For over a hundred years, Scouting has been making a real contribution to creating a better world by helping young people to develop their full potential as individuals and to play a constructive role in society. However, Scouting can only have a real impact as a social force if it is able to attract and retain young people - and supporting adults - long enough to really make a difference.

As a voluntary Movement, young people must make a conscious decision to join and to stay. It is therefore unrealistic to assume that Scouting will appeal to all young people. However, there are many more young people – and supporting adults - who would enjoy and benefit from Scouting than we currently serve.

While the growth of our Movement is ultimately the result of delivering high-quality Scouting, haphazard growth is not sustainable. The factors affecting the growth and development of associations vary from one country to another, but, whatever the situation, offering better Scouting to more young people requires a strategic focus.

In order to develop and manage a growth strategy, your association needs to gather and analyse relevant information about - and from - your membership. This includes the status and trends of your current membership (both youth members and adults). In the light of a broader strategic analysis, it also involves consulting your membership on a range of issues so as to assess how well your association is - and is perceived to be - currently achieving its mission. This involves gathering and analysing quantitative and qualitative information.

The purpose of this chapter is to examine some of the issues that you will need to consider.

In order to prepare and develop a growth strategy, it is important to gather and analyse external information on statistics, trends and issues that are likely to influence your long-term growth prospects.

Doing so will enable you to establish and analyse answers to the following questions:

• What is our current and potential market share?
• What trends, issues and challenges do we need to take into account
  in order to offer better Scouting to more young people in the context
  in which we operate?

Increasing youth membership in your association requires a strategic approach. In terms of target market, your association needs to carefully examine two strategic options.

The purpose of this chapter is to examine what these are, their implications and what needs to be taken into account in order to make an appropriate strategic choice.

The local Scout group is the core of what Scouting is about. Scouting takes place in the communities where people live and in most cases is provided by and for those local people. The local nature of the organisation means that if Scouting is to grow at a world, regional or national level then this growth actually needs to happen locally.

The purpose of this section is to examine how can you use and develop highquality local support, management and structures to enable adult leaders to provide better Scouting for more young people and drive action for growth.

Many associations have long-established traditions concerning how and when young people take part in Scouting. In some circumstances, however, potential youth members are denied access to Scouting because the “traditional” way of offering it is not practical. While in many cases these traditional approaches are seen as the only or best way of offering Scouting, in reality, provided the fundamental elements of Scouting are followed, Scouting can be offered in many different ways.

The purpose of this chapter is to examine some of the alternative ways in which you could deliver high-quality Scouting.

No strategy to offer better Scouting to more young people can be effective without examining how to attract and retain a sufficient quantity of adult volunteers who are – and will continue to be - motivated and effective. This applies equally to the adults who deliver Scouting directly to young people and to those in broader administrative or management functions.

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of five strategic areas in the development of adult resources.

Scout associations have different approaches as to how they define “success” in terms of youth membership. Whatever the approach, the appeal and relevance of the youth programme to young people throughout the age sections is evidently crucial to the growth of the Movement. After all, young people must make a conscious decision to join and they are free to leave at any time.

The purpose of this chapter is to examine a number of youth programme issues that impact on growth.