Initial Success of Orange County Council’s Recruiting Plan

Sometimes identifying new unit opportunities can come from the likeliest of places (like a quick phone call). That’s what the Orange County Council found when they launched their new recruiting plan in January. Let the council’s story inspire your team. Then, identify a few of these strategies you can implement in your council.

New Leadership Brings New Opportunities

First, the council’s board decided to create and fund a new Strategic Alliances staff position, filled by Marty Cutrone. Marty established a targeted collaboration strategy, involving faith-based organizations. Facilitating training for volunteers and employees on how to encourage new charter organizations, Marty prepped the council staff for a two-week push to contact faith-based organizations. The results from the first day alone were incredible.

The field staff made 70 visits to organizations (25 were prescheduled meetings and 45 were cold-call visits). The council made new alliances to the sum of 22 new unit commitments and 53 follow up meetings.

Here are a few other highlights from the first day of the Orange County Council’s initiative to work with more faith-based organizations:

• One organization wanted a unit ASAP! The team there requested a May 6 recruitment night.
• One potential partner excitedly gave the council team a tour of their school and committed to a new unit. This school opened the door for staff to find a lead in another charter school in the area.
• Two cold calls resulted in identifying churches that wanted units.

OC Council’s Recruiting Plan Moving Forward

While the first day of the initiative proved to be a smashing success, the efforts of the Orange County Council are just beginning. As seen in their initial efforts, many organizations are eager to host units but haven’t been approached.

Orange County Council Deputy Scout Executive Danny Tucker explained in a letter to the recruitment team, “This is just the tip of the iceberg.  Our staff is committed to making the follow up calls and reaching out each month to even more organizations throughout the year.”

Join us in congratulating the council and wishing them luck as they continue to strive to grow.

Now tell us: does your council have a strategy similar to the Orange County Council? What do you think made their efforts so successful?