Resources & Guides
Build Your Group Website
Scout Websites –
Are you unsure how to keep your website on brand? or not sure how to host a webite? We recommend using ScoutWebsites, a host who keeps your group on brand and can provide everything your group may need including, events, galleries, booking and payment system, and recruitment forms.
WordPress Theme –
If you have your own host and are familiar with editing websites and maybe a minor bit of css/html code, then we recommendd using Mersey Weavers SkillsForLife wordpress theme. This theme is not only based on the national website but it is also highly customizable. Here are the plugins we recommend:-
- Caldera Forms
- Caldera Forms Anti Spam
- Email Address Encoder
- Foo Gallery
- Kia Subtitle
- Quick and Easy FAQs
- SVG Support
- Team Members
- The Events Calendar
- UpdraftPlus
- Wired Impact Volunteer Management
- WP Store Locator
Build your Group Social Presence
Facebook Page –
Facebook is a great way to show your groups #SkillsForLife and Adventures. Facebook is the perfect way to show what your group does and how your group benefits your community. You can have multiple admins for the page, even ask a parent if they wouldn’t mind running the page for you.
Twitter Account –
Twitter is a great way to connect with your community, be it with local business’s or your local council members, as well as being able to share what your group does, you can also make some really good connections via twitter that could benefit either your group or your community.
Group Email Systems
Google for nonprofits –
Google offer to non-profit charities, free use of unlimited emails, all you need is a domain (i.e. lewishamscouts.org.uk) each email address comes with 30gb of drive storage. google also offer a few other free resources along with your sign up.
Microsoft 365 for nonprofits –
Get Microsoft 365 Business Premium for free for your group for up to 10 users.
Meetings & Programme
Online Meeting & Programme
Fundraising
Lewishamcommunitylottery.co.uk –
Lewisham Community Lottery is an exciting weekly lottery that raises money for good causes in Lewisham. All good causes supported by the lottery will benefit Lewisham and its residents. 50% of each ticket sold by the good causes page goes to them, 10% to other good causes, 20% to prizes up to £25,000, and 20% towards admin and VAT.
Easyfundraising.org.uk –
easyfundraising is a website and app that turns everyday shopping into free donations for your cause or charity.
Smile.Amazon.co.uk –
AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as on amazon.co.uk. The difference is that when customers shop through the URL smile.amazon.co.uk, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the net purchase price (excluding VAT, returns, and shipping fees) of eligible purchases to the charitable organisations selected by customers.
Online Scout Manager
Online Scout Manager –
Online Scout Manager has been designed by leaders for leaders – it gives you the ability to do all of your administration in one simple, secure, system.
Group management, Badge records, Programme planning, Parent Portal and Online Payments all in one easy to use location.
Brand Centre
Brand Centre –
Learn more about our brand and get all you need to create great communications. Download guidelines and logos straightaway, or if you are an adult volunteer you can register to access a wide range of tools, resources, and templates.
Scouting made easier
Managing your section or group shouldn’t all be paperwork and admin, it should be fun and exciting.
So here are some tips and links to what we think will lighten the load and help you focus more on the fun and adventure with your young people then on the paperwork.
Need Help?
Need help setting up any of these resources for your group? or maybe guidance on applying for grants and funding?
Please don’t hesitate to get in contact.
Not enough funds for that sailing trip?
Before you give up, have a look at what we have listed here, as one of these links maybe able to help fund that new adventure, those new skills your young people will remember for life.
Funding and Grants
Don Broome
Don Broome
The Don Broome Scout Trust exists to help volunteers within South London to improve the Scouting we offer. Grants are made to Groups, Districts or to the County.
Ron Fox Development Fund
Ron Fox Development Fund
Ron Fox, who passed away in 2018, was a Scout Leader in the former Clapham District (now part of Lambeth), a District Commissioner and Chairman for the former Lewisham North District, and Chairman of the Lewisham Development Project. Ron left a £318,000 legacy to be used for the benefit of Lewisham Scouting.
District Hardship Fund
Hardship Fund
Please have a look at the Ron Fox Development Fund as this is run by Lewisham Scout District and may cover what you are looking for.
National Funding
National Funding
Potential funding for local Scouting
Recruitment Resources
County Resources
Resources to help you recruit adults
Our development service has designed a range of leaflets for your group or unit to use to engage with the general public, your local community, and the families of your members.
Brand Centre
Brand Centre –
Learn more about our brand and get all you need to create great communications. Download guidelines and logos straightaway, or if you are an adult volunteer you can register to access a wide range of tools, resources, and templates.
