Membership Retention

What we can do about membership decline

By Scouter Liam Morland, November 5, 2002

Membership decline has been a problem for Scouts Canada for over three decades, but what can we do about it? I visited many Scout troops to find out. I found that amid membership decline are many successful troops with healthy and growing membership. This essay examines what makes these troops successful so that we can follow their lead. Topics include the role of badges, outdoor activities, giving responsibility to the Scouts, and the Scout uniform. This essay was written as part of fulfilling my degree requirements at the University of Waterloo.

I presented the paper at the 2007 World Scout Scientific Congress in Geneva.

• Read the paper as published by the World Organization of the Scout Movement (PDF)

Original Version

• Read the document (HTML)
• Print the document on Letter paper (PDF)
• Print the document on A4 paper (PDF)