The Attractive Scouting GroupThe Danish Scout and Guide Association has received an extending report concerning what characterizes the Scouting-life of Attractive Scouting Groups.

The report is made in 2005-06 by an analyzing bureau called Copenhagen Economics and has been financed by Friluftsrådet [The Outdoor Council] – which also means that we will share these results with other outdoor organizations.

Background and definition The report was made because 40 % of the groups in The

Danish guide and scout association number of members has risen for the last 10 years.

We wanted to know what they did and we wanted to learn from it.

• What is an Attractive Scouting Group?An Attractive Group is one that has a lot of member and is able to retain them, but this definition is

relative to a great lot of exterior factors. Therefore Copenhagen Economics has created a fictive

memberships number for each scouting group due to socioeconomic statistics such as income

level, number of children in the area, population density, education level and the number of other

scouting groups in the area – both from our own organization and from other organizations. The

Attractive Scouting Group is therefore one that has a higher number of members than the fictive

calculation implies.

Datacollection

Database number of members in

1990-2005 Identification of The Attractive

scouting groups

questionnaire survey Whats the common feature and

whats the difference between the ”middel-group” and ”the Top50”

Focus groups interviews concrete history on the groups

scouting

Foto: Erik Gunst Lund

Take the scouts choice seriously !

It’s an active choice to be member of an scout group

The Attractive Scouting groups refuse to compromise

There is a lot of ways to be attractive

Foto: Andreas Hørup Nilsson

80% of the attractiveness is…

Every thing else 80%Acts from the leadersThe daily scouting

80%80%

20%20%

external conditions 20%Numbers of childrenLevel of educationLevel of incomeMembers of DGIFDF-groupsDDS-groupsgeography

common features : Three plus one

The Attractive Scouting group has a unifying and visionary leadership

ambitions simplification

team spirit

leadership

The group of leaders acts like a team

The Attractive Scouting group has highly visible ambitions

The work as an leader is simple and clear

Team spirit The leaders see them self as a consolidate group of leaders

The meetings for the leaders are result-oriented

The leaders has good common experiences

The group of leaders get together both professional and social

Bigger problems are solved in the group and not just by one single unit

The leaders are acknowledge withleader-nursing such as Christmas dinner and leader-clothing

Ambitions Participate in and win

scout tournaments

Move the scout-house to a place with good potential

do challenging scouting

accomplish big and visible projects

arrange challenging scout tournaments

goes abroad for the summer camp

Has public arrangements

Simplification Has well organised and

well-cared-for scout gear

There is a defined linie in scouting from cupscout to seniorscout

There is a tradition for help from the parents

There is a great extent of who does what in The Attractive Scouting group

A lot of aktivities and traditions are routine

Buys help, insted of doing every thing by them self

The scouts and the parents gets ”year-plans”

Leadership It is often leaders with experience, a long time scale and they are

pragmatic types

They take care of administration, leader-nursing, the defined linie from cup- to seniorscout and challenger

Is both organised and visionary

Makes the other three features succeed

”The Attractive Scouting Group”

- an academically based research programmewhich has examined what makesGuiding/ Scouting attractive, i.e.

why Guides and Scouts stay