Unit Rechartering

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Unit Rechartering
David Mitchko Mercer Area District Commissioner
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Why Recharter?

• The BSA is unique in that it does not own or
  operate Scouting units. It grants charters to
  community organizations that adopt the program
  and operate units.
• Its like a franchise, and commissioners help
  renew the annual franchise agreement, which is
  between the BSA and the CO.
• The ownership belongs to other community
  organization or groups such as churches,
  Schools/PTAs/Home School Organizations, Service
  Clubs and Businesses and labor unions
• Rechartering is the only means the BSA has of
  keeping track of who is no longer a registered
  member - youth or adult.

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When Should Units Recharter?

• Before the charter date, which is the date of
  expiration
• All unit charters expire on December 31st, the
  end of the calendar year
• To avoid the busy holiday period towards the end
  of the year, units should look submit their
  rechartering paperwork by December 4th,, at the
  Charterama
• Units late in rechartering run the risk of
  losing insurance coverage and having their
  charters lapse.
• If a units Charter lapses, none of its
  paperwork will be processed by Council Office.

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How to Recharter Your Unit Step 1

• Assign someone to be responsible for rechartering
  your unit (Rechartering Chair).
• This should be a reliable committee member or
  even a parent. This person should be good with
  computers, because part of the process is done
  online. Give your unit leader a break and assign
  someone else to do this job! It would be a good
  idea for this person to get familiar with the
  online rechartering process by taking the
  tutorial on our Councils web site.
• If nobody is given the job to do something, then
  nobody does it!

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How to Recharter Your Unit Step 2

• Receive your Charter Packet and review the
  instructions in it.
• You cant recharter without this packet. It
  contains the user name and password, which your
  Rechartering Chair should use to access the
  rechartering web site. It will have other forms
  in it that your unit should fill out and submit
  to Council. It will also have hard copies of the
  Charter Agreement, but this can be printed
  on-line.
• Most of your questions about rechartering are
  answered by the instructions in this packet .

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How to Recharter Your Unit Step 3

• Find out who is staying in your unit and who to
  drop (Membership Inventory)
• Call, email or ask each scouts family if they
  wish to continue with scouting. Now is a good
  time to ask the parents of the boy who you
  havent seen in a while. Perhaps they have had a
  prolonged illness or got involved with sports for
  that period? Some units collect their yearly
  dues at rechartering time. That way, the dues
  payment confirms that they are staying with the
  program.
• Now would also be a good time to check which
  adults need the mandatory Youth Protection
  Training. This training is available online via
  the MyScouting web site. If Council Office does
  not have proof that an adult leader has completed
  this training within the last two years, you will
  need to attach the printed training certificate
  for that person to the rechartering paperwork.
  All registered adults must be Youth Protection
  trained or they will not be allowed to recharter
  with your unit.

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How to Recharter Your Unit Step 4

• Meet with your Chartering Organization Head (COH)
• This is the person who will sign your
  rechartering paperwork, once you have completed
  the online process and printed it out. Now would
  be a good time to thank your Chartering
  Organization for all that they do for your unit.
  Talk about what your unit accomplished last year
  and the plans for the coming year. Let your COH
  know that you will need to meet some time in the
  future to get the signatures for the Charter
  Renewal Application and Charter Agreement.
• Technically, the Charter Agreement is between the
  COH and the BSA. Shouldnt they be aware of what
  is going on with the unit that they have agreed
  to sponsor?

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How to Recharter Your Unit Step 5

• The Rechartering Chair completes the online
  portion of the process
• Using the updated unit roster, verified by the
  membership inventory, the Rechartering Chair logs
  onto the Council Internet Rechartering website
  and goes through the process. Drop the people
  who are no longer members of your unit. Any
  members added online must have an application for
  that person attached to the rechartering
  paperwork. This must be done even if you have
  already submitted an application for them
  beforehand - simply make a copy of your copy of
  their application and attach that to the
  paperwork. When in doubt - attach a copy! The
  same goes for a boy scout in your unit who aged
  out and is switched online to an adult leader -
  an Adult Application must be submitted for that
  person. If a boy dropped out last year and has
  since rejoined, an Youth Application must be
  attached, if you add this scout to the online
  roster. You can go back and make any needed
  changes to the online roster, as long as you
  havent clicked on the SUBMIT button.
• You must click on the SUBMIT button in order to
  complete the online process. Once you do this,
  you cannot make any more changes to your online
  roster. Any paperwork printed out before
  clicking SUBMIT is preliminary and must not be
  used.
• Completing the online process does not mean your
  unit has been rechartered! You must print out
  paper copies, get them signed and submit all the
  rechartering paperwork to Council Office.

