internet unit charter renewal -- a timeline guide for commissioners

The Boy Scouts of America has introduced a new service to councils that enables units to expedite the paperwork portion of the charter renewal process over the Internet. This new option launched from the council Web site provides a more accurate and efficient renewal for many units and for the local council.

Commissioners are responsible for unit charter renewal, and our council is adopting Internet Rechartering in 2005. It is essential that all commissioners be trained in all of the steps of the process.

This new option only changes the paperwork of the unit charter renewal process and it should be integrated with all of the person-to-person steps described on pages 38-39 of the Commissioner Fieldbook. The are still an important part of the process. Here's how it works (online activity in italics):

• At Least Four Months Before Renewal Date -- The council prepares a unit charter renewal kit for each unit due to reregister, including a letter outlining the user of the new optional Internet Rechartering system, the council's Web site address, and the unit's unique access code.
• At Least 90 Days Before Renewal Date -- The district executive visits the head of the chartered organization to renew the Scouting relationship. The meeting is a face-to-face discussion on the current state of the unit. If problems are anticipated in the re-registration of the unit or there is other major action to be taken by the district, this visit should be held earlier so that positive action may take place prior to the renewal date. In districts where all units have the same renewal date, district executives must start even earlier to complete all visits on time.
• 60 Days Before Renewal Date -- The unit commissioner and unit committee conduct a membership inventory of currently registered youth and adults. Visits are made to inactive members. Every effort should be made to recruit additional youth and adults so that the unit can reregister with no loss membership. The commissioner does a final check to see if the unit has completed the Quality Unit Award. The charter review date is set, and all unit adults are urged to attend.
• 60 to 45 Days Before Renewal Date -- Units choosing to renew their charters online will select a person as their renewal processor. He/she will visit the local council's Web site, complete the steps through the submittal process, and print a revised charter renewal application to be brought to the unit's charter renewal meeting for review, discussion, and authorized signatures.
  (To assist districts in this process, there is a report available to council employees with membership reporting capabilities entitled Commissioner's Status REport. This report provides commissioners with the renewal status of each unit, including the date of first login, the current stage of the process completed, and date submitted. Two other reports that are available are the New Members Added Report and the Members Not Renewed Report. Both of these reports are designed to provide information to the district in an effort to follow up with new youth and dropped youth identified through the renewal process.)
• 45 Days Before Renewal Date -- The commissioner and unit committee chairman conduct the unit charter renewal meeting. Also in attendance should be the chartered organization representative, executive officer of the chartered organization, unit leader, Boys' Life specialist, and other unit volunteers. Additional changes may be made to the application. The renewal application with appropriate signatures, applications for new youth and adults, appropriate fees, and Quality Unit worksheets are all completed at this meeting. If the unit is renewing it's charter using the Internet, all changes are made in the recharter program and the new charter is printed out for signatures and delivery.
  All recharter papers, membership forms, and fees are then delivered to the council office or the district's charter renewal turn-in meeting.
• Following the Renewal Meeting -- The council's registrar receives the charter renewal application, new youth and adult applications, and appropriate fees following the charter renewal meeting. If the unit has renewed its charter using the Internet, the registrar reviews this information online along with the hard copies from the unit charter renewal meeting. The registrar then creates the new charter and registration cards for the unit. The registrar mails the registration cards to the unit leader and makes the new charter available to the district for presentation by the commissioner.
• 30 Days After Renewal Date -- The commissioner makes a formal presentation of the new charter at an appropriate gathering of the chartered organization.

Please Note -- Commissioners and professional staff must be sensitive to the fact that some units (for a variety of reasons) may need to or choose to use the paper method for charter renewal. Help units use the option which is best for them.