Adult Recruitment Toolkit
Need to recruit more adults?
Here are some actions you could take – we know many of them have worked and they are listed under section A.
Also, there is support available from your Scout District, County and Scout Headquarters and these are listed under section B
Useful links in section C
If you need further help or would like to know who can help you, please download the fact sheet below.
Adult Recruitment Section A
Section A – Actions you can take. These have all worked in one or more Lewisham Groups.
- A Parent Rota
This has worked in many Groups. If a section is lacking leaders then a meeting with the parents to say you need more volunteers to keep the programme lively and exciting often pays dividends. No parent wants their youngster to miss out. Suggest parents offer once a month so it does not seem a big ask. This often results in the parent enjoying it so much that they want to stay and becoming a sectional assistant or leader. - Set up an Adult Recruitment Team
If you need more volunteers set up a team of 3-5 people who could be parents or members of the Group Executive Committee. They can then work (with support from the District) on recruiting people (probably mostly parents) to uniformed or support roles as needed. Often you find that members of the recruitment team end up recruiting themselves to key roles. - Build up your Group Executive (GEC)
Build up your GEC so that you have more contacts, which creates a better network and support. (You may need to set up an Adult Recruitment team to do this – see above.) And make sure that one member of the GEC takes the lead on adult recruitment so it doesn’t get forgotten. - Build up partnerships with local groups
Use your contacts on the Group Executive or the members of the Adult Recruitment team to create partnerships with local churches, community centres, and schools. This again can draw in help. Advertise that you need help on community noticeboards. Get your parents to chat with other parents when they pick up their children from school. Have a group vacancy board if, for example, you need a secretary. State specifically what help you need - Have Fun – build up a social base.
Identify parents who may wish to run social events. This can create energy. Parents get to know each other; friendships form through scouting contact and before you know it there is a common desire to volunteer. A parent Group may turn into a parent committee/supporters’ group that could run a quiz, bingo, disco or a fundraising event etc. Why not set up a Group Scout Active Support Unit to keep people involved on a more formal basis? This can all lead to helping on a more regular basis - Run Group Activities.
One good example is where Groups have run family camps. It is amazing how quickly friendships among adults form while on camp and you can then tap into this by signing people up to become adult helpers etc. It is also great fun! Other activities involving parents where it can also pay dividends. At a Group sports day have parent races and make sure you get parents involved say as judges. It could be a small step that with the right encouragement may lead to an offer of help. Wherever possible involve the parents and give them jobs to do to enhance their sense of belonging. - Use social media.
Find people with IT skills to set up your own Group website. Have a Group Facebook page. One Lewisham Group has reported that they have had volunteers coming through their Facebook page during the Covid period. WhatsApp is another platform that some Lewisham Groups use to engage successfully with parents. The great thing about social media is that it free! - Make use of your Annual General Meeting.
The business side of the meeting is (quite rightly) often very short. This allows you to use some of the time to have the young people and parents there to see presentations and awards of badges. A demonstration by says the cub scouts also goes down well. Provide refreshments (cheese and wine?) to encourage parents to associate the Group and what it offers with an enjoyable evening. This is also the opportunity to invite past members and local people such as other community leaders. This is where with young people looking on you can, through your powers of persuasion, encourage some of the adults to sign up to help. Breaking jobs down into small bite-size chunks also helps and encourages people to say okay that is manageable I will do that. It also means you may encourage the right person to do something more in the future. - Draw up a skills list of Instructors
Invite local people who have skills to lay on activity/demonstration with say the scout section. It could be a football coach, a self-defense expert, someone with an interesting hobby eg a stamp collector. It may then lead to them getting more involved and at the same time you build up a more interesting programme. We suggest you draw up a skills list of Instructors. (And why not find out the parents’ skills and interests at the time their child joins.) - Involve Past Members
Try and keep past members involved via email, Facebook, etc. A reunion on a reasonably regular basis can create energy and may lead to an interest in one or two getting back into scouting. Two Groups have done this in the past. If someone moves on keep them involved in some way. We have a GSL running a
A group from China and our District Web Technician live in Worcester. Anything is possible! Some past members may make a good President or a Vice President. Have a Presidential team – again another resource to be called upon. Keep people in the ” keep net “!! Stay in contact with older members/explorers – they may be your future young leaders. - Roll out the welcome mat and have a great Programme
Ask yourself how welcoming are we as a Group. Do you put the welcome mat out to a newcomer? Do you appreciate and value the help that is offered? These particular actions are so important in building up your Group. We know of new people who have said they turned up to help but were just left on the sidelines!! We are sure this will not happen in your Group. Retention is as important as recruitment! Finally, and very importantly make sure you have a great product with a brilliant programme. - Finally, Change the Culture – Think Differently.
