Rechartering Resources    |   2023 Recent Changes and Key Points    |   Recharter Process
Create a Delegate    |    Internet Rechartering 2.0    |    Frequently Asked Questions (SHAC)

Every December, all Sam Houston Area Council Scouts, Scouters and units (packs, troops, crews, ships) are required to renew their affiliation with Scouting. As volunteers, we are responsible for renewing the memberships of Scouts and Scouters.  The council's professional staff are responsible for renewing the relationship with Chartered Organizations.

Rechartering on time is critical. It is required for units to continue registration without interruption. It is required to ensure Scouts are registered, critical for receiving rank advancement and other awards, and for insurance coverage. It is required for Journey to Excellence.

A member of the unit Key 3, or a leader registered in the unit delegated by the Key 3, completes the recharter online. Through the process, memberships are updated and BSA registration fees, Scout Life Magazine subscriptions, and council accident insurance fees are collected. An online tool, Internet Rechartering 2.0, facilitates roster update, payment, and paperless submission of the updated roster and required forms to council registration.

National FAQ on Annual Membership Changes & Recharter Process Changes 2023 
For information on this year's announcements about membership fee changes and changes coming to the recharter process in April 2024, see the linked FAQ article published in June 2023 by National BSA.  More information will be provided as it is received from National BSA.

Contact:

For questions about recharter, please contact your unit commissioner or district commissioner. 

