0. Our Current Challenges Character and Leadership
2016 BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA GAME PLAN
“The tide has turned. We must be bold in our approach, energetic in our actions and pull out all the stops to extend the benefits and opportunity of Scouting to youth in every neighborhood in America …”
Dr. Robert M. Gates, National President, 2016
Our Current Challenges vv
Costs/GLIP
Membership
Growth
Adult
Leadership
The Summit
Interests and needs of families have changed and we have not.
Develop an agreed-to and understood growth plan that is adopted nationwide
Technology
Character and Leadership
Budgets are challenged due to declining membership and escalating general liability costs
Focus on controlling costs during the creation of budgets
Continue to build onsite, and increase attendance while inspiring new donor investments
Incorporate the Summit into BSA culture as the fourth high-adventure base and national jamboree home
Current state falls short of addressing the needs of all customers
Transform into a user- friendly experience that addresses the needs of our customers
Success of the BSA is dependent upon our direct contact leaders, i.e., our “front-line” workforce
Renewed focus will be on education, recruiting, and training
We are establishing the most RELEVANT and RIGOROUS requirements for defining character and leadership programs.
The way we deliver character and leadership is the distinguishing feature of the BSA. It’s our competitive advantage.
Programs must be fun and consistent with Scouting values.
Parents favor programs that reinforce and enhance life skills learning.
Focus on Core Programs
Version 1.1.2
Our
Short-Term Strategy
Why We’ll
Grow
Pilot programs will enable us to offer other products and services consistent with our mission.
We will embrace pilot programs that address new and underserved markets.
Create and Expand Pilot Programs
We will focus on Exploring’s role in helping youth explore potential career paths.
Exploring will be refreshed as a brand and a program.
Grow exploring
We will renew focus on new-unit development.
The National Alliances Team will develop new relationships and partnerships to stimulate new-unit growth.
Charter New Units
2016 BSA Game Plan: “At-A-Glance” Version -
The 2016 BSA Game Plan is a tactical course of action that has been developed to align and focus our efforts to support meaningful organizational growth within the BSA.
This presentation is a “talking document” whose purpose is to unify and methodize the Game Plan’s message with BSA stakeholders, predominantly defined as (i) National Service Center employees, (ii) local council employees, and (iii) volunteers.
This “At-a-Glance” version of the presentation is designed to present the Game Plan in a format that is most beneficial in a small group or meeting environment where the full slideshow version (aka “Field Presentation”) would not be conducive.
GATES STATEMENT: Dr. Gates and the National Executive Board believe that this is the BSA’s time—Our time to re-establish relevance with today’s families and the youth that Scouting serves. In support of this vision, we have developed a tactical “Game Plan” that aligns and focuses our efforts to support growth.
OUR CURRENT CHALLENGES: The first part of any game plan is to identify up front the major challenges. Some may refer to these as the “Big Rocks.” We have identified five current challenges, which are highlighted below:
Membership Growth. Keeping Scouting successful requires growth. We have to develop an agreed-to and understood membership growth plan that can be implemented across all councils.
Adult Leadership. Our entire program is delivered through a volunteer workforce we call either “unit leaders” or “direct contact leaders”. Future success entails that these leaders are properly trained and have first-rate resources at their disposal so that they can deliver superior programs.
Technology. The current state of the BSA’s technology infrastructure falls short of addressing the requirements of the organization and our customers. The transformation of legacy systems into a user-friendly experience that addresses the transactional, information, and communication needs of our professionals, adult volunteers, and youth customers is planned. Upgrading the ways that we connect and share information is instrumental to our success.
Summit Bechtel Reserve. The Summit Bechtel Reserve has to be successful in the near term. It is a magnificent facility that provides a permanent site for our national jamborees. The inclusion of this base into our culture as the fourth high- adventure base will occur in Here is an interesting fact: the Summit is the largest project ever undertaken by a youth- serving organization. Its success will be a big point of pride for us!
Costs/GLIP: Budgets are challenged due to declining membership and escalating general liability costs. We must focus our resources toward membership and revenue growth at the local and national levels.
WHY WE WILL GROW: As we develop the Game Plan to drive growth, we have to keep in mind what makes our program so unique in today’s world. What makes us relevant? What is our “competitive advantage”?
It is what we deliver—character and leadership! We are establishing the most RELEVANT and RIGOROUS requirements for defining character and leadership programs. The way we deliver character and leadership is the distinguishing feature of the BSA. This means before we count a program , it has met a high standard. We are setting a national bar that is very high- for everyone. Why? Because it is the right thing to do.. Why? Because it is the right thing to do.  Not sure what this means. Maybe something like “Before a program becomes an official BSA program”?
OUR SHORT TERM STRATEGY: Our short-term growth strategy is to drive membership growth by focusing on the following:
Grow Exploring: Here is an interesting fact; in 1994 we had half a million Explorers. Today we have 100,000. This is a tremendous opportunity to bring more youth into our movement. We are investing in refreshing the Exploring brand and creating new resources to jump-start this program in communities across the country.
Focus On Core Programs: We will continue to promote our core programs as being fun and consistent with Scouting values. An example of this is our research-based national Cub Scouting recruitment campaign, “Build an Adventure”.
Charter New Units: The National Alliances team will build support for local councils to leverage their ability to organize units by developing new relationships and collaborating with potential national partners and charter organizations.
