UPDATED 09/23/2011
 |
Rechartering Your Scouting Unit |
|
 |
Sam Houston Area Council � Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) requires each Scouting unit - whether Pack, Troop, Team, Crew, Ship, or Post - to renew its Charter annually. This assures that the Chartered Organization still is using Scouting's programs to serve youth and assures that the unit roster is up to date at least once a year. We refer to this annual renewal as "RECHARTERING". This document will assist unit personnel with responsibility for the unit's recharter by providing pointers to resources, by providing an overview of how the recharter process works, and by providing an
instructions/checklist to minimize errors.
FIRST TIME TO BE INVOLVED WITH RECHARTER?
"OLD HAND" AT RECHARTER THAT NEEDS A QUICK REFRESHER? WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU READ THIS FIRST BEFORE CONTINUING. DOING SO WILL HELP MAKE THE POINTERS TO RESOURCES BELOW MORE USEFUL!
|
RECHARTER WEBSITE
The Council Recharter website contains helpful information about recharter including
Units that are unable to use Internet Rechartering should review the
manual recharter workshop presentation. However, we encourage you to use Internet Rechartering if at all possible. Doing so will help minimize errors in your unit roster and will help you to receive your new charter and membership cards as soon as possible.
The Internet Rechartering application requires the use of Microsoft Internet Explorer for proper operation.
Microsoft Internet Explorer browser.
Click here to leave the Council Web site and download the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser.
DEADLINES
Your current charter expires on the last day of the month. It must be renewed before it expires. Each district should provide a turn-in opportunity early in each month in which it has charters expiring. Often, this will be at a Roundtable. In the event you cannot turn-in your unit's recharter at your district's event, it is due at the Council office on or before the 15th of the month in which the current charter expires. Registration hours are 8:00 A.M. - 4:30 P.M. Please arrive by 4:00 P.M.; the office closes at 4:30 sharp.
INTERNET RECHARTERING (IR)
This web-based system provided by the BSA National Council lets you update your unit's roster to correct errors for existing members, add new members, and remove members who are no longer in your unit. IR is available to you starting two months before your current charter expires. That is, if your charter expires December 31, you may access the system on November 1.
Your Commissioner Team strongly recommends the use of Internet Rechartering for all recharters. It will help you -
- By providing current roster information when you begin your first online session. (The paper roster in this packet usually is printed around October 1.)
- By providing a convenient means to type in changes for existing members
- By checking for common mistakes such as all required positions are filled and missing required information
- By significantly reducing the time it takes for your unit to receive its new Charter and roster.
It will help the Council -
- By reducing back office effort required to process over 2,000 recharters each year
- By improving the accuracy of registration data because all your changes are saved and don't have to be retyped. (You know your members better than anyone outside your unit!)
You may use IR from any computer with Internet access. You do not have to complete the process in one session. Just log off and then log back on when you are ready to continue. You do not have to use the same computer for each session - just be sure to log off one computer before logging onto another. NO INTERNET ACCESS, NO PROBLEM! Most public libraries have public computers with Internet access.
IR ACCESS CODE
The access code required to use IR is on a label affixed to the recharter roster included in this packet. The access code changes every year - do not use last year's code because it will attempt (and fail) to access last year's information. YOU ARE A "FIRST TIME USER" WHEN YOU BEGIN YOUR FIRST SESSION EVERY YEAR FOR EACH UNIT THAT YOU WORK ON! If you attempt to use last year's access code and its password, you will receive an error message telling you that the data is no longer available.
RECHARTER HELP
Your district's Commissioner Team is your first point of contact if you need help. If they don't already know the answer to your question, they will help find it. Contact your Unit Commissioner or, if you do not know who your Unit Commissioner is, your District Commissioner.
| Be "On Time - Error Free". Every hour spent by volunteers and Council staff chasing down late recharters and fixing errors can't be spent helping youth. THANK YOU in advance for helping us make the most effective use of our limited resources to provide the best possible Scouting programs for the youth of our area! |
If you are reading this, you probably have just been asked to "recharter" your "unit" and are full of questions. You also may be a little anxious, wondering "what in the world have I gotten myself into?" because everyone else was so relieved when you agreed to do it.
