Sustainable Scouting

As we start a new year, here at Scouts NSW, we’re doing things a little differently. Kerry McGoldrick, Chair of the NSW Board of Directors and Treasurer, Matthew Phillips, explain how they’re focused on protecting our movement for a brighter future.

Dear Members and Supporters,

Welcome to a new year at Scouts NSW.

While many of our youth members are still enjoying their summer vacation, and your Group, Section or Activity may be waiting till the new school term to restart, we felt it was timely to explain some of the actions we’re taking to set up our Branch for a successful 2021.

As members of the Board of Directors, we are also volunteers, working closely with the CEO and Chief Commissioner, and we also interact with the other executive teams in Branches across Australia. Our roles have a simple aim. We are here to support our volunteers who provide young people with outdoors adventures and skills for life. As Board members, we are responsible for ensuring that young people will continue to have access to the valuable services we deliver, by evolving and growing to meet the ever-changing needs of local communities.

Last year was a challenge for everyone. The impact of the bushfires and the global pandemic has left many organisations across Australia in a difficult financial position. It’s no different for Scouts NSW, and the Board of Directors spent much of last year working through short and long-term solutions to deal with these challenges.

Before the impact of the drought, bushfires and COVID-19, we were already in a position to consider taking measures to protect our finances, but these extraordinary conditions accelerated the need to take action. So in 2021, we will need to take some decisive action, which will enable us to set up our organisation for a sustainable future.

We want to ensure you have an opportunity to fully understand any changes we make, to ask questions, and to share your own ideas and suggestions with us.

The challenges we faced in 2020

NSW membership numbers declined last year. Typically our total membership has been around 18,000 for the past four years. We started to see a positive increase during 2018 and 2019, reaching 19,600 members at the end of 2019. However last year, we saw a decline of around 1,200 members, which is about 6 per cent of our membership base.

We also faced difficulties due to an inability to hold major events or gatherings, which are often the highlight of any Term’s activities, and which make a useful contribution to our finances, while helping attract and retain our youth members. Many of our activity centres were unable to open for most of the year, and some events had to be postponed.

While the majority of Sections and Groups across NSW were able to keep running during lockdown and ongoing restrictions on gatherings, there were some who had a really tough year. The State and Region Office teams fielded a huge number of enquiries from volunteers who needed help. Many had lost their incomes, were juggling child-care duties, or were lonely and needed to reach out.

The actions we took

The majority of Groups found creative ways to stay connected to their youth members, and the impressive Scouting@Home activities had a huge uptake.

Scout leaders showed courage, resilience and kindness by stepping up and doing their part to keep Scouting open, and demonstrating the value it brings to so many young people across NSW.

Our State team actively sent applications to government, private and corporate grant and funding opportunities to seek additional support to run our Program. They ran marketing and promotion campaigns in social media and broadcast media. And they updated our training curriculum to make it easier to complete online, while delivering qualifications to support those seeking work.

The Board of Directors met more frequently during the year to complete a thorough analysis of the Scouts NSW operating model and budgets to identify opportunities to reduce costs while retaining services for our members.

We reduced the working hours of all our professional staff at State and Region Offices by between 20 and 30 per cent, and we successfully applied for the Federal Government’s JobKeeper allowance on behalf of all professional staff members.

We stopped all non-essential spending and actively sought new sources of funding. We also looked for new ways to raise money from our Activity Centres, property and investment portfolios.

Our current situation

Despite these measures, we’re still facing a significant operating deficit this year. Put simply, our operating expenses outstrip income.

So there is more to do.

Later this month, we will talk through some of the actions we’ll be taking to address the financial situation, and ensure we can keep operating effectively during the year and long into the future.

In the meantime, if you have any great ideas or constructive suggestions for financial sustainability, please touch base by completing the form here.

Thank you

We know how much you’ve done as volunteers, especially during such a difficult year in 2020.

Let’s remember that Scouts represents outstanding value for money, especially with the Active and Creative Kids vouchers.

Scouting is acknowledged as one of the longest-running not-for-profit youth organisations in the country. Our volunteers represent the best of local communities across NSW, with nurses, teachers, firefighters, scientists, tradespeople and business owners all giving their time to help others flourish. Never for one moment do we take your contribution for granted.

We’re looking forward to continuing to deliver the outstanding Scouting program to thousands more young people, offering them the opportunity to camp, hike, abseil, fly, canoe, sail, cave, make lifelong friends, learn the skills to succeed, and build the resilience, courage and confidence they will be able to use for the rest of their lives.

Warm regards,