General Information about Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting in the US

Boy Scouts of America
Girl Scouts of the USA

Boy Scouts of America

Here are the basics about the Boy Scouts of America:

Boy Scouts of America or BSA
Founded on 8 February 1910, in Washington, DC, by Chicago publisher William Boyce
Chartered by the US Congress in 1916 (only other chartered youth programs we have found are the Girl Scouts of the USA [1950]; the Boys & Girls Clubs of America [1956]; and 4-H [??])
Headquarters in Irving, Texas (near Dallas)
The BSA is the USA's only Boy Scouting organization recognized by the World Organization of the Scout Movement (many countries have several Scouting programs).
The BSA is divided into about 300 local Councils.
The BSA and its local Councils employ about 4000 full-time professional staff.
The BSA is the second largest Scouting organization in the world (the largest is Indonesia).
Total membership (12/31/06) was 3 998 914 (2 868 963 youth and 1 129 951 adults). This does not include membership in the school-based Learning for Life subsidiary of the BSA.

The BSA has four program divisions, three traditional Scouting programs based on grade or age, plus a fourth classroom-based non-traditional subsidiary:

Cub Scouting Division (boys, grades 1 through 5)

Members in grade 1 are called Tiger Cubs.
Members in grades 2 and 3 are called Cub Scouts, and work on Wolf rank (grade 2) or Bear rank (grade 3).
Members in grades 4 and 5 are called Webelos Scouts, and work on the Webelos rank and the Arrow of Light rank.
Webelos Scouts usually graduate into Boy Scouting in about February of grade 5.
The overall Cub Scouting program is family-centered, adult-run, and offers very little camping or outdoor activities.
Adult leaders can be male or female, over age 21 (age 18-20 for certain assistant positions). The leader of the pack is the Cubmaster, and each den is led by an adult Den Leader.
The only boy leadership position is Denner, rotated monthly among the den members, which consists mostly of helping the Den Leader and making a den report at the monthly pack meeting.
As of 12/31/2006, Cub Scout youth membership included 247 017 Tiger Cubs, 819 882 Cub Scouts, and 634 962 Webelos Scouts, for a total of 1 701 861, a one-year loss of 2.5%, an improvement over the substantial 7.0% loss the previous year. There are 51 077 packs, with an average size of 33 youth members.

Boy Scouting Division (boys, age about 10/11 until 18)

Two programs—Boy Scouting and Varsity Scouting
Boy Scouting is traditional Scouting for boys age approximately 10/11 until 18 (to join, a boy must be at least 10, PLUS either have earned the Webelos Arrow of Light OR have completed Fifth Grade OR be 11).
In addition to the general camping program for all Scouts, Boy Scout troops offer their older Scouts Venture (high adventure) activities and Varsity (sports-oriented) activities. Note that Venture Scouting (as part of a troop) and Venturing (see below) are completely separate and unrelated programs, despite the confusingly similar names.
Boy Scouts work on 6 ranks: Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life, Eagle.
The overall Boy Scouting program is mostly boy-run with adults providing guidance and training, and is strongly oriented toward a camping and outdoor program.
At about age 14/grade 9, a Boy Scout can choose to remain in the troop, or transfer to a Varsity team, or transfer to a Venturing crew.
Varsity Scouting is a separate, optional, non-coed, and little-used program for boys age about 14 until 18 (mostly used by the LDS/Mormon church).
Varsity Scouts wear the same uniform as Boy Scouts (with slightly different insignia), and work on the same ranks.
Varsity Scouts typically camp like Boy Scouts, and often compete in team sports.
Adult leaders in the Boy Scouting Division can be male or female, over age 21 (age 18-20 for certain assistant positions). The adult leader of the troop is the Scoutmaster, and the adult leader of the Varsity team is the Coach.
The boy leader of the troop is the elected Senior Patrol Leader, and each patrol is led by an elected boy Patrol Leader. The boy leader of the team is the elected Team Captain, and each squad is led by an elected squad leader.
As of 12/31/2006, Boy Scout youth membership included 860 675 Boy Scouts and 62 161 Varsity Scouts, for a total of 922 836, a one-year loss of 2.2%, after a 4.6% loss the previous year. There are 42 269 troops, with an average size of 20 youth members, and 8264 teams, with an average size of 8 youth members.

Venturing Division (young men and young women, age about 14 until 21)

Replaces the former Exploring program
Venturing replaced the Exploring program in 1998; its coed crews focus on six experience areas: Citizenship, Leadership, Fitness, Social, Outdoor, and Service.
Venturing crew "specialty clusters" include: Outdoor, Sports, Arts/Hobbies, Youth Ministry, and Sea Scouting.
Sea Scouting (formerly Sea Exploring) is part of the Venturing program.
The former career-awareness Exporing program is now part of Learning for Life.
Male Venturers can work on the same ranks as Boy Scouts (technically, they must earn the ranks through First Class as a member of a Boy Scout troop). In addition, all Venturers have their own advancement system, culminating with the Venturing Ranger Award.
BSA's Venturing Division is unusual compared to the equivalent programs in most other countries because high-school-aged young men have the option of being a Venturer, or they can remain in a Scout troop or join a Varsity team.
There is no BSA program equivalent to the Rover programs available in some countries (for those over age 21).
Adult leaders can be male or female, over age 21 (age 18-20 for certain assistant positions). The adult leader is called the Venturing Advisor.
The key youth leader of a Venturing crew the elected crew President.
As of 12/31/2006, Venturing youth membership totaled 244 266, a one-year loss of 2.3%, after a huge 10.9% loss the previous year. There are 19 920 crews, with an average size of 12 youth members.

