Friendstorming – Inviting Friends to Join Your Unit

Covid took a big bite out of our membership last year, but if each of us grabs an oar – remember our nautically themed “All Hands on Deck” membership plan? – we can turn that ship around and make this a great membership year.  

We had some units that had an awesome September! Special congrats to:

• Battlefield Pack 88 – Grew 30%
• Conococheague Packs 7 and 128 – Grew 50%
• Heritage Trails Pack 48 – Grew 28%
• Keystone Capital Pack 23 – Grew 100%
• Pioneer Packs 190 and 279 – Grew 53%

To help your unit grow, October’s membership theme is “friendstorming.” Friendstorming is a cool term for holding a fun activity where each member of your unit invites some of their friends to join in. We’re asking every unit in the council to hold an NFA – that’s Normal Fun Activity – from October 1 through November 15. And this is important – be sure to make it pure fun. No uniforms, no advancement, just fun activities.

Why the emphasis on friendstorming? We know that almost 60 percent of Scouts joined because of a personal invitation. What if every member of your unit invited just one friend and more than half of them joined? Your pack, troop or crew would be even more fun and exciting. Now imagine if everyone invited two or three friends and half of them joined.

So, here’s how to do it. First, come up with a great NFA – normal fun activity – and set a date. October is the perfect month. Cub Scout sign-up nights are mostly over but it’s still early in the program year. The weather is great for outdoor activities, and there’s the ultimate fun activity at the end of the month, a Halloween party.

Once you decide on your activity and date, pass out this worksheet, or one you make yourself, and ask each Scout and family to fill it out. Yep, parents too. They know who their Scouts’ friends are, and they know families that enjoy Scouting-type activities. Then have the Scouts and their families invite that list of friends to the NFA. Be prepared to talk with families about how they can be part of the fun and adventure, and be ready to hand them information on how to join Scouting.  Your unit can pick up New Scout Packets from either Service Center or from your District Executive.  

If you are looking for some great ideas on invitations to print and share, check out these resources:

Packs Peer-to-Peer Cards

• Fishing Peer to Peer Cards (Boys)
• Fishing Peer to Peer Cards (Girls)
• Pinewood Derby Peer to Peer Cards – Packs
• Pinewood Derby Theme 5×7 Invitation

Troops (Boy) Peer-to-Peer Cards

• Kayaking Peer-to-Peer Cards
• Hiking Peer-to-Peer Cards
• Climbing Peer-to-Peer Cards

Troops (Girls) Peer-to-Peer Cards

• Kayaking Peer-to-Peer
• Hiking Peer-to-Peer
• Climbing Peer-to-Peer

As an extra incentive, we’re going to award an ice cream social or pizza party—your choice—to one lucky unit that has a fabulously successful friendstorming event.  Schedule and hold your activity between October 1 and December 31. After your activity is over we want to know how you made out. What was your activity? How many friends did you invite, how else did you get the word out and how many joined?. In order to qualify, please enter these results into this form by December 31.

Thanks to each and every one of you for all you’re doing to help restore the council’s membership to healthy levels.