Membership Corner - Bring a Friend 2021

Is your Troop or Pack or Crew ready for to invite more families to your program?

The Bring a Friend 2021 membership drive is rapidly approaching and we want to make sure your Unit is prepared! There are many things that can be done to ensure that you are prepared to invite and receive new families into your Troop or Pack or Crew, but you do not have to reinvent anything or do everything by yourself.

Before you can recruit new families, you should take a look at the strength of your Unit by considering the following factors-

1. Leadership needs

   1. Do you have gaps in your leadership now or upcoming?

   2. Do you have duties clearly organized to ask parents to help with leadership roles?

2. Youth needs

   1. Do you know of any crossovers that have or have not registered in your unit, yet?

   2. Do you know which age group you need to fill the most?

   3. Do you have patrols / dens to spend more effort in recruiting?

   4. Do you have youth that are not on your roster but are participating?

      1. Did you bring youth registered in 2020 from the Virtual Pack that are not yet registered into your Pack?

3. Program Planning

   1. Do you have a defined program for your new families to follow? This doesn't have to be in a traditional calendar format, however something to present in a hardcopy with specifics and details is great to present to new families.

   2. Do you know where you are going to Summer Camp in 2022? (Have you reserved your spot at WMC yet?)

4. Fundraising

   1. Do you know how much your program is going to cost?

   2. Membership Fees will increase starting August 1st. Did you know?

      1. Youth Membership Fee will be $72 per year ($6.00 per month). New youth will also have a one-time joining fee of $25.

      2. Adult Membership Fee will be $45 per year ($3.75 per month)

      3. Unit Charter Fee will be $75 per charter year (not pro-rated)

   3. Do you have a budget tracking mechanism that you utilize? If not click here.

   4. Is your Troop / Pack / Crew going to sell Popcorn? (View our 2021 Popcorn article)

   5. What other fundraising is needed?

These are the preparation and planning topics that your Unit Committee should be reviewing. Is your Unit Committee functioning / meeting? If no, why not? Let's get them meeting!

If your Unit would like some help with the above planning topics, please feel free to contact your Field Director - Patrick Smith - patrick.smith@scouting.org and he can help get your Unit Committee on the best path forward.

In next week's issue of Membership Corner - we will be going over preparing to invite friends and new families into your Unit. What invitation methods have worked for you in the past, what methods do you need help with, and what new methods would you like to try?

Stay tuned for next week's issue of the Membership Corner to learn more!