RELAX. Unit recharter has earned a reputation as being difficult when, in fact, it is pretty easy. Completing the job requires a little self-discipline and following some simple rules. If there is a hard part, it's that some rules have to be followed for each member and that you have to finish on time. That's where the self-discipline comes in handy!
So let's start with some of those questions:
What is a unit? That's the Pack, Troop, Team, Crew, or Ship that asked you to do this. You may have a child in it. Units in our area operate under the Sam Houston Area Council (SHAC), the local operating arm of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). The Council assigns each unit to a District, a geographic part of SHAC's area of operations. A unit always has a Unit Leader who is responsible for seeing that a program is delivered to the youth members. The Unit Leader has a title like Advisor, Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, Coach or Skipper, depending on which program the unit uses. A unit has at least three adults who serve as the Unit Committee that supports the Unit Leader.
What is recharter? BSA issues a charter through the local Council to a Chartered Organization, like the Church or other organization that owns your unit, which allows it to use a BSA program to serve youth in its community. For example, a Cub Scout Pack uses Cub Scouting to serve boys in the first through fifth grades. BSA requires that the charter be renewed annually to continue using the program. We call that annual renewal "recharter".
What else happens during recharter? In addition to renewing the unit charter, recharter time is when all youth and adult members (leaders) renew their membership in BSA. Member renewals are most of the work. If your unit collects all or part of its member dues or fees on an annual basis, that collection often takes place at recharter too. Because most units in a district recharter at about the same time, your district may use this time to complete other tasks involving your unit, such as submitting the form showing your unit's progress toward earning the Journey to Excellence Award.
What is the process? Briefly, it goes like this:
Attend your District's Recharter Workshop. Each District should hold one or more workshops to discuss recharter before most of its units recharter. It also gives you a chance to meet your Commissioner Team, your first line of help in case you need it. You may have received your unit's recharter packet at the workshop. The PowerPoint presentation used at the workshop is available on the Council website (see page 1).
Inventory your members and collect fees. Collect BSA registration fee, Boys Life subscription fee (if subscribing), and Council accident insurance fee from each member that will be continuing membership. The unit's Treasurer or another leader may do the actual collection, but you must know who is renewing and any changes to their personal data (address, phone#, etc.) and Scouting position. Involve the Unit Leader and other leaders in determining the status of those who do not respond about renewing. Get complete, new applications, including all required parts of the applications and signatures, for any new youth or adult members.
All adult applications should include proof of having completed Youth Protection Training. This course is available online the E-Learning Center in MyScouting at the BSA nation website, www.scouting.org. (If the course is not completed prior to turning in the application, it MUST be completed in the next 30 days to avoid cancellation of the new leader's membership!) Attach a copy of the training certificate to the application and criminal background check authorization before submitting the application.
Update the unit roster. The recharter process uses a unit roster in a special format to provide an updated list of members and to provide BSA with the signatures to approve the renewal. A paper copy of the roster, printed in early October, is in your recharter packet. The best way to update your roster is using an Internet-based application called Internet Rechartering (IR, for short). IR will import a current roster when you first "load" registration data. And it will record any changes you make - corrections, added or deleted members - and send them to the Council Registration staff so they will have exactly what you want them to have! At the end of the Internet process, you will print out a new paper roster to use for the rest of the process. More information about IR and how to get started are on page 1. We recommend that you take the tutorial if you have not used IR before. By the way, the old manual recharter method can be used if you just cannot use IR. However, we strongly discourage its use because it is harder for you and the Council staff and generates many more errors than IR. Please use IR and save yourself and the Council a lot of extra work!
Obtain signatures on recharter roster. Before you turn-in your paperwork, you must get two signatures on the first page of the recharter roster. The person named as the Executive Officer on the roster must sign the top line for the Chartered Organization The person named as the Unit Leader (Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, etc.) must sign the bottom line as Unit Leader. The middle line, Council Representative, can be completed at turn-in and will be signed by a Commissioner and/or the professional Scouter responsible for supporting your unit's District.
