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I am Cubmaster, Cub Scout Pack 34 Eatonton GA ID# 12314137 Central Georgia Council #96
Our Pack has been designated a Scout Reach Unit and I am trying to get the BeAScout online registration working. But I do not see any location of the BeAScout application process to process or handle Scout Reach reduced membership fees? Last year I handled all our applications manually through Council. But our Council is effectively closed and so we are trying to do everything online. But we need the reduced Scout Reach fee schedule?
Please advise.
David Skinner
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@CharlesSkinner that is VERY much a council question - ScoutReach is great but is very different. Yes it seems like a circle but this is just volunteer supported, your council can turn in National tickets for help. Or just go to Paper again, sorry.
Hello Mr McNeil, Thank you so much for again answering my question.
I know National does not normally speak to volunteers. However, our Council is all but shut down due to lack of funding! There are no employees working, the office is for sale, and the Council Camp has been sold. So we volunteers are out here trying to bring Scouts to our community, but there is no Council support and National has not offered any assistance either? So I have been trying to find out what happens when a Council folds and how do the local units continue to exist without a Council? That’s why we are trying to get everything done online WITHOUT a functioning Council?
Probably way above your station in Scouts, but it was worth a few minutes to ask the question.
Yours in Scouting,
David Skinner
Cubmaster, Pack 34
Eatonton GA 31024
@CharlesSkinner - well as someone who has experienced a council dissolution the units will be moved to another council. Our council was divided among four neighboring councils an us in the western side were assumed by what was then Bucks County Council. National is no doubt fully aware of the council situation.
You’re going to have a lot of issues beyond this with no council employees. My thought is your council commissioner might be in a position to reach out to someone at a higher level for guidance.
@CharlesSkinner you could try the national phone - 972-580-2000 to reach ScoutReach office
@CharlesSkinner I will send you a direct message > look at top right Avatar to find it > it will be a green envelope > it will be a private message channel with select members of the Scoutbook User Advisory Council (SUAC)
Here is what a person in the know said - They can use the online system but it will charge full fees. We currently do not have a way or making it charge the ScoutReach fee. This is what I was told “Scoutreach isn’t online as there is no validation on who can apply/who is accepted etc” -
So it sounds like Units might not be tagged ScoutReach in a way they can track for Online Apps - I suggested they find a solution for that
Hello Mr. Fetzer,
Yes. He is actually already engaged and working some of these issues. There is still hope to restore our Council operations, but I am working to make sure my Fall Recruiting Roundup is ready to go with a process to recruit and signup new Scouts this Fall. My School recruiting is already set for 7 August and so I have to find a way to signup new Scouts! My fallback position is that we will just use the normal online BeAScout process and it just costs more money from our new Scout families? The higher cost may limit some of our recruiting. I know my BeAScout Unit Pin information is already up and running at the full price.
Thank you for your response.
David Skinner
Cubmaster, Pack 34 Eatonton GA 31024
Hello Mr McNeil.
That’s why I asked the question. My fallback solution is to just use the normal BeAScout process and pay the full annual registration rate. This is a poor rural farming county and so the full price may limit some of my recruiting, but my position has always been that Scouting is worth the money. It actually costs less than baseball or other sports and yet does a lot of character building for more of the year than most sports.
That’s also why I really push the Scout Life magazine because it does a huge amount of good for kids of Scout age! They get something mailed to them personally and that creates esteem and value to each Scout.
I agree this issue of online Scout Reach registration is something that seems doable. Seems the Scout Reach units could be flagged at the National level and then the BeAScout Unit Pin process could flag a different fee schedule? But I’m a common sense person and not a programmer and I know the bigger issue is the financials to pay for programmer services.
I appreciate the information and if the full price online BeAScout process is all I have, then that’s where I’ll go for this year.
Yours in Scouting,
David Skinner
Cubmaster, Pack 34 Eatonton GA 31024
online is not so simple it seems - as some councils want to approve all applicants (or maybe they have to) - like my council pays all fees from an endowment but COR and even SE has to approve all Scout Apps. I do not see this happening any time soon.
Hello Mr. Hornak.
That’s kind of what we are thinking. But the timing is terrible since August is our back to school and prime time for recruiting for the next year and to have this kind of uncertainty cripples our ability to grow and recover from the covid disaster.
It just seems that National would step in and give some leadership to our area. In most organizations, if a certain level of management cannot solve a problem, it gets pushed up to higher management. In our case, the Council is struggling and so we as the units should push our issues to the next higher management - National? But National policy is to NOT work with volunteers?
Seems to be a paradox?
Thank you for your information. I really appreciate the insight and hopefully, I’ll have a successful recruiting season and Council will get sorted out by our Recharter time in January?
Yours in Scouting,
David Skinner
Cubmaster, Pack 34 Eatonton GA 31024
@CharlesSkinner
Keep in mind, the BSA is setup as a franchise model. The local Councils do not report to the National Council. Each Council is an independent corporation with its own board and own management. There is no staff above the Council Scout Executive as this individual reports to the Council’s Board of Directors, not to anyone in Irving, TX.
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Hello D’Advignon. That is VERY informative. Thank you for that insight.
Yours in Scouting,
David Skinner
Cubmaster, Pack 34 Eatonton GA 31024
The reason why Scoutreach is not online registration is so that youth and adult membership can be managed under council leadership within a council budget. National BSA has put restrictions on Scoutreach membership where it is council managed, and not set up like traditional chartered organization managed units. As mentioned above, National is surely aware of this situation of the non-functioning council. In the meantime, you will need to use paper applications if your unit is going to continue as a Scoutreach unit. Phone one or more of the neighboring council(s) to find out if they have been asked to handle your community’s units either temporarily or ongoing.
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Thanks for the answer. That actually is kind of what I thought, that someone was paying the difference and it was probably the Council. So without a functioning Council, the program goes away until we can get it back to operation. I have passed my issues up to our Council Board through my unit commissioner and for the time being, we will proceed without the Scout Reach discount and see what happens.
Yours in Scouting,
David Skinner
Cubmaster, Pack 34 Eatonton GA 31024
