Scouting America units and members must complete a renewal process each year to remain active in the Scouting program. In 2024, renewal of Scouting units was completely separated from the renewal of individual memberships. The previous renew-all-at-once recharter process no longer exists.
National’s newly updated Unit & Membership Renewal page provides many resources including an introductory video, infographics describing the renewal process, and job aids and videos describing key steps in the renewal process. There is also an extensive collection of Frequently Asked Questions.
In addition, we will be publishing up-to-date information and reminders in the Garden State Council Knapsack.
GSC’s Renewal Process
Our process for the 2025 – 2026 renewal season is based on what we learned during the 2024 – 2025 season as well as improvements made to Scouting America’s computer systems by National. Our strategy this year is to renew the units first, followed by the individual membership renewals. Once again, there is no reason to hold up your unit renewal because of incomplete membership renewals.
GSC’s Goal: Renew EVERY Unit before its expiration date!
Most of our units and members expire on December 31st; they will be available for renewal on November 1st. Because of the volume of units renewing in December and to avoid the distractions of the Holidays, we’re setting Friday, December 18th, 2025 as the deadline for Unit Renewals.
Unit Renewal
Prepare for unit renewal by doing these two things:
- Make sure your leaders’ registration is current and renew their membership if needed. This is also a good time to make any leadership changes in your unit.
- Verify that each leader’s Safeguarding Youth Training (or Youth Protection Training) is up to date.
The unit renewal process is described in the Unit Renewal Guide and this video. If you choose to pay at the council office, print the Unit Renewal report and bring it to the office with your payment.
Membership Renewal
Membership Renewal is done Every Month, All Year Long. Your renewing members are listed in the Members Due to Renew report in My.Scouting.org – Roster – Reports.
Membership Renewal can either be managed by the units or left up to the individual members and their families. In either case, the families will still receive renewal emails starting 60 days before the member’s expiration date.
Unit Managed Membership Renewal
- Unit leaders should tell their members to disregard the renewal emails and that the unit will be doing the renewals.
- Unit leadership can renew their members as described in the Unit Renewing Their Members Guide and this video. Payments can either be made online or at the office. If you choose to pay at the council office, print the Summary of Fees report and bring it to the office with your payment.
Individual Member & Family Membership Renewal
- Unit leaders should tell their members that they are responsible for their own renewals and they should respond to the renewal emails from National.
- Individual Renewals are described in Adults Renewing Their Membership and this video or Parent Renewing their Youth’s Membership and this video. Payments can either be made online or at the office. If you choose to pay at the council office, print the Summary of Fees report and bring it to the office with your payment.
- Unit leaders should monitor the Members Who Have Renewed report in My.Scouting.org – Roster – Reports to verify that their members are doing their renewals.
More information
This section contains updated news from National, answers to questions asked by our leaders, and other hints and tips we discover as we go through this process.
- The system default is to subscribe to Scout Life. If you, or your members, don’t want Scout Life, be sure to turn it off!
- The Opt-out function should only be used when a member doesn’t want to renew their position. Both members and units can Opt-out a member. Only office staff can remove the Opt-out flag.
- A few words about the “Grace Period” – Members and units who pass their expiration date without renewing are Lapsed. This means that their membership has expired but can be reinstated easily. The lapse period is 2 months. After that, they are Separated. Separated members and units can be reinstated according to the following guidelines:
- Youth Members: Can be reinstated up to 3 months after they lapse. After that, a new application is required.
- Adult members: A new application is required as soon as the adult lapses. The Chartered Organization Representative must approve the application.
- Units: Can be reinstated up to 6 months after they lapse. After that, a New Unit Application is required. The organization’s Executive Officer must approve the application.
Membership Fees
These fees are in place until March 31, 2026
Membership Fee Structure
The Garden State Council Program Fee will be adjusted effective April 1, 2026. Please see the membership fee infographic. Please review details below for further context.
Incentives and Member Benefits
- NEW – training incentive for For Scouting’s adult volunteers, if fully trained in their position(s) by November 1st each year, $10 will be deposited in their unit’s account.
- NEW – Multi-Member If three or more people in a family register in Scouting, with a minimum of one youth, the family will receive a discount code to save $5 for each youth.
Registrants in the Garden State Council will continue to have access to member benefits including:
- Free tent camping at Council properties including the Pine Hill Scout Reservation and Roosevelt Scout Reservation
- An annual use of a 10% discount at one of our Scout Shops in Millville or Westampton
- No fee access to the Council’s signature training day for volunteers, University of Scouting,
which is set for February 7, 2026. Register here: https://scoutingevent.com/690-UofScouting
- NEW – An annual “Program Book” highlighting all programs, camps, and activities for
On behalf of the over 5,700 youth served in the Garden State Council over the past year, thank you for your continued participation in the character building, memory making, and life impacting programs of Scouting.
Further Context
Since its inception more than five years ago, through the Council Program Fee portion of annual registration costs, Scout families in South Jersey have had access to free tent camping, an annual 10% discount at our Scout Shops, and no fee access to University of Scouting and other trainings.
Over those When the Council Program Fee started, a financial assistance program was established to
help families who couldn’t afford initial entry into Scouting. Over those five years, the Council awarded
$63,267 to help youth register in Scouting.
In addition, the Council has:
- provided $28,350 in camperships for Cub Scout Day Camp and Scouts BSA Summer Camp;
- invested $77,627 in registration fees, uniforms, materials, transportation, and camping experiences for youth in ScoutReach; and
- provided more than $112,000 in college scholarships to our Scouts from the Hovnanian Scholarship Fund and the Eagle Scout Alumni Association.
These are just some of the expenses that make up the Council’s operating budget. As you know, in recent years, expenses for just about everything have been on the rise. The Council has seen increases in insurance, utilities, marketing, and more.
The Council has managed to increase revenues in recent years to offset these rising expenses almost exclusively through community support. Friends of Scouting and Scout Shop Sales have been just slightly up; product sales have been flat, and camping and activity revenues are down. To help provide a visual of the overall operating budget, please see the iceberg image below.
To help cover increasing expenses, the Council Executive Board decided to increase the Council Program Fee. Thanks to continued support from funders like the Henry M. Rowan Family Foundation and the Garden State Boy Scout Foundation, the changes are modest.
Additional notes about the new Council Program Fees:
- For youth members in Scouting, the national registration fee and the Council Program Fee can be earned in the spring by selling 24 Camp Cards.
- NEW – training incentive for For Scouting’s adult volunteers, if fully trained in their position(s) by November 1st each year, $10 will be deposited in their unit’s account. Trained volunteers who do not serve in a unit will receive a check for $10.
- NEW – Multi-Member If three or more people in a family register in Scouting, with a minimum of one youth, the family will receive a discount code to save $5 for each youth. The discount code will be known to District Membership Teams and District Executives.
- Exploring youth members could earn their fees with 15 Camp Card
Registrants in the Garden State Council will continue to have access to member benefits including:
- Free tent camping at Council properties including the Pine Hill Scout Reservation and Roosevelt Scout Reservation
- An annual use of a 10% discount at one of our Scout Shops in Millville or Westampton
- No fee access to the Council’s signature training day for volunteers, University of Scouting,
which is set for February 7, 2026
- NEW – An annual “Program Book” highlighting all programs, camps, and activities for
On behalf of the over 5,700 youth served in the Garden State Council over the past year, thank you for your continued participation in the character building, memory making, and life impacting programs of Scouting.
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