A Message From Our Leadership

May 2008

Collectively the 58 councils in the Western Region had an outstanding year in 2007 as demonstrated by a 22 percent increase in the number of Quality Councils over 2006. The Centennial Quality Award recognition was earned by 44 of our councils, all six of our areas and the Western Region.

In the spring of 2007 the region provided leadership and focus to the organization of new Scouting units by conducting ten cluster meetings for virtually all commissioned professional Scouters. An outstanding session on “successfully making structured sales calls” was provided as well as opportunities for regional and national staff members to ride along with youth-serving executives and make calls on potential chartered partners during a new unit blitz campaign. The year-end accomplishments of this focused approach resulted in a gain of 244 new traditional units, with the region leading the nation in unit growth in Cub Scout Packs, Boy Scout Troops, Venturing Crews, Explorer Posts and Learning for Life Groups. Areas five, four, and one ended 2007 in first, second and third place nationally, of all areas in traditional unit growth.

When coupled with the 2006 focus of customer service and membership retention, the new unit focus in 2007 positioned the councils of the Western Region to lead the nation in rechartered units with 91.1 percent, over the national average of 87.3 percent; youth member retention of 73.6 percent, up .7 percent over 2006 and 4.7 percent above the national average of 68.9 percent; and, a growth in traditional membership.

Financially, the councils of the Western Region ended with a combined operating surplus of $1.89 million in 2007, up from less than a half a million in 2006, positioning themselves as financially sustainable organizations. The number of councils with operating surpluses increased from 42 in 2006 to 51 of our 58 councils in 2007, a 21 percent increase. Collectively, councils raised 5 percent more in Friends of Scouting and 5 percent more in camping revenues, resulting in an overall 4 percent increase in total support and revenues totaling $151,602,149. This increase in financial stability has allowed our councils to increase the number of unit-serving executives by six percent or 25 additional executives in 2007.

As we begin the celebrations for the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America, the councils of the Western Region are prepared to not only reflect on the accomplishments of the past, but more importantly they have positioned themselves to enthusiastically meet the demands and challenges of the next 100 years. We can all be proud of the outstanding councils of the Western Region. We are.

Stephen G. Hanks
Western Region President

Thomas Fitzgibbon
Western Region Director