Scouting America members and units must complete a renewal process each year to remain active in the Scouting program. Starting this year, individual membership has been separated from the Unit Renewal (Recharter) process. Membership renewal is now underway for scouts and leaders who joined after August 1, 2023.
National’s Unit & Membership Renewal page provides several resources, but much of the information there is out of date or is meant for Council staff. This Garden State Council page will provide information and links appropriate to our unit leaders.
In addition, we will be publishing up-to-date information in the Garden State Council Knapsack, some of which will be repeated here.
Membership Renewal
Members that joined Scouting after August 1, 2023 are able to renew their membership starting in June, 60 days before their membership expires.
Membership can be renewed in one of two ways:
- Family/Self Pay – An email notification will be sent 60 days prior to expiration and the family can do the renewal online.
- Unit Pay – The unit’s Key 3 leaders are notified which members are due to expire and can select the members to be renewed. The unit can then pay for the renewing members, either online or at the council office.
The two Auto-renewal methods are summarized in this Member Renewal Infographic.
The best guide to the renewal process is the Membership & Unit Renewal Process Guide from National. These parts of the document are of immediate interest:
- Introduction – Page 2
- Family/Self-Pay Member Renewal Process – Page 14
- Unit Paid Member Renewal – Page 23
The rest is either devoted to Unit Renewal (Recharter) or is for Council staff.
An additional job aid, Unit Pay for Member Renewal is also available.
Unit Renewal
Unit renewals are also changing. The new process will be much simpler and is described in this Unit Renewal Guide. Note that most of our units don’t renew
until the fall. Units renewing sooner will be contacted by their District Executive.
Watch this page and the Garden State Council Knapsack for more information as we approach October and the Unit Renewal season.
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.
- It was recently announced that the Unit Will Pay option wasn’t functioning properly – Members were still getting renewal emails and could renew their membership on their own. As a result, National has removed the Unit Will Pay switch from Organization Manager. It will return in the future, although exactly when wasn’t specified. Units that want to manage their members’ renewals should communicate this to them.
- The system’s default is to subscribe to Scout Life. If you, or your members, don’t want Scout Life, be sure to turn it off!
- Units have the option to pay directly via credit card (3% fee) or ACH ($1 fee). There is also a (somewhat hidden) Pay at Council Choose the members you want to renew in your Roster, click Print, then Unit Payment of Membership Renewal. The resulting PDF can be sent to the council office with your payment.
- National uses the phrase “Auto-renewal”. It doesn’t mean your membership in Scouting will renew on its own like your Netflix subscription. It simply means you or your unit have chosen to pay online instead of at the council office.
Membership Fees Infographic
These fees took effect May 1st 2024. Membership is no longer prorated and applies for 1 year from the date of joining.
Documents and Resources
Packs, Troops, Crews, and Ships
Explorer Posts
