Did You Know Scout Units Expire? Here’s 5 Tips to Stop That From Happening

Calling all commissioners! Annual unit charter renewals are upon us and now is the time to take action to ensure that 100% of renewals are completed on time, with no lapsed or dropped units.

Charter partner organizations must renew their unit charters annually. New units may initially register for a time period of as short as 6 months or as long as 18 months in order to stay with the council’s current recharter period. Continue reading for the 5 tips and timeline you need to renew your unit charter.

1. Be Timely.

Check out the timeline (you can save this on your desktop as a reminder or print it!) and details below to guide you through your deadlines before the unit expiration date.

• 90 days: The district executive or his delegate visits the head of the charter institution to review and renew the Council/Chartered Organization Responsibilities.
• 60 days: The commissioner meets with the unit committee to complete the Membership Inventory. The goal is to retain members and plan to recruit new members so the unit will renew the charter with no decrease in active membership. This is a good time to remind unit leaders to renew their Youth Protection Training and update Position Specific Training for all adult members.
• 60 to 45 days: The unit appoints an adult to complete the online renewal process using Internet Rechartering, which is accessed through the council website and requires the access code provided in the renewal packet. The unit commissioner should communicate with that adult to discuss the advantages of using Internet Rechartering and make them aware of available online resources on using Internet Rechartering such as the Internet Recharter Tutorial and the Internet Recharter Help System.
• 45 days: The commissioner conducts the Charter Renewal Meeting with the unit leaders and the chartered partner organization institutional head and COR. At this meeting the printed charter application is reviewed and checked for accuracy, fees are figured, the roster is verified and signed by the unit leader and the institutional head of the organization. Include renewal of Boys’ Life magazine subscriptions for every family in the unit. Plans are set to submit the completed charter renewal application and fees. This is an excellent venue to review the unit’s progress and status on meeting Journey to Excellence benchmarks using the JTE unit scorecard. The JTE scorecard is due to the Council at the end of the calendar year.
• 30 to 15 days: Complete the renewal process by turning in the signed charter renewal application paperwork with the necessary fees. This may be done at a special charter turn-in event, council service center, a roundtable, or by the commissioner.

2. Make It Easy.

The charter renewal process should be presented and conducted as a simple practice without added projects or paperwork required of the unit. Commissioners must be aware of anything that can impede or delay the process and must be ready to take action to assure success.

3. Conduct a Charter Presentation Ceremony.

Thirty to 60 days following the charter renewal, the commissioner should find an opportunity to celebrate the renewal of the charter certificate that could be formally presented to the charter partner organization with members of the unit present. Draw attention to the sample ceremony included in the Fieldbook. Membership cards for all adult and youth members may be mailed directly to the unit leader by the registrar.

4. Identify Problems.

The commissioner must identify any issue causing a delay in this process and take quick action to prevent a drop of the unit’s charter. The district executive must be informed and contact made with the charter partner organization to bring a speedy resolution.

5. Take Action!

And don’t forget, if the charter is not renewed on time, the unit may not meet, members are not covered by insurance, youth cannot participate in events or activities, and youth cannot advance in rank or access Scoutbook so make sure you take these steps to ensure a successful renewal.

Have questions or need further assistance? Please reach out to Steve Sawyer at Steve.Sawyer@Scouting.org.