 2023 Changes and Key Points

1. BSA fees effective for this recharter.
   • $25 one-time “joining fee” applicable to all youth participants registering in Scouting for the first time except Exploring (no change),
   • $80 for youth members in Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, Venturing, and Sea Scouts,
   • $50 for youth members in Exploring,
   • $60 for adult members,
   • $100 unit charter fee
   • $15 Scout Life Magazine
   • $25 for Merit Badge Counselors not registered as adult BSA members
     As of August 1, 2023 all BSA memberships are annual and will expire in 12 months. Fees are no longer prorated.
2. The council accident insurance remains at $6/paid registration. This fee recovers a small part of the cost of the council's accident insurance policy. As in the past, the fee is not paid by Executive Officers / Institution Heads and adult partners for Lions and Tigers unless they also hold a paid, registered position in a unit. The fee is paid only in the unit in which the member pays BSA membership fees (the “primary” unit). Internet rechartering will calculate the accident insurance fee and include it in the total fee on the recharter roster.
3. All recharters are due to council no later than December 15^th. If review by council registration is required, the unit will receive requests for any corrections or additional documents from commissioners or professional staff as it has in the past.
4. All recharters must be prepared using the new Internet Rechartering (IR) 2.0 which is scheduled to be available on November 1.  This allows for completion of Fall Recruiting prior to units' starting to update rosters. IR 2.0 must be used by a member of the unit Key 3 or a Key 3 Delegate authorized by the Key 3. It is designed to allow paperless submission and approval of recharters, including payment. See the User Guide, training video, and other learning resources in Rechartering Resources above. If a software problem prevents a unit from completing its recharter online, the council will provide alternative directions.
5. The unit Key 3 and Key 3 delegates can download the current roster and training reports at any time using the my.scouting tools. The Roster tool reports the current unit roster. The Training Manager tool produces the unit’s YPT Aging Report which will show the completion and expiration dates for adult members and report an individual member’s training record to determine if the member is “Trained for the Position”. These reports are useful in completing items #6, #7 and #8 below.  Contact your district’s commissioner team if you need help getting started with my.scouting.org tools. Changes in applications processed by the registrar on any given day may not be visible in my.scouting.org until the next business day.
6. While you wait for internet rechartering to become available, gather the information that you will need to update the recharter roster starting in October. This is called “membership inventory”. Are all your unit’s youth and adult members listed on the unit roster? (Your unit’s Key 3 or delegate can use my.scouting.org's Roster tool to download the current roster of members.) Contact all your unit’s members to find out if they will renew their memberships for the coming year. If any member does not plan to continue, ask why and make a note of the reason. The answers may help your unit make changes to improve its program. While you are at it, be sure all members understand the BSA and unit fees to be collected and the date by which the fees must be paid. Finally, check that top unit leader training requirements are met (item #7) and Youth Protection Training is current for everyone aged 18 or older (item #8). 
7. SHAC requires the “top unit leader” named on the recharter roster to be “trained for the position”. This entails completing “position-specific training” in addition to Youth Protection Training. Most position-specific training can now be completed online at my.scouting.org EXCEPT “Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills” (IOLS) for Scoutmasters. The “top unit leader” is the Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, Advisor, or Skipper. See shacbsa.org/training for required courses. Internet rechartering does NOT check this requirement, so you will need to be careful to check it. If your unit will replace the "top unit leader" during recharter, be sure the new leader to be appointed has the required training prior to recharter!
8. Only Youth Protection Training (YPT) taken on or after January 1, 2022, will count as “current” for rechartering. As in the past, all adults, including those aged 18 and over that are participating as youth (Venturing Participants, Unit Participants, Exploring Participants) must complete YPT. Hint: All YPT must be current on the date that the recharter is "posted" to BSA's system which cannot happen before early January and may happen as late a few days after the last error is corrected. To avoid further delays in the event of errors found during recharter, units are encouraged to ask their members to retake YPT if the member's YPT will expire prior to April 1, 2024.  This will avoid creating additional problems when members' YPT expire while other errors are being corrected. NOTE: Internet Rechartering 2.0 issues an error message for missing/expired YPT. The unit will be not allowed to complete Internet Rechartering 2.0 until all YPT is current. Be sure to click "Refresh Roster" after receiving a member report of YPT completion so that IR can find the updated expiration date.
9. Electronic submission of documents and online approval change our traditional "turn-in" process. With nothing to turn-in, districts will not hold turn-in sessions. If a unit does not elect to pay fees online, the unit must deliver a check to council registration during business hours. The unit will also be required to provide such documents that the council registrar determines to be missing or in need of corrections. However, for the most part, there should be a lot less paper to be "turned in".
10. Changes to Internet Rechartering (IR) 2.0 for 2023. We have been made aware of the following changes to IR in addition to the correction of last year's "bugs".
    • Youth Protection Training (YPT) for any adult or youth position that requires it must be current for the recharter to proceed beyond the validation check. Either get the member to complete YPT or delete the member. Be sure to click the "Refresh Roster" button above the column headings on the roster updating page so that IR can find updated YPT expiration dates.
    • The "Print Roster" now prints the updated roster as it will be submitted instead of the roster as it was before any changes were made.
    • It is no longer necessary to "hover" the cursor over validation errors to see the reason for the error.  Reasons now appear following the error without further user action.
    • While it is strongly preferred that the COR approve the recharter, the COR can ask other Key 3 members to approve it.  This year, any Key 3 Delegate can also be asked to approve the recharter.  Key 3 Delegates, as well as the Key 3, will receive the emails from the system requesting recharter approval and acknowledging that the recharter has been approved.
    • The online payment has had an additional year of shakedown and is stated to be much more robust.  If payment by ACH ("e-Check") is selected, it is important to find the "micro-deposits" made by the payment processor, WePay.com, into the bank account entered in IR.  Then respond to the email sent by WePay.com with the amounts of the amounts of the transactions. (In 2021, many units were delayed by failing to respond promptly to these requests which resulted in the need to resubmit the recharter.)
    • The council registrar and possibly additional council staff will have the ability to view recharters in progress.  Volunteer commissioners will NOT have this access and must continue to provide assistance "looking over the shoulder" of an authorized user in a face-to-face meeting or screen-shared virtual meeting.

