Scouting--September 1998

The Strategic Plan 1998-2002: A Summary

The new National Strategic Plan--"strong values, strong leaders, character counts"--represents input from thousands of individuals at council, region, and national levels.

Its clear vision and mission statements and focus on five critical issues and strategies will enable Scouting to continue to be America's premier youth-serving movement and the program of choice for the young people of tomorrow.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.

Vision Statement

The Boy Scouts of America is the nation's foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training.
In the future Scouting will continue to

offer young people responsible fun and adventure;
instill in young people lifetime values and develop in them ethical character as expressed in the Scout Oath and Law;
train young people in citizenship, service, and leadership;
serve America's communities and families with its quality, values-based program.

Critical Issues and Strategies

The National Strategic Plan calls for special attention to five critical issues and strategies:

Leadership

Select effective leaders at all levels who represent Scouting's values and understand its vision. Increase unit-serving executives by 7.1 percent between 1998 and 2002. (Experience has shown that one unit-serving executive will add 50 units, 350 volunteers, and 1,100 youth members.)

Total Financial Development

Strengthen financing of local councils by focusing on a "total finance umbrella" that includes operation, capital, and endowment funds.

Traditional Unit and Membership Growth

Growth comes from both recruiting new members and retaining current members.

The plan calls for increasing the number of youth joining for the first time through

an increase in the number of traditional units.
a nationally coordinated Cub Scout recruiting plan.
improved relationships with the educational community to increase access to young people.
enriched urban and rural programs to reach more youth in hard-to-serve areas.
an exciting new Venturing program for high school-age youth.
increased sales skills of unit-serving executives.

The membership retention rate will be improved through increased

training opportunities for leaders.

camping opportunities for Cub Scouts.

high adventure opportunities for older youth.

number of unit commissioners.

Marketing

Effectively maximize local and national resources to regularly communicate Scouting's program of character education and leadership development to target audiences of youth, parents, the general public, donors, and chartered organizations.

Strategies include two-year national umbrella marketing programs coordinating local and national themes and relationship initiatives, and public service announcements and research projects that address Scouting's "value and values" message.

Endowment Emphasis and Stewardship

Continue to support and expand the highly successful Nationally Coordinated Campaign for Local Council Endowment begun under the previous strategic plan. (At the end of 1997 more than $1 billion in current and deferred gifts had been identified. Projections through 2002 call for actual and deferred endowment funds to exceed $2.3 billion.)

Special Programs to Meet Community And Council Needs

Additional leadership and resources will be provided to these programs for use by councils and communities to improve local efforts and meet specific needs:

The Urban Emphasis and the Rural Emphasis programs, with special leadership by the new Scoutreach Division.
The award-winning "Drugs: A Deadly Game" program, to be revised and made available for councils, schools, and other organizations.
An improved Learning for Life program, ready to become a major force in character education in school systems throughout America, and its new school-to-careers program linking high school/middle school Learning for Life and Exploring.
ScoutNET 2000, a wide area network to provide an electronic communication connection between local council, regional, and national office locations.
A nationally coordinated 90th anniversary of the BSA in February 2000.
America's Promise-Scouting's commitment to the Presidents' Summit for America's Future of 12 hours community service per youth member through the year 2000, coordinated by local lodges of the Order of the Arrow.
the new Venturing program for girls and boys, ages 14 through 20.
The National Boy Scouts of America Foundation, a convenient and effective way for donors to provide a wide variety of gifts and gift vehicles to benefit local councils and specific programs and entities.

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