Learning for Life

BSA subsidiary
Two programs—Learning for Life (school-based programs) and Exploring (work-site-based program)
Learning for Life is a non-traditional, classroom-based character education program, with programs set up by grade:
Seekers (K-grade 2)
Discoverers (grades 3 and 4)
Challengers (grades 5 and 6)
Champions (special needs)
Builders (grades 7 and 8)
Navigators (high school/grades 9-12)
Exploring is the branch of Learning for Life that focuses on workplace-based and career-oriented interests for high-school-aged youth. Note that what was for many years called "Exploring" is now generally covered in the Venturing program.
Goal is to help young people develop skills, positive attitudes, values, and career awareness.
As of 12/31/2006, youth membership totaled 1 750 767, a 6.2% increase over the previous year.

Scoutreach Division

Non-program division
Provides special leadership and emphasis to urban and rural Scouting programs in the Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, and Venturing divisions
Major focus on minority involvement in Scouting, with specific focuses on African Americans, Hispanic Americans/Latinos, and Asian Americans

Names and Numbers

While the Girl Scouts of the USA call all their units troops, the BSA identifies its units by the program they conduct:

Cub Scouts belong to a pack, which is divided into several dens (at least one Tiger den, Wolf den, Bear den, first-year Webelos den, and second-year Webelos den). Webelos dens may also choose to call themselves patrols and adopt a patrol name instead of a den number.
Boy Scouts belong to a troop, which is divided into several patrols.
Varsity Scouts belong to a team, which is divided into several squads.
Venturers belong to a crew, and Sea Scouts belong to a ship.
Learning for Life participants belong to a group.

Unit identification (pack, troop, etc) is more confusing in the US than in most countries. Outside the US, units usually are part of a Scouting "group". Each group would include one or more program "sections" such as a pack, a troop, and a crew. The group would have a number associated with its town or area (such as the 2nd Brixton Scout Group), and often all group members wear a common neckerchief. In the US, which doesn't use the "group" concept, each pack, troop, etc, is separately numbered, and there is no link to the unit's location. For example, in our town, there is a Pack 97 and a Troop 97, which are unrelated and meet at separate locations. And, since unit numbers are repeated in each of the 300+ local Scout Councils, there could be 300 (or more) Troop 97's in the US. Actually, due to the many Scout Council mergers over the past 25 years (there used to be over 500 Councils), some Councils (like ours) could have two Troop 97's.

For more information on BSA-related topics, see:

Girl Scouts of the USA

Here are the basics about the Girl Scouts of the USA:

Girl Scouts of the USA or GSUSA (originally named the Girl Scouts of America)
Founded on March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Georgia, by Juliette Gordon "Daisy" Low
Chartered by the US Congress in 1950
Headquarters in New York City
The GSUSA is the USA's only Girl Scouting/Guiding organization recognized by the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (many countries have several Guiding programs).
The GSUSA is divided into about 300 local Councils, which are currently being consolidated into about 100 local Councils.
The GSUSA is the largest Guiding organization in the world. Total membership (9/30/06) was 3 578 760 (2 665 332 youth and 913 428 adults). It has about 200 000 fewer youth members than the BSA.
There is no connection between the GSUSA and the BSA, unlike in many countries where Boy Scouting and Girl Guiding often have a common national organization, and often coed units as well.

The GSUSA has four program sections, based on age:

Daisy Girl Scouts, ages 5-6, formerly called Daisy Scouts (uniform is a smock)
Brownie Girl Scouts, ages 6-8, formerly called Brownies
Junior Girl Scouts, ages 8-11
Studio 2B (Girl Scouts), ages 11-17, representing a consolidation of the former Cadette and Senior Girl Scout programs (uniform is optional) [Senior Girl Scouting experienced substantial competition for youth members from the BSA Exploring (now Venturing) program, which became coed in 1971.]

GSUSA's Highest Award

Unlike the well-known BSA Eagle Scout award (started in 1911), GSUSA's highest award is little known outside of GSUSA. Knowledge of the award by the general public has not been helped by repeated name changes since the first award was started in 1916. Even the national Girl Scout website fails to list any award for the years 1919 to 1940, and many Girl Scout Council websites disagree with the national website on whether it was called "Golden Eagle" or "Golden Eaglet", and whether the Curved Bar started in 1938 or 1940.

Golden Eaglet of Merit, 1916 to 1919 (the first Girl Scout top award)
Golden Eaglet, 1919 to 1940
Curved Bar Award, 1940 to 1963
First Class award, 1963 to 1980
Girl Scout Gold Award®, 1980 to present

For information on Camp Fire USA and other alternatives to Scouting, see our Scout-like Organizations page.