Scout Executive's Minute

May and June 2012

Merging two Councils

Most council mergers are out of necessity. One council is unable to financially or programmatically serve the youth in their territory. The potential merger of the Mt. Diablo Silverado Council and the San Francisco Bay Area council should be compared to the merger of the Minneapolis and St. Paul councils, six years ago.  These two very good councils decided that combining resources for the same function, providing a quality Scouting program to a growing number of youth made good sense.

We are not so naïve that there won’t be bumps in our road to merging the bay area councils together. We know that there are risks in any major change, but the potential grow in our activities, camps, youth and adult training opportunities and volunteer resources are very appealing.

The reduction of administration in the merger will provide greater opportunities for expanded field and development staff to provide the resources to expand into new areas and further develop existing Scouting programs.

Remember the bottom line is making a quality Scouting program available every youth in our area.
Below is a brief Pros and Cons of this potential merger.

The Pros and Cons of merging the two councils in brief terms:

Pros

•More program opportunities for all Scouting units: overlaying program calendars produced few conflicts.
•More professional support – additional district executives will be hired to ensure that each district has its own dedicated professional to support the district and its units.
•Two service centers (Pleasant Hill & San Leandro) to service the needs of scouts, parents, scouters and the community
•Expanded training opportunities for youth and adult leadership
•Expanded Cub Scout resident camp, Boy Scout summer camp opportunities.  In-Council rates to all six (6) council camps.
•More credibility (24,000 youth vs. 10,000 or 14,000) in our community with potential donors or partners.
•Pooling of fundraising resources to eliminate overlap and expand the existing programs throughout the six counties.
•Opportunity for council committees to explore best practices of each council and develop new and innovative programs.
•Opportunity to streamline professional staff – minimizing unnecessary layers of management
•Combined council will have significantly stronger operating, capital and endowment financial position to ensure improved program delivery, enhanced camp and facility maintenance/improvement, and long term council financial sustainability.

  
Cons  

•Fear of change - Uncertainty as to what the future may bring.
•Challenge of integrating councils & committees – philosophical, geographical, and personality differences.  Overcoming egos or stubbornness that may exist. Everyone will need to conduct themselves in a scout-like manner (as the POMC has done).
•The current council names of both councils will go away.
•Volunteers may need to travel greater distances to participate at the Council-level.   
•Some volunteers may see this merger as an opportunity to step back from their Scouting role at the council level. They could become more active at the unit or district level, or they might quit scouting entirely.
•Risk that proposed efforts to increase fundraising will not succeed.  The post-merger window of opportunity to reverse the downward revenue trend is very short (4 years).  A shorter window, however, exists for each council if the merger is not completed.    
•The new council will need to be fiscally and administratively disciplined to ensure all financial advantages are realized.

Below is an email sent out by the Plan of Merger Committee:

Plan of Merger

Dear Scouters and Friends of Scouting,

As you may know or have heard, for some time now, a special committee called the Plan of Merger (POM) Committee has been diligently working to consider and discuss the possibility of a merger between the San Francisco Bay Area Council and the Mt. Diablo Silverado Council.  Just this afternoon, the official notice concerning the POM Committees’ completed recommendations was forwarded to the Executive Boards of both Councils for their review prior to the upcoming May 16 Board meeting.  

We invite you to see and read all of their recommendations as well.  Please visit our merger website here:  http://boyscoutmerger.org/   Then browse to the new page link in the banner at the top of the home page: Recommendations of the Plan of Merger Committee.  From there you will be able to read a letter written by our Council Presidents; you will also see brief descriptions of (4) four different documents related to the merger work of the POM Committee.  As always, if you have a question about any of the material please ask your question here:  askBSA@boyscoutmerger.org    Additionally, if you would be so kind…please forward this message to your own private Scouting group so that all interested persons will have an opportunity to learn about these exciting happenings.

Sincerely,

The Plan of Merger Committee

If you have further questions or concerns visit the MDSC & SFBAC merger website by clicking HERE.

John Fenoglio
Scout Executive, Mt. Diablo Silverado Council