How to Prepare for Your 2020 FOS Campaign Before Year End

Article contributed by David Rico “Rico,” Southern Region Membership Growth Coach at the National Service Center.

What can you do to get ready for your 2020 Friends of Scouting (FOS) campaign before year-end? As we get through the big wave of fall membership, we need to think with the end of the year in mind. Read below for 6 important steps to take as you wrap up your 2019 membership campaign.

1-   Follow up with interested families who were unable to attend the Join Scouting Night.

2-   Follow up with units that need a second recruiting event to meet their membership goals and complete all Joining Night events.

3-   Consider membership inventories. Unit leaders and Unit Commissioners need to work in collaboration with local units to guarantee all youth applications have been processed. Conduct inventories twice a year (once in October and once in April).

4-   Take event/activity inventories into account, too. With the collaboration of the program staff, review attendance sheets to ensure youth who attended the different district/council events or activities completed registration.

5-   Utilize BeAScout! BeAScout.org provides 24/7 resources for interested parents to find local Scouting programs and apply online. Ensure that all applications are approved and completed.

6-   “One-monthers” – As part of your re-charter renewal process, make sure you gather the applications of new youth with a payment for one month (this applies for those units that re-charter in December). For example, if a youth joins in December, they must pay one full year plus a month.

What can you do to get ready for your 2020 FOS campaign before year-end? Here are a few things you can do:

1-   Evaluate 2019 FOS campaign. Determine areas of success and opportunity. Share your findings with district-level volunteers.

2-   Identify and recruit 2020 Finance Chair.

3-   Identify and recruit 2020 Family FOS Chair.

4-   Identify and recruit 2020 Community Chair.

5-   Focus on Elements of a Successful FOS Campaign, and use the FOS resources from Scouting.org. 

Do you have any additional tips you might add? Let us know in the comments below.

Scouting Wire would like to thank Rico for submitting this article.