Calculate insurance, new member fees. Complete the blue Accident Insurance Information form from the packet. The fee is $1 per person, including Tiger Cub Adult Partners for Cub Packs. If you added any new members and want them to be members before your new charter starts next month, there is a fee of $1.25/month/member. Use the worksheet in step 7 of the
instructions to calculate the total due.
Turn in all paperwork. Take the following to turn-in: signed updated roster, signed applications for new members, overflow pages (if not using IR), and completed Accident Insurance Information form. Bring your unit's check with you to turn-in; we suggest that the amount not be filled in until someone has checked the total calculated on page 4. If your District has a turn-in, district personnel will take the paperwork to the Council office. Otherwise, your unit must turn it in at Registration in the Council office at 2225 North Loop W, between 8:00 A.M. and 4:30 P.M. Monday-Friday, excluding holidays by the 15th. If the last day of the month is a holiday or weekend, the paperwork must be in before the end of the last business day of the month to be on time.
Internet Rechartering (IR)
The instructions for Internet Rechartering are on the computer screen. We recommend you take the tutorial, especially if it is your first time. Use the Unit Access Code printed on the label on the roster in your recharter packet to access Internet Rechartering. IR will lead you through steps 1 through 6 below and check for missing personal information and positions. You do not use overflow pages when doing Internet Rechartering. Any pages printed out by IR before the recharter roster serve the same purpose as the overflow pages. Therefore, it is very important that you turn in all pages printed from Internet Rechartering. Please use Steps 7, 9 and 10 below to finish your Internet Recharter. Please note that IR does not calculate the insurance fees, or the $1.25 per new member added during the recharter month, so use the computation sheet (step 7). You must turn in a new application with signatures in ink for each member that you add in IR. These members' names will appear on the page(s) that precede the recharter roster in the printout.
Manual (Paper) Rechartering
1. All members (youth and adults) must be registered or re-registered in one of two ways:
⃞ His/her name appears on the recharter printout
(Re-registration - no other forms required)
- OR -
⃞ His/her name does not appear on the recharter printout. Submit the appropriate application
(youth or adult) and include their name on the appropriate overflow page
(youth or adult).
Note:
- Use separate overflow pages for youth and adults for whom applications are provided.
- No member will be registered without having an application on file.
- In some cases, a member's name may not appear because he/she was added after the paper roster was printed or after the unit "loaded" registration data into IR. A unit may confirm that a member is actually registered using Internet Advancement's "print roster" feature. If the unit believes the member has been registered, it may so indicate by attaching a photocopy of the member's application and writing that member's name on the appropriate overflow page. If the original application can be found in Council files, a new application will not be needed. However, if the original application cannot be found, your recharter will be delayed until either a new application is provided or the member's name is removed.
2. Every unit must have listed:
⃞ A unit leader
(Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, Varsity Coach, Venturing Advisor, Skipper or Exploring Advisor).
⃞ A committee chairman
⃞ A minimum of two committee members
⃞ A chartered organization representative
(may multiple register as Institutional Head, Committee Chairman or committee member).
⃞ An Executive Officer / Institutional Head
(may multiple register as charter organization representative, committee chairman or committee member; if new, write date of birth on face of recharter printout near the name).
⃞ At least one registered den leader for Cub Scout packs. We strongly recommend at least one registered den leader if Cubs (Wolf & Bear dens) are registered, one registered Tiger den leader if Tiger Cubs are registered, and one registered Webelos leader if Webelos are registered.
(To assure proper supervision, the Scout Executive or designee must approve recharters with less than one den leader per approximately 10 youth or without at least one den leader for each part of the Cub Scouting program - Tigers, Cubs, and Webelos - in use by the pack.)
⃞ A minimum of 5 youth members must pay their registration fees through this unit - primary membership.
(The Scout Executive or designee must approve unit with 2-4 paid youth, but with 5 or more youth total counting those paid in another unit.)
