I’m sure you can imagine, this is powerful stuff – I’m excited to share their launch video and site here https://www.bsaparents.com and on social media (please see bottom of this email).

I also want to let you know that while BSA helped with some seed funding to get them off the ground, this is an independent organization. They are not affiliated with BSA and they formed to help parents tell their stories. It has no dues, it offers no programs, and is not competitive in any way with our Councils. Their mission and stories are ones we want to support!

We are excited to see so many people taking up the message of Scouting. I am writing today with the hope that you will share this site and these videos with parents in your area. More people need to see and hear from the parents who are so involved with – and so passionate about – Scouting. The BSA’s character building programs are essential for our youth and we are excited for parents to help propel that message forward.

BSA Parents on social media:
Twitter: @BSAparents
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BSAparents
youtube: www.youtube.com/BSAParents
Instagram: @bsaparents

***Important Changes to Membership Card

and

Charter Certificate Printing Requirements*** 

The BSA is committed to streamlining basic operations by putting tools in the hands of volunteers. For several years now, individuals and unit key 3 have had access to print membership cards through my.Scouting. In addition, functionality will be added to my.Scouting by January 1, 2019, to enable members of the unit key 3 to print their unit Charter Certificate.

This “self-service” functionality allows volunteers to print membership cards and the unit charter certificate in a timely manner and enhances the onboarding experience for new youth and adults.

Effective January 1, 2019, councils will no longer be required to print and mail membership cards to council and district volunteers and traditional Scouting units. This is a change to the council membership validation requirement. In addition, councils will no longer print and deliver unit charter certificates.

For Learning for Life groups, Exploring Posts and Clubs, as of January 1, 2019, this will no longer be a membership validation requirement.

Units should be prepared to print their unit membership cards and charter certificate for the current renewal period.

For those who have difficulty in printing membership cards and charter certificates, please contact the Midnight Sun Council Office at 907-452-1976 and we will assist you.

Prorated Fee for Transfers to Extended Registration and Subscriptions

An annual registration fee is required for all youth and adults who are members of the Boy Scouts of America. Most councils have a common expiration date for all units, so when a BSA member transfers from one unit to another, no additional registration fee is required. In some cases, a BSA member may transfer their primary registration to a unit or non-unit position with an expiration that exceeds their current expiration date, for instance when a new unit registers with a long-term charter. When this occurs, a portion of an individual’s annual registration goes unpaid and there is a lapse in Boys’ Life and Scouting magazine subscriptions service, which ends at the time of the individual’s original expiration date. This results in a loss of revenue to the BSA and dissatisfied Scouts and Scouters when magazine subscriptions unexpectedly stop. To resolve these issues, BSA is changing the current business practice and will begin collecting prorated registration fees from individuals that transfer to a unit or non-unit position that expires later than their current registration.

For example, a Scout that transfers from a unit that expires 11/30/2019 to a unit that expires 6/30/2020 will need to pay $19.25 to extend their registration for 7 months and an additional $7.00 to extend Boys’ Life if they have a current subscription.

It is important to remember that only paid registrations (a transferred registration is considered a paid registration) are included in membership totals. Multiple registrations are not included.

This business practice is changing in 2019, and it will take time to update the BSA registration system. We anticipate this change to be effective mid-to-late summer but are announcing this change now so councils can begin communicating this change to council and district volunteers and unit leaders. You will receive a follow- up communication when the exact effective date is determined.

Thanks for your patience and flexibility as we implement important changes for the organization

The Midnight Sun Council Announces first Scouts BSA Troop for Girls

The Midnight Sun Council, BSA is proud to announce the first Scouts BSA Troop for girls is up and running!

Troop 84, Chartered to the North Star Volunteer Fire Department in North Pole, has been formed with 5 young ladies looking for the excitement that Scouting brings.

It’ll work closely with Troop 42, also chartered to the fire department, as they enter this new and exciting world of adventure and leadership training. Troop 84 is recruiting more new members. Members need to be 11 through 17 years old.

To join or for more information, please contact the Scout Office at 452-1976.

The new tool to quickly input advancement data, Internet Advancement 2.0 (previously known as Scoutbook Lite) is now live.

This free solution replaces the previous Internet Advancement platform, which will be retired (for all programs except Exploring) on June 10, 2019.

Internet Advancement 2.0 will feature a clean, new user interface and will be optimized to whatever device you use: desktop, tablet or smartphone.

Internet Advancement 2.0 will offer optimized functions for everything found in the current Internet Advancement platform and can be accessed by Unit Key 3 users, Unit Key 3 delegate users and Unit Advancement Chairs.

End users will access Internet Advancement 2.0 via one of the following locations using their my.Scouting credentials:

Scoutbook.scouting.org

From the Legacy Tools menu in my.Scouting.org

A link in Scoutbook.com

From the current Internet Advancement Platform

After initial release, the BSA IT team will continue to add additional features on a regular basis. Updates and new features will be communicated with the field as they are delivered.

Visit
http://help.scoutbook.com for answers to commonly asked questions.

The Midnight Sun Council, Boy Scouts of America, announces the conveyance of 230+ acres from the estate of Jim Moody, that are adjacent to Lost Lake Scout Camp about an hour south of Fairbanks.

(The yellow green area in the picture is the original Lost Lake Scout Camp. The reddish area shows the newest addition through the generous donation of the Jim Moody Estate.)

We thank the Jim Moody Estate for its generous donation of the land and cabins, that will allow for broader programs for our Scouts, their families, and community organizations that utilize the camp for their programs.

Jim Moody, a lover of nature and the environment, wished that his land be used for the enjoyment of nature, outdoor activities, and conservation. Plans for this new section of Lost Lake Scout Camp, include hiking trails, outpost camping, and possibly an outdoor education center utilizing an existing cabin. To best meet the needs of our Scouts and the wishes of Jim Moody, our Properties & Camping Committee will be working with the Interior Alaska Land Trust to determine our best options going forward.

There is a one time Eagle Extension request process for youth that are age 16 through 18 and have JOINED on or after 2/1/19.

This extension can be done through My.Scouting.org.

Click here to view/download the extension process.