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
