Council Unveils 2015 Strategic Plan

After months of planning, research and debate, officers of the Utah National Parks Council presented a 2015 Strategic Plan to their Executive Board August 9, 2015. Lynn Snow, Vice President of Administration thanked the officers who had all contributed, but especially Rushford Lee, Vice President of Marketing, whose company RED had conducted much of the research that provided new director for the Council.

In an introductory letter, Council leadership wrote: “The Council is posing itself for a new chapter of service to chartered partners. For too long we have behaved like so many other councils in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), but we are dramatically different, certainly not average. We have more youth and more units than another council in the BSA. We have had decades of growth while the National movement has shown a steady decline during the same period. We enjoy unusual donor support and our partnership with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has never been stronger.

“With this plan we not only continue our our Journey to Excellence with the National Council, but we roll out our new pillars of service: gaining a testimony of Jesus Christ through doing your Duty to God and Country, growing personally through service and the Daily Good Turn, LDS mission preparation through Scouting activities, learning to do hard things, preparing youth to be husbands and fathers, and becoming physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. This all under the theme of ‘Becoming Men Like These.'”

Major Council Objectives for 2015

• Strengthen customer ties with major sponsors to change these Journey to Excellence outcomes fiscal stability, Friends of Scouting, Adult Training, Advancement, Activities & Civic Service, Camping and Unit Service
• Improve District operations so that all Council committees assist and coach their district counterparts to increase Journey to Excellence scores for finance, membership, program and unit service.
• Develop camps and other assets through an effective Capital Campaign that affects Journey to Excellence scores for finance, membership, and program;  specifically broader use of BSA camping facilities for families, Young Men’s programs, Young Women’s programs, youth conferences, Primary activity days girls as well as primary aged boys.
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  LDS Leaders Meeting the the Assembly Hall at Philmont, New Mexico

  Strengthen LDS Relationships by:
  -Increasing Stake Presidency participation in LDS Philmont Training from 16% (31 in 2104) to 25% (50 in 2015)
  -Improving Coordinating Council LDS-BSA Committee function to where at least 80% of the anticipated 80 quarterly meetings (20 coordinating councils x 4 meetings) are held in 2015, with  at least 80% attendance at these meetings (on average)
  -There being conducted, council-wide, at least 15 stake or coordinating council Wood Badge courses
  -Increasing LDS Adult-leader training from 24% to 26% via stake-sponsored training deeply encouraged in the quarterly District/Coordinating Council LDS-BSA Committee meetings, and fostered by a sense of stewardship  within stake young men’s presidencies.

The Executive Committee had been discussing elements of the plan for several months, but approved a draft August 8. This draft was accepted by the Executive Board with a unanimous vote the following day.  According to officers:  “This 2015 Strategic Plan represents many dozens of hours of discussion by our key volunteers and is overlaid with the research offered to the Council by RED Research and Design. We thank them all for their generous gift of time and other resources to make this ‘road map’ for the year 2015 and we are already looking to this team for a 2020 plan that will refocus the entire organization’s vision and clarify our path forward.”

Author: Darryl Alder | Strategic Initiatives Director, Utah National Parks Council, BSA