3. Youth members should have listed (7 items):
⃞ Address
(required)
⃞ Phone number
⃞ School grade
⃞ Date of birth
(required)
⃞ Boy's Life subscription
(Y/N)
⃞ Scout rank
⃞ Gender
4. Adults members should have listed (6 items):
⃞ Address
(required)
⃞ Phone number
⃞ Date of birth
(required)
⃞ Scouter position
⃞ Boys' Life subscription (
Y/N)
⃞ Gender
5. Corrections to existing information must be made by drawing a fine-point straight line through information to be changed. THE OLD INFORMATION STILL MUST BE READABLE SO THAT IT CAN FOUND AND CHANGED. Print new information as neatly as possible above the lined-out information. DO NOT USE A HIGHLIGHTER TO MARK CHANGES. NOTE: New members are NOT written on the recharter printout; use the appropriate application form and overflow page.
6. Multiple registration (BSA membership fees were paid in another unit, district, or council):
⃞ If an adult's registration fee is paid with another unit, district, or council, no additional fees are required with this recharter. Circle the Scouter position next to the member's name to indicate "multiple registration". Write the unit number
(or district or council name) where their fees were paid
(primary registration) in the left margin by the circled position. If his/her "primary" registration is in another council, also indicate the district and council name. No fee is required for the Executive Officer / Institutional Head unless that person is also registered in one of the permitted Scouter positions.
⃞ If a youth registration fee is paid with another unit, no additional fees are required with this recharter. Circle the youth's name to indicate "multiple registration". Write the unit number where their fees were paid
(primary registration) in the left margin by the circled name. If his/her "primary" registration is in another council, also indicate the district and council name. NOTE: Membership in "Learning for Life" units and Exploring Posts cannot be considered for multiple registrations.
7. Complete the following worksheet to determine the total recharter fee payable to Boy Scouts of America. To determine the insurance fees, complete the Accident Insurance Information form
($1.00 for each non- multiple registered youth, adult, and Tiger Cub adult partner.) NOTE: Insurance fees are not required for the Executive Officer / Institutional Head unless that person is registered in one of the permitted Scouter positions.
| Paid youth |
____ @ $15.00 |
$__________ |
| Multiple youth |
____ @ No fee |
|
| Youth Boys' Life subscriptions |
____ @ $12.00 |
$__________ |
| Paid adults |
____ @ $15.00 |
$__________ |
| Multiple adults |
____ @ No fee |
|
| Adult Boys' Life subscriptions |
____ @ $12.00 |
$__________ |
| Charter fee |
|
$ 20.00 |
|
|
|
| = Recharter roster total |
|
$__________ |
|
|
|
| + insurance fees |
____ @ $1.00 |
$__________ |
| + new members for current month |
____ @ $1.25 |
$__________ |
|
|
|
| = Grand total - payable to BSA |
|
$__________ |
NOTE: Applications are required for all new members added to recharter roster. List each new member on an overflow sheet if using Manual Rechartering.
NOTE: We strongly recommend that you not fill in the check amount until all calculations have been checked at your designated turn-in location.
8. Fill in the registration and fee totals on the front of the recharter printout.
9. Obtain the three required signatures on the recharter printout:
⃞ Executive officer (Institutional Head)
⃞ Unit leader (Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, Varsity coach, Venturing advisor, Skipper, Explorer advisor)
⃞ Council representative (commissioner or district executive) - can be obtained at turn-in.
10. Bring the following documents with you to recharter turn-in:
⃞ If Internet Recharter was used, all pages printed out by Internet Recharter with signatures on the first page of the roster
- OR -
If manual recharter was used (Internet Recharter was not used), updated paper roster with signatures on the first page of the roster and any overflow pages
⃞ Completed adult and/or youth application, including all required signatures, for each new member added to roster
⃞ Completed "Accident Insurance Information" form
⃞ One or more blank checks (to be filled in by you after your paperwork is checked).
NOTE: if you turn in your paperwork at the Council office, the Registration desk office hours are 8:00 A.M. - 4:30 P.M. Monday-Friday, excluding holidays. Please arrive before 4:00 P.M. because only limited personnel are available after 4:00 P.M. and Registration closes at 4:30 P.M. sharp. We encourage you to use your district's turn-in event(s) instead.
September 2010
