Important Changes to Fall 2024 Registration
We would like to provide you with new updates to our 2024–2025 registration process.
You’ve Asked … We’ve Listened
Your feedback on the existing Registration process and membership fees has been invaluable. We want to thank our Council Voting Representatives, Council Commissioners, Youth Commissioners, and Volunteers across Canada for engaging in these important conversations. Your feedback and contributions have been immensely valuable in guiding our decision-making process.
Improvements to the 2024/2025 Registration Process
In response, we are sharing enhancements and improvements we have made to the 2024/2025 registration process.
Here's what's new:
- Longer renewal opportunities for youth returning to our programs, from August 1st to September 7th.
- Decreased wait times to register with dedicated times where members will have priority access,
- Regional windows where new youth can register by province
- Extended trial periods for youth to try Scouting before they join and,
- Hardware upgrades for the MyScouts.ca system.
We know this doesn’t go far enough. Our digital tools need significant investment, and our approach to how families register has been fundamentally revised. But we’re grateful to the volunteers who have helped co-design the limited improvements we can make, and we’ll be asking for feedback on whether they worked or not come winter.
Membership Fees
Earlier this year, we surveyed our members about our membership fee. We used this budgets across the organization to achieve financial stability by Fiscal Year 2026/2027. This is a goal the organization will need to achieve so we are no longer running deficits as we have been for many years now.
Having explored the prospect with Council Voting Representatives and Council Key Threes at the 2023 Annual General Meeting, effective August 1st, our membership fee will increase to $270. This fee increase ensures the sustainability and growth of our Scouting community. Despite the increase, we remain committed to affordability, and any future adjustments will be based on inflation.
Investing in our future is critical to the long-term sustainability of our Scouts Canada. Simply cutting budgets will, in the long term, help no one. We know that serious investment is needed in digital transformation, the volunteer journey and making program planning easier. Foremost among these initiatives is a replacement for MyScouts, to improve registrations, accessibility and training.
Shortly, we will begin co-creating a new strategic plan for Scouts Canada, and we will rely on your experience and expertise to make sure that plan can help us reach hundreds of thousands of young people in the years to come.
Group Fund Allocation
Understanding the fiscal challenges facing our groups, the funds that local groups receive per youth will increase 66% from $15 to $25. We know that groups are at the core of Scouting, and we are committed to ensuring their success.
We also remain committed to The No One Left Behind (NOLB) subsidy program, ensuring greater access by removing financial barriers to our program. This embodies our commitment to ensure every youth who wants to can participate in the Scouting experience.
Increasing Trust and Transparency
We’ve heard that members don’t think we are transparent enough in how and why decisions are made nationally. We’re trying to change that. Our hope is that by sharing the research and co-design of these decisions is one small step towards doing so.
The Future
We appreciate these may feel like tough messages, but we are confident we have the right teams in place and the right plan to overcome this adversity. We know that local Scouting continues to recover from the past four years of adversity. Equally, it is recognized that by building a stronger frontline movement will provide the foundation needed to get us back to hundreds of thousands of members.
FAQ's
While we understand that any fee increase will raise questions, we want to assure you that this decision was made after careful consideration based on our commitment to the sustainability and growth of the Scouting community.
Here’s why this fee adjustment is necessary at this time:
Navigating Challenges: For the past five years, we have refrained from adjusting membership fees to provide relief and support to our members during the challenging time brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, to maintain the stability and sustainability of our organization, we need to implement a $40 increase per youth. The new fee will take effect on August 1, 2024. Rest assured, any future increases will be incremental, based on inflation/cost of living.
The stipend that local groups receive per youth will increase by 66% from $15 to $25.
Membership Engagement: Earlier this year, we surveyed current and potential members to gauge their perceptions regarding a membership fee increase. We used this feedback to make decisions that balance quality experiences with fiscal management.
Financial Stewardship: All departments have been working to streamline operations and reduce expenses. We have enacted a $2.8M reduction in annual net expenditures in Fiscal Year 2024 in comparison to Fiscal Year 2023, however, a price increase in membership fees is needed to meet our goal of having a balanced budget by Fiscal Year 2027.
Here is an overview of how membership fees are used to support our Scouting program.
Investment in the Future: We are exploring replacement options for MyScouts, our digital platform. This investment will make it easier for youth and volunteers to join Scouts and provide a better online training experience too. This upgrade will ensure efficient operations for everyone.
We recognize that every dollar counts. That’s why we are committed to ensuring that your membership fees are used effectively to provide the best possible Scouting experience for our youth members.
To optimize youth registration, we’re introducing a new streamlined process.
- Returning Youth can renew their youth between August 1st and September 7th
New Youth Registrations can register for Scouts Canada programs across three distinct regions in Canada.
- British Columbia & Alberta -September 8th – 14th
- Ontario -September 15 – 21st
- East Coast, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba (+ rest of Canada) September 22ndonwards
These changes are aimed at prioritizing efficiency and accessibility, ensuring smoother renewal and new enrollment for all youth. By extending a dedicated early window to our existing members, our hope is to reduce system demand during the busiest time of year.
Additionally, by dividing registrations into regions, we can better manage demand, reduce wait times, and provide a more personalized experience for new families.
Whether you’re in the East, West, or Central region, we are committed to making the registration process as seamless and convenient as possible.
Seeing is Believing but Experience is Better.
We recognize this is a big shift from how members have registered in the past. To encourage more accessibility to new members, we are doubling the amount of time youth can try Scouting before registering in the program.
If a group has available space, youth can now attend up to four meetings or one overnight camp for free before committing to register in the program. Please speak with your local volunteers for details or visit the Registration FAQ article in the Online Support Centre.
Our finances have shifted in the last few years, from a positive net income of $1.28 million, pre-pandemic to a projected deficit of -$5.72 million at the end of 2022/2023. Here is summary from the past 4 years
- FY23 (2022-2023) -$5.72M
- FY22 (2021-2022) -$4.74M
- FY21 (2020-2021) -$8.48M
- FY20 (2019-2020) $1.28M
No One Left Behind, our subsidy program, has seen a rise in utilization by approximately 12.4% this year..
The financial health of our properties also affects our financial stability.
Property Net Incomes:
- FY23 (2022-2023) -$1.56M
- FY22 (2021-2022) -$2.03M
- FY21 (2020-2021) -$1.44M
- FY20 (2019-2020) -$1.70M
Several factors to keep in mind that have contributed to this financial position:
Membership:
- Membership was larger (63K in 2015/16 and 44K now).
- We didn’t give money back to Groups. In 2020/21 we started giving $15 back per registration.
Properties:
- Properties consolidated into Scout Canada accounts, along with their overall deficit (which would have been dealt with via local funds/foundations pre-consolidation). 2022/23 resulted in a deficit of $1.57M.
- More properties were open.
Revenue:
- Scout Shops went online, with shipping costs requiring significant subsidises.
- There were more donations. $4.6M in 2018/19 but $1.1M in FY23. Fundraising in decline since 2015.
- Field Service size is similar even though membership declined.
