Scout Councils

The Scout executive manages council operations—including finance, property management, advancement and awards, registrations, and Scout Shop sales—with a staff of other professionals and para-professionals. Volunteer Commissioners lead the unit service functions of the council, help maintain the standards of the BSA, and assures a healthy unit program.

The BSA charters two councils for American Scouts who live overseas, largely on military bases in Europe and Asia. The Transatlantic Council, headquartered in Germany, serves BSA units in much of Europe, and the Far East Council, headquartered in Japan, serves units in the western Pacific areas. The Direct Service branch makes the Scouting movement available to U.S. citizens and their dependents living in countries outside these jurisdictions or in isolated areas. The Aloha Council in Hawaii also serves BSA units in the American territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and in the sovereign countries of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau.

The Greater New York Councils are unique in that they are divided into five boroughs with each led by a borough Scout executive. Each borough is then divided into districts.

Councils are divided into districts with leadership provided by the district executive, district chairman, and the district commissioner. Districts are directly responsible for the operation of Scouting units and, except for the district executive, are mostly staffed with volunteers. The voting members of each district consist of volunteer representatives from each chartered organization having at least one BSA unit, plus annually elected members-at-large who in turn elect the district chairman. Boroughs and districts are subdivisions of the local council and do not have a separate corporate status.

Coast Guard Auxiliary Best Practices

 * Coast Guard Auxiliary Boater Education for Scouts
 * Preserve America's Waterways -- Develop a joint waterway conservation project with a Scout Council
 * Preparing for Trip to Florida Sea Base
 * Auxiliary Division Helps Scouts Celebrate 100th Anniversary (from SITREP)

Units and chartered organizations
The unit is the main operating group of the BSA. Units use different names for each membership level—Cub Scouts are organized as packs, Boy Scouts as troops, Venturers as crews, and Sea Scouts as ships.

BSA's primary mission is to provide a values-based youth program that can be used by local institutions for the benefit of the youth in their community. Thus each unit is operated by a community-based organization such as a business, service organization, school, labor group, or religious institution that has applied for and received an annual charter from the BSA. This chartered organization is responsible for selecting leadership, providing a meeting place, and promoting a good program. The chartered organization representative is the manager of Scouting in a chartered organization and serves as a liaison between the unit, the chartered organization, and the BSA. Chartered organizations use the Scouting program to support the goals and objectives of the organization.

Public Education jointly sponsored with the Scouts
Materials from an effort to promote boater safety education, jointly sponsored by the Coast Guard Auxiliary and Blount County Boy Scout Troop 442 in Maryville, Tennessee.

Good Turns
From the inception of the Scouting movement, Scouts have been urged to "Do a Good Turn Daily". The first national Good Turn was the promotion of a safe and sane Fourth of July in 1913. During World War I, Every Scout to Save a Soldier was a slogan used to motivate Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to help sell War savings stamps.

Scouting for Food is an on-going annual program begun in 1986 that collects food for local food banks. In 1997, the BSA developed Service to America with a commitment to provide 200 million hours of service by youth members by the end of the year 2000. As part of Service to America, the BSA provided service projects in conjunction with the National Park Service (NPS). In October 2003, the Department of the Interior expanded the program with the creation of Take Pride in America, opening service to all Americans.

Service to America became Good Turn for America in 2004 and expanded to address the problems of hunger, homelessness, and inadequate housing and poor health in conjunction with the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, and other organizations.

Scouts & Auxiliary work together

 * Coast Guard Auxiliary -- BSA discussion list

BSA websites

 * Boy Scouts of America
 * Find your local Scout Council
 * Scouting magazine
 * Boy's Life magazine
 * Guide to Safe Scouting