NEW DBC LOGO
Join Scout Night Newsletter Volume 2
Join Scout Night Newsletter
Parent Landing Page Last Call!
In order to make your Pack's flyer the best it can be, please complete the survey for the Parent Landing Page today. We need a completed survey in order to create a unique website for your Pack and to generate a QR code to be put on your flyers.

Even if there are some items that are not determined yet, please at least make sure to complete everything you are able to including your Pack's fees.
Setting your Join Scout Night Details
If you haven't done so already, please connect with your District Executive with your Sign-Up Night details (date/time/location/contact person). It is very important to do this now so they are able to help with advertising the event by preparing and printing flyers, stickers, creating Facebook events that will have location sensitive advertising and so they can coordinate promotions at elementary schools.
Prepare Your Pack Info Sheet & Calendar & Program Plan
By now, your Pack should have held it's annual program planning workshop. It's time to prepare your Pack Information handout that can be passed out at Sign-Up Night. Make sure to the answers to FAQs new parents will be asking like contact person for their den, meeting night and location, what do the fees cover, etc.

A great tip is to keep this to a single page handout with Pack info on one side and calendar on the reverse side. For templates, check out the Volunteer Leader Info page at http://www.gocubscouts.com/volunteer-leader-info/.
How to Handle Fees & Financial Assistance
One frequent question received from Packs preparing for Sign-Up Night is about how to handle their fees this year.

As most of you know by know, the Boy Scouts of America National Council increased fees which took effect on August 1st (announced in June). This includes the 1x joining fee for new program participants. For more details and FAQs click here. Just a side note, the $5.50 insurance fee from Dan Beard Council remains the same and is only paid at the time of recharter.

The vast majority of Cub Scout Packs ask for payment that covers Pack dues and BSA registration for the remainder of the calendar year (thru December 31, 2021) AND the following year, so you don't have to collect additional $ at reacharter time. This covers the Scouting year with BSA which typically follows the school year plus summer activities, then collect dues again in the fall. With an increase in BSA registration including the 1x joining fee, there may be some sticker shock of the cost of Scouting compared to previous years.

The FAQs form the national BSA are often going to be more for current members/parents rather than brand new recruits, meaning that our current families will want to know and see why there is an increase in fees. New recruits will not know there is a difference this year compared to previous years. Scouting is STILL a great value, especially when you compare to the cost of other extra curricular activities/sports in your community (mostly for just a season, not year round).

So here are some strategies for your JSN for fees. Most important is to set your annual dues for your Pack ahead of time. At the JSN, give new recruits multiple payment options:
  1. Ask for full payment of dues (cover remainder of 2021 and 2022).
  2. Ask for payment to cover BSA registration at the initial signup. See breakdown of prorated fees here. Let them know the balance for your annual dues are due at an October meeting (Pack or Den).
  3. And lastly, let them know there are opportunities to help pay their way through fundraisers like the Popcorn or Camp Card sale AND Financial Assistance available from Dan Beard Council funded through Friends of Scouting (see your District Executive for a Financial Assistance form).
Families who come to a Sign-Up Night anticipate a cost when the come to the event. "Be prepared' with options that will work for the vast majority of families and be ready to share fundraising opportunities so they can help pay their way and how to request Financial Assistance if needed.
Join Scout Night Blitz Day

By now, hopefully your Pack has set your initial Sign-Up Night date and started sharing that opportunity with prospective new families.

Back in July, you attend the Join Scout Night Training as well as picked up your materials which included yard signs, posters and more.

One of the best strategies to get those materials out of your car or sitting next to your desk (or wherever you stashed them for the last month), is to set a 'Blitz Day' with some help from other leaders/parents in your Pack! Your spouse will want those JSN resources out of your house and in the community even more than you do!

If you are anything like me, you get more work accomplished when you can get together with a couple other parents/leaders in your Pack to punch out things on your 'to-do list'. Schedule a couple of hours with some helpers to use that thick marker and write your JSN details on the yard signs and posters, strategically place them around your community. Great places to put them are at the school(s) you will be recruiting from, your charter organization, near entrances to populated communities with lots of kids, in the town square and intersections where people will be stopped (not driving by at 40 mph).

Make sure you blitz day is at least 2 weeks before your JSN so it gets the visibility in your community to drive attendance to your signup. So if you haven't already, get that 'Blitz Day' in your calendar and have some fun while you are at it!
SCOUTING. DEVELOPING THE LEADER WITHIN.
The Boy Scouts of America, Dan Beard Council is a proud United Way Agency Partner