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Cub Scout Recruiting Resources
GOOD NEWS! We have already created a plan to help you recruit more Scouts. Click here to get it.
Your district membership team is also standing by to help make your pack’s recruiting campaign successful. Check in with your District Executive or District Commissioner (find their contact information from your district’s listing on this page of our site) to get connected.
Recruiting materials:
> Flyers, yard signs, and posters are available! Ask your District Executive how to get these materials for your pack.
> Want to print more on your own?
> Want a video customized for your pack’s Join Scouting Night like this?
- To get your video, organize a recruiting event at the school your pack serves then submit the details in your flyer order to your District Executive. We’ll use the information you submit to produce the video and email you a link to download.
- How can you use this video? Ideas:
- Post it on your neighborhood’s NextDoor or Facebook group, inviting families to attend and join
- Ask your charter partner is they would post it on their Facebook page (or other social account)
- Ask your school if they would run it on their in-house TVs during morning announcements
- Post it on the Facebook group for families/community members of your school, inviting families to attend and join
- Ask your families to post on their personal social media accounts and invite friends/neighbors to attend and join
> Want an image to post on social media? Here’s one that matches our recruiting flyer; it’s specifically sized for Facebook and Instagram. Here’s an image sized for Nextdoor. Want more choices? Here are options created by BSA.
Ideas to promote your Join Scout Night
Scout Talks
Have a parent in your pack visit school (get permission from the Principal first) and conduct a 3-5 minute “Scout Talk.” This is a chance to quickly talk about the fun stuff your Cub Scout Pack does all year long. Your goal is to motivate kids to bring the Sign Up Night flyer home and show their parents.
"Boost" on Facebook
Create a Facebook event on your pack’s Facebook account and “boost” the event for two weeks before the date of your Sign Up Night. Set a radius of a few miles around the address of the Sign Up Night location so that whenever a Facebook user enters that distance around the location, your event will pop up in their Facebook timeline. Don’t spend more than $1 a day in budget (you can spend more if you wish, but it’s not necessary). If your school and/or school’s PTA/PTO have a Facebook account, ask if they will agree to co-host the event on Facebook; doing so will increase your event’s reach (meaning more Facebook users will see it). See this document from BSA’s marketing team for more on how to do this.
Promote on Nextdoor
Make sure everyone in your community on Nextdoor knows about your recruiting event (and other events throughout the rest of the year). Just like Facebook, you’ll need to sign up to join the platform. Unlike Facebook, you need to live in the neighborhood whose account you’re trying to access. Once you’re signed up, the process of posting about your JSN event isn’t hard; here’s a short checklist that will help you get started.
Afterschool outreach
On the day before your Sign Up Night, have parent volunteers from your pack pass out stickers to children as they get on the bus to go home. The stickers should have information about the pack Sign Up Night. If your school won’t let you set up near the bus area, stand by your recruiting yard signs or a tent/shelter and offer stickers to students/families as they walk home or walk to their car. If a family is interested, take some time to talk with them briefly about why your family enjoys Cub Scouting and personally invite them to the Sign Up Night.
Wear your uniform to school
Have your Cub Scouts all wear their uniform to school on an agreed-upon day before your Sign Up Night. Give your Scouts a business card-sized “buddy card” that they can give to a friend as a way of personally inviting them (sense a theme here?) to the Sign Up Night.
Use the school directory
Use contact information from your school directory to email each family with a personal invitation to your pack’s Sign Up Night. Include some kind of personal testimonial/message about how Cub Scouting has benefited your child and family. This is especially important for Kindergarten and First Grade students, who might not be as involved in other activities yet. Attach your Sign Up Night flyer.
Facebook Messenger
Similar to the email idea, utilize Facebook Messenger to send a personal invitation to parents to attend your Sign Up Night. Messenger lets you send a note through Facebook to anyone, even if you are not “friends” on Facebook. You’ll need to exercise some judgement as it may be impossible to know which of the 50 John Browns that turn up in your search is the John Brown who is a parent at your school. In that case, you might just omit them from this effort. But, there will likely be enough unique names for you to utilize this idea. Include an image of your Sign Up Night flyer and/or the URL for your pack website or Facebook account with your message to reinforce that you’re legit.
National resources:
- The Boy Scouts of America has created a web page with updated recruiting resources, including past webinars discussing Join Scouting Night ideas, a social media planning calendar, BeAScout.org support, and more. See all that and more at scouting.org/recruitment.
- You can also find logos, images, and promotional materials on BSA’s Brand Center page for Cub Scouts.
- Want even more help? Here’s a recruiting marketing plan created by the national Boy Scouts of America.