Friendly commissioners are availgle to help. Commissioners can help find answers, solve recharter problems, and just be an "extra set of eyes" reviewing your roster for common recharter errors. However, the new system requires them to work with units in ways different from previous years.  Commissioners cannot access your Internet Rechartering 2.0 work in progress. All reviews must be conducted "looking over the shoulder" of an Internet Rechartering 2.0 session created by a unit's authorized users.  This can be "in real life" via a face-to-face meeting or virtually via a shared screen in a videoconferencing application.  We encourage -- but do not require -- each unit to request a commissioner review on the updated recharter roster for common recharter errors when step 1 of Internet Rechartering 2.0 has been completed, but before step 2 is completed and the electronic submission has been made. Commissioner reviews cannot occur after the "Pay and Post Renewal" button is clicked, ending step 2. Let your commissioner know when the unit is ready for a review!

Recharter Process

Recharter doesn't need to be an all-consuming task.  It's as simple as "GET READY!…GET SET!…GET DONE!"

"GET READY!.." is best done before Internet Rechartering 2.0 is available to SHAC units on November 1.  This is where the unit:

• decides who will be the unit's Recharter Champion in charge of the unit's recharter process,
• checks that its current roster has all of its youth and adult members,
• determines next year's leadership positions,
• confirms that all required YPT will be current through April 1, 2024,
• informs members know what of the amount of recharter fees (both BSA and unit fees!) and by what date they must be paid, and
• contacts each member to determine whether the member will continue as a member in 2024.

Designation of the Recharter Champion and preparation in "GET READY!..." are key to a successful recharter.

"GET SET!..." is done by a Key 3 Member or Delegate to prepare the Recharter Roster. During this stage, the data gathered in the previous stage is entered into IR 2.0 and arrangements are made for the unit to pay recharter fees.  This stage ends when the COR or designated Key 3 Member or Delegate approves the recharter on behalf of the Chartered Organization.

"GET DONE!" starts when the recharter is approved.  If some cases, IR 2.0 may find that there is no need for further review and queue the recharter for "posting". In many cases, further review by the council registration staff will be needed.  If further review is needed, the unit may be asked to take corrective actions.  Once all corrections are made, the recharter is queued for "posting".  After the recharter is "posted", the process is complete after the unit checks my.scouting.org Roster to be sure that all requested changes were made.

Here is ta timeline graphic showing the major tasks and suggested dates for completing them.

  

How to Create a Delegate with My.Scouting.Org

If the unit's Key 3 wants to allow another registered leader to use Internet Rechartering (IR) 2.0, it may assign that leader the role of Delegate using the Position Manager function of my.scouting.org's Organization Manager.  The are two types of delegate roles, either of which can use IR 2.0.  A Key 3 Delegate is allowed to do anything in my.scouting.org that the CC or Unit Leader is allowed to do, including approval of youth applications.  A COR Delegate is allowed to do anything in my.scouting.org that the COR is allowed to do, including approval of adult applications. Throughout the remainder of this document, we have referred to the delegate as a Key 3 Delegate because that role has sufficient privileges to use IR 2.0. We strongly recommend that a unit that assign a Key 3 Delegate to use IR 2.0 instead of COR Delegate unless the unit wants the delegate to be able to approve adult applications. 

A unit can have up to three Key 3 Delegates at any time while it can have only one COR Delegate. If unit has already assigned the maximum number of leaders to the role it wants to use, it must replace one of the existing assignments.

Let’s take a look at a screenshot from the Position Manager function of the Organizational Manager tool in my.scouting.org on how to add a delegate for your unit. Just click on the ADD buttons to add a registered leader into these roles.

And remember, assigning a delegate to assist with recharter has other benefits for your unit. This allows one person to focus their attention on completing the online recharter as many CCs and CORs are busy with other aspects running a unit. This is also good for unit succession planning and allowing new adults to gain skills necessary to keep the unit running smooth.

For more information on Position Manager, see this help file.

Internet Rechartering 2.0

To learn how to use Internet Rechartering 2.0, we recommend the use of BSA's Internet Rechartering 2.0 User Guide and Internet Rechartering 2.0 Training Video.