How to Start a Cub Scout Pack

The cub scouts are part of the Boy Scouts organization, which was originally founded in England by Colonel Robert Baden-Powell.  The Boy Scouts of America celebrated their 100th year anniversary in 2011.  The cub scouts are for boys in 1st thru 5th grades and are designed to teach kids values and respect they will use the rest of their lives.

A Cub Scout Pack is a group of 1st thru 5th graders that are organized into dens.  Each den has about 8-10 kids split at each grade level and some packs have multiple dens for each grade level.

Cub Scouts are divided into Tiger Cubs (1st grade), Wolves (2nd grade), Bears (3rd grade), and Webelos (4th & 5th grades).

When you make the decision to start a cub scout pack you will need to do a few things:

1. You will need to determine which council you will belong to.  Each Pack belongs to a council, so first thing is to determine which council supports your zip code.  This is an easy task to do by using the Local Council Locator.  You should contact your council and

2. Once you find a council, you will need a charter organization for your pack.  A charter organization provides the public support for the pack and is an organization like a school, church, American Legion, Lyons club, or VFW.  The organization should have a representative that is your contact for the organization.

3. The third part is a place to meet, which is usually a common place that the scouts attend like an elementary school or church.  You should be looking to sign up about 20-30 scouts.

The next step is to organize a pack leadership team called the pack council.  As you are the one looking to start the scout pack, your energy will be the key to getting the pack going and on the right track for success years to come.  You will need to look for high energy people to fill the following positions:

• Cubmaster - The cubmaster is the liason to the charter representative and provides the leadership to the pack.  The cubmaster provides the direction for the activities the pack will be participating in.  The cubmaster attends the monthly council meetings.  Finally, the cubmaster is the emcee at the monthly pack meetings.
• Assistant Cubmaster - The assistant cubmaster supports the cubmaster and will eventually take over for the cubmaster.
• Committee Chairperson - The committee chairperson makes sure that all the paperwork is filled out and turned in and runs the monthly committee meetings.
• Treasurer - The treasurer takes care of all the pack finances.
• Den Leaders - The den leader runs the den meetings, keeps track of the cub scout awards within the den, and ensures they are on track for graduating to the next level.
• Committee Member - a committee member helps with the direction of the pack and attends the monthly committee meetings.  A committee member usually holds one of the positions below.

Although not required, the following positions help spread the work of the pack across more people.

• Popcorn Kernel - the popcorn kernel is the head of the major fundraising effort for the pack.  More about the popcorn kernel and fundraising below.
• Awards - having a person who is responsible for going to the scout store and getting all the rewards to be handed out at the pack meeting.
• Hiking Coordinator - our pack has a hiking program, where every month of the year we go on a hike.  The hiking coordinator schedules the hikes, tracks the miles for each scout, and hands out awards for the scout.  This scout hiking program page is a great resource.

The council and the national BSA provides training for each of these positions which is required as part of the scout program. 

Once you have decided to start a cub scout pack, you will need money for awards, events, and anything else you want to pay for.  For example, our pack pays for the niekerchief and slide, pinewood derby car, and summertime pool party.  The pack raises money two ways, through pack fees and pack fundraisers.

Pack fees are collected when a scout signs up for the year.  The pack fees cover the council and national fees and additional money for the pack.

The second way is fundraising.  The cub scouts and boy scouts have a national fundraiser selling popcorn in the fall.  The popcorn kernel coordinates this fundraiser for the pack and attempts to raise enough money to cover the budget agreed upon by the committee.  This fundraiser is also available online throughout the year, so some ambitious scout can create web page and sell cub scout popcorn online throughout the year.

If the popcorn fundraiser didn't riase enough money based on your budget, then you will need to determine if you will cut things out of the budget or try and raise additional money through various other methods.  You can check out the following page to learn about different cub scout fundraisers.

You will need to make time for all the meetings that will become part of your life as you immerse yourself into Cub Scouts.

• Monthly Council Meetings - These meetings help you stay informed of what is going on with the council and what to communicate with your pack.
• Monthly Pack Meetings - These meetings let you hand out rewards, communicate with your pack, and do things like the Pinewood Derby and of course my favorite activity, Cub Scout Skits.
• Den Meetings - These meetings are for each den to meet separately and work on their requirements for advancement.  Dens also schedule outings to local area businesses, police stations, fire stations, etc.
• Pack Outings - These may include family camp outs where you can make campfire cobbler, pool parties, marching in a Fourth of July parade, Scout camps, monthly Hikes, and just about anything else.  Make sure you are following your councils guidelines for outings and filling out the proper paperwork.
• Roundups - Pack leaders use roundups to recruit new scouts to the organization.

Finally, you'll want to continually learn about your new organization, which includes finding great books for scout leaders.