Create and Expand Pilot Programs: We must consider pilot programs very carefully and strategically. Within the Game Plan the goal is to determine which pilots are effective and which ones aren’t. The litmus test for pilots will be these three things: (i) Does the pilot build capacity for our traditional programs through reaching new markets? (ii) Is the pilot sustainable? (iii) Do we have the infrastructure to support the pilot?

1. 2016 BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA GAME PLAN
Membership
Expanding Scouting programs to our nation’s youth
People
Reflecting the communities we serve
Culture
Recognizing people as our greatest resource
IT Infrastructure
Leveraging technology to enable growth
Finance
Maintaining the financial health of the organization
High-Adventure bases
Promoting our high- adventure bases where adventures are experienced and memories made
WE WILL GROW BY… : Six organizational categories within the BSA have been identified as to being critical to the BSA goal of increasing membership. We’ll walk through these one by one as well as highlighting the 2016 goals that are associated with each:
Membership: Everything starts with membership. Our short term tactics to drive membership growth were highlighted in the “Big Rocks” section. Our 2016 goal is to increase membership by 2.5% nationally with an aspirational goal of 5%.
People: The BSA will create a Talent Management Strategy that will develop the right leadership talent (both volunteer and professional staff) to deliver positive, life-changing experiences to youth and families.
The 2016 “People” category goals include focusing on: (i) Our Volunteers - Recognizing and integrating the volunteer-staff component who are a unique identifier and BSA competitive advantage (ii) Leader Skillset -Identifying the skills, knowledge and abilities necessary for future leaders (iii) BSA Culture Gaps - Bridging the organizational culture and relationship gaps between Local Councils and the National Service Center. (iv) BSA Talent Management Strategy Integration – Facilitate leadership development throughout the organization (v) Diversity - Diversity is key as we position to serve the market of the future goals will include the following: (i) Increase local council board diversity by 10% from 2015 actuals (ii) Increase employee diversity by 10% from 2015 actuals and (iii) Increase membership diversity by 2% from 2015 actuals.
Culture: Our culture is our greatest resource and is a competitive advantage. Areas of focus in 2016 will include: (i) Generate shared core “Operating Principles” for the BSA Culture (ii) Form the BSA Corporate Culture Team that will be tasked with identify the “Operating Principles” (iii) Identify a “Keystone” culture project for that will use the “Operating Principles” to positively impact the BSA’s culture.
IT Infrastructure: Identified as a “Current Challenge”, this category refers to the computer / network infrastructure components and personnel that support the functioning of the BSA focus will include (i) My Scouting Tools (ii) Scout Book (iii) Commissioner Tools (iv) Home Page: (v) Online Retail Page:
Finance: This category refers to the financial activities (both revenue and expense) at both the national and local levels goals will include the balancing of our budgets at the national level and the focus of our spending on our most critical needs. We will also support local councils in strengthening their financial statements by focusing resources on opportunities to strengthen the brand and grow the BSA.
High Adventure: This category refers to the four national High Adventure Bases (e.g. the Philmont Scout Ranch, Northern Tier National High Adventure Bases, Florida National High Adventure Sea Base, and the Summit Bechtel Reserve).
In 2016 our goals are to: (i) Integrate all High Adventure Bases into BSA culture (ii) Maintain our commitment that we will give local councils experiences that they cannot provide to their youth (iii) Through consistent marketing and promotion, communicate the life-changing activities available at our four High Adventure Bases (iv) Each High Adventure Base will have a comprehensive business plan (v) Implement Summit attendance growth accountability plan. Growth will be produced by leveraging the full suite of Summit capabilities through a combination of Scouting activities/events, support to other interested youth serving organizations, and special events (e.g., music festivals and sporting events).
TIMELINE: Highlights of the timeline include the “Game Plan” launching in April 2016, an initial report to the National Executive Board in May 2016, and an update to the National Executive Board in October 2016.
CLOSING THOUGHTS: Our time is now! This Game Plan gets us all on the same page..
But the Game Plan is just paper unless we all do something with it. We can shape our future; our time is now. Let’s not wait; let’s not watch this opportunity slip away. Delivering the promise of Scouting will take all of us moving forward together. Let’s act to make sure the greatest youth organization the world has ever known is around for the next century and beyond. What will you do?
We Will Grow By
Increase membership by 2.5% across:
Cub Scouts
Boy Scouts
Venturing
Varsity Scouts
Sea Scouts
Exploring
Pilot Programs
Create talent management strategy that includes leadership development.
2016 diversity goals:
Increase local council board diversity by 10%
Increase employee diversity by 10%
Increase membership diversity by 2%
Create shared core operating principles for the BSA culture.
Form the Corporate Culture Team.
Identify “keystone” culture project for that will drive home cultural change.
Focus on delivering the following:
My Scouting Tools
Scoutbook
Commissioner Tools
Home website:
Online retail website:
Develop a culture of delivering financial results.
Institute an organization-wide annual budget process.
Manage cash flows and complete capital projects.
Align budgets to produce budget surpluses.
Build affinity for the Summit as 4th high- adventure base.
Provide local councils experiences they can’t provide their youth.
Market the life- changing activities available at the bases.
Create business plan for each base.
Implement Summit attendance growth accountability plan.
Our 2016
Goals
2016 Timeline
Plan refinement
Feedback and metrics defined
Report to board and metrics review
Implementation
Fall recruitment
Implementation
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Board approval
Plan launches
Implementation
Fall recruitment and report to officers
National Executive Board update
Measurement