• Leave the past behind – remember that we don’t have to do what we have always done;
• Think flexibly – we don’t have to be constrained by traditional job titles and roles. If someone on shift work can only help twice a month welcome the offer rather than saying “we really wanted someone every week”.
• Break roles down as small as possible; it’s easier to recruit to small roles. For example, if the Group Secretary role is too much for one person try breaking it down into two or three smaller roles.
• Don’t do it all at once – start with something easy, perhaps recruit a troop administrator to register the scouts, collect scouts and handle the paperwork;
• Make sure that everyone knows what your Group’s top priorities are. If the recruitment is one of them, they will be alert to opportunities for help that
might otherwise be missed.
• Don’t stop recruiting. The only thing we know for sure about every one of our volunteers is one day they won’t be there. It doesn’t matter if we have too
many helpers; it’s more fun and maybe they can have a week off occasionally. If we recruit so we have more people than the minimum we need it’s much
easier to recruit from that pool when someone leaves. One Group in Lewisham had the entire troop leader team resign as a result of a dispute but, because the Group had kept all their parents involved and active, they were able to recruit a complete leadership team within two weeks!
Good luck!
If you need further help or would like to know who can help you, please download the fact sheet below.
Adult Recruitment Section B
Section B – Who can help you – District, County and Headquarters
- District
The District Executive Committee is responsible for supporting Group Executive Committees in their work, including, of course recruiting adults. The District has set up a Governance Support team to do this and you should have a member of that team appointed as a point of contact who can advise you on governance issues. Lewisham Scout District has a website that is being revamped to make it more attractive to adults and young people who want to join and more useful for adult volunteers. The District has its own Facebook page and Groups will use this as a means of asking for adult support with a degree of success Our aim is to try and create a network for Group Chairs, Secretaries, and Treasurers. This is currently being worked on. - County
Greater London South has its own website and wants to join a scheme. Useful links are shown below. The County also provides support to Districts and on occasion to Groups but this is best accessed via the District Governance Support Team. - Headquarters
Scout HQ has a wealth of material and publications available on its website, scouts.org.uk. Some of the most useful links are in Section C below. If you are struggling with something ring the Scout Headquarters customer services/ information center. We find the team there incredibly helpful and knowledgeable.
Adult Recruitment Section C
Section C – Useful Links
This section contains a lot of material that you may find useful. But don’t forget that there is no “right way” of recruiting. Some of the ideas will work for you and others may not. Your “right way” is the one that works for you .
District:
- Opportunity Cards:
These are simplified role descriptions for key roles in the Group. They provide sufficient detail to explain the role to potential volunteers: http://e.pc.cd/CuSotalK - Parents Rota Forms:
These have been used in several Groups for organising rotas – you can modify the templates to suit your circumstances, http://e.pc.cd/zSSotalK - Recruiting Adults – the Salami Approach:
An alternative way of thinking about breaking jobs down (together with a case study). http://e.pc.cd/MjSotalK - The Spider Web of Recruitment :
Thinking about a continuous recruitment process: http://e.pc.cd/WsSotalK
County:
- Recruitment Pages on the County Website:
An Aladdin’s cave of resources and ideas! South London Scouts Recruiting Resources - County Opportunities Board – useful recruiting resources:
http://www.glscountyscouts. org.uk/opportunities/
Scout Headquarters:
- “Growing Scouting” This links to the section of the site covering all aspects of adult recruitment with a wealth of information available:
https://www.scouts.org.uk/volunteers/growing-scouts/ - Scouts Six-Step Recruitment Process:
This is a structured process that has been used by the Scouts for over 25 years and it can be very successful. It is more suited to the recruitment of management roles than helpers with smaller roles, but if it works for you, that’s great. Six simple steps for recruiting volunteers
Local Authorities
- Lewisham Local – have taken over the register of volunteers from Voluntary Action Lewisham. You can register your opportunities at:
https://www.lewishamlocal.com/post-a-volunteering-opportunity/ - Bromley Volunteer Centre – can be useful for Groups in the South of the District:
https://www.communitylinksbromley.org.uk/volunteer/
Need help recruiting?
Before you give up, have a look at what we have listed here, as one of these links may be able to help find that new minibus driver, badge stocker, or equipment checker, those new skills your young people will remember for life.