Important Changes to Membership Card and Charter Certificate Printing Requirements
The BSA is committed to streamlining basic operations by putting tools in the hands of volunteers. For several years now, individuals and unit key 3 have had access to print membership cards through my.Scouting. In addition, functionality will be added to my.Scouting by January 1, 2019, to enable members of the unit key 3 to print their unit Charter Certificate.
This “self-service” functionality allows volunteers to print membership cards and the unit charter certificate in a timely manner and enhances the onboarding experience for new youth and adults.
Effective January 1, 2019, councils will no longer be required to print and mail membership cards to council and district volunteers and traditional Scouting units. This is a change to the council membership validation requirement. In addition, councils will no longer print and deliver unit charter certificates.
Councils can choose to keep their remaining stock of BSA membership cards and charter certificates on hand to print cards and certificates for individuals and units that have no means to print.
Currently there is no mechanism in place for individuals participating in Learning for Life and Exploring to print cards or participation certificates. Your council can choose to continue to print and distribute cards and certificates for Learning for Life groups, Exploring Posts and Clubs as a courtesy, but as of January 1, 2019, it will no longer be a membership validation requirement.
Councils should begin communicating to volunteers now in preparation for this change. Units should be prepared to print their unit membership cards and charter certificate for the current renewal period.