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Membership & Recruiting
The Council has in-stock flyers that can be custom printed with your unit’s Joining Night information. Using standard templates on the reverse side of an eye-catching image, your Council staff will print school flyers for your upcoming event. In an effort to maintain positive school relationships and avoid overwhelming school administrators, only one flyer per town, per age group (Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts), will be printed. The flyer will include information on the joining night for all units in the town. Units without scheduled dates will simply have their contact information advertised. Using a single flyer also allows families to explore all their options, which is important in areas without neighborhood schools.
Joining Nights
The most successful Joining Nights are conducted by using the following steps:
The joining night is planned at an actual school. Families are familiar with schools and more likely to attend a program there. Many families do not feel comfortable attending an event at a church of a different denomination. If you take that fear out by having it at a neutral location, it will give them the opportunity to get to know your unit before making assumptions.
Joining Nights are more successful when scheduled on Tuesday-Thursday nights! Many families have their weekends planned far in advance. The best time to have a joining night is a weeknight, and it shouldn’t last more than an hour and a half. Consider trying yours from 6:00 PM- 7:30 PM so families still have time to pick their children up after work and plan dinner and bedtime routines afterward.
Advertising
After your date is scheduled, make sure you have a full month of advertising! Talk to your District Executive and Membership Chair about flyers, community talks, and yard signs. Ask your church if you can put information in their bulletin. See if your local pizza shop will put flyers on their boxes over the weekend if your unit helps assemble them. Ask your local youth sports teams if you can have a table at one of their games to advertise your joining night. Talk to your Chartered Organization Representative about how they can help you with promotions. Make sure your BeAScout.org pin is up to date and includes your joining information! Click here to order recruitment materials
The night is planned as a partnership between the Pack and the Troop. It is extremely successful to have representatives from the Boy Scout Troop (including Den Chiefs) on hand to run a few small games and activities with the youth while the Cub Scout leaders address parents. Oftentimes, older siblings attend with their family and want to join the troop. Another option is to have extra help just to entertain the youth and parent breakout sessions for Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.
The unit leadership should make a formal presentation. This night is not a one-on-one conversation between the leader and every parent who walks through the door. A presentation should be given discussing the values of Scouting, a calendar of events, and joining costs, and then the floor should be opened for questions and possibly one-on-one discussions. Parents need to see that your unit is organized and ready for their child.
Make Scouting Visible
It is helpful to have photos and props from your past Scout outings on hand. Some creative examples are: set up a mock campsite in the school cafeteria, have some old Pinewood Derby cars on hand, build an entryway using lashings, haul in your soapbox derby cars, and have a slideshow or display your unit website on a screen!
School Talks: When Available
A “school talk” is a 3-5-minute talk about Scouting that your District Executive can deliver in your school building or Sunday School class to promote upcoming joining events. Once an event is scheduled, your DE can contact your school and ask to talk to youth. These talks should never take up educational time (but can be done during lunch or another pre-arranged time). A short script is sent to the principal in advance so he/she knows exactly what will be said.
Scout Troops should plan an open house in March or April, with a May or June campout being the first activity for new members. Cub Scout Packs should plan an open house in April or May, with a Council activity being the first big event for new members.
Chipmunks
The Chipmunks program introduces families with children ages 4–5 to Scouting through playful learning, short activities, and meaningful family time. Families today are busier than ever, and parents are searching for simple, meaningful ways to support early learning, social development, and positive childhood experiences. Chipmunks was built with exactly that in mind. It isn’t Cub Scouts for younger kids; it’s its own program — a Pre-K experience centered around hands-on learning, short activities, parent participation, and friendly forest characters who help little ones make sense of the world around them. Click HERE to sign up.