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How to Recharter Your Unit Step 6

• Print out your Charter Renewal Application and
  Charter Agreement and get them signed
• After you have completed the online process and
  have clicked on the SUBMIT button, print out
  the Charter Renewal Application and the Charter
  Agreement. The Unit Leader signs the Charter
  Renewal Application for Unit Leader
  Certification. Chartering Organization Head
  signs the Charter Renewal Application for
  Executive Officer Certification and the Charter
  Agreement For the Chartered Organization. Be
  aware that the rechartering fee as printed on
  your Renewal Application is missing the Council
  per-person insurance charge.
• If you have done Step 4 above, getting the
  signatures from you COH should be easy.

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How to Recharter Your Unit Step 7

• Check your rechartering paperwork before handing
  it in
• Do you have all the needed signatures? Have you
  attached originals or copies of applications for
  people added to the online roster? Are these
  applications completely filled out and do they
  have all the required signatures? For adult
  applications is the Disclosure/Authorization
  form (page 4 of the application) filled out and
  signed? Have you attached a Youth Protection
  Training Certificate for each registered adult
  (as needed) as proof that their training is
  current? How are you going to pay the
  rechartering fee to Council Office? If by unit
  check, do not fill in the amount yet - wait to
  get the final number when you are at Council
  Office - there is an additional Council insurance
  charge that needs to be added to your total
  rechartering fee.

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How to Recharter Your Unit Step 8

• Deliver the rechartering paperwork to your
  District Executive (DE) at Council Office
• If you have done all the other steps, this should
  be an easy task. Your DE will check the
  paperwork, give you the final number for the
  rechartering fee and then sign the paperwork as
  needed.
• If your paperwork is ready before December 4th,
  then plan on handing it in at the Charterama.
• ( If your paperwork is not completed by December
  4th)
• Congratulations! Your unit is now officially
  rechartered for the new year.

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Rechartering Timeline

• The timeline suggests when certain steps should
  be accomplished.
• It also list who provides which signatures for
  the rechartering paperwork
• The goal of this Timeline is to get everything
  done by December 4th, so the rechartering
  paperwork can be handed in at the Charterama.
• Please visit the Districts Unit Help web page to
  download a copy of this timeline.

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Pitfalls in the Process

• The Unit Leaders are not aware of the process,
  that their charter expires and when it expires
• Chartering package is not complete
• Missing signatures
• Missing check
• Missing adult applications and Youth Protection
  Training Certificates
• Starting the process too late
• It takes time to contact all the unit members and
  get their commitment for renewal, which may be in
  the form of a check
• The renewal processor needs time to get trained
  if needed and to input the data online once all
  the commitments have been made
• It may take some time to get the signatures from
  the Executive Officer of the Chartering
  Organization

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Pitfalls in the Process

• Unit Leaders not aware that membership
  applications are needed for new members on the
  Charter
• Applications must be completely filled out and
  signed
• Needed for any youth or adult who is not
  currently on the charter, but was added during
  the online process
• Priority should be given to youth applications
  and adults who need to be on the roster in order
  for the unit to recharter
• No one in the unit is assigned the job of
  processing the charter, or this person is not
  trained and does not know how to do it.
• The unavailability of key people in the process -
  someone going out of town for a month, for
  example

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Things You Can Do As a Leader

• Be sure that you are aware of the process and how
  long it could take
• Establish a time line similar to that of the
  official process
• Be aware of the pitfalls in the process
• Assign someone as the renewal processer and that
  this person is trained and properly motivated
• Focus only on the paperwork needed to recharter
  and not on anything else that may have come with
  the packet

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In Conclusion

• Start working now to ensure on-time renewal of
  your charter.
• Be one step ahead.
• Seek advice and counsel from your Unit
  Commissioner about the process, especially if you
  are unfamiliar with it.
• Assign someone to do your rechartering online.
• Meet with your Unit Commissioner during the key
  steps
• Keep on top of the process know what should be
  happening and when.
• Plan on handing in your rechartering paperwork at
  the December 4th Charterama.