Dear all,
Our OA lodges around the country work hard each year to deliver incredible programs, service, and impact to Scouting and to their communities. Each lodge strives to be the best lodge it can be and to ‘do its best.'
As you are well aware, at the end of each calendar year lodges file to have their Lodge Charter renewed. With this submission, they include their Lodge Performance Management Program (PMP) results. The Order has been using the PMP approach for several years, and it has helped lodges lift their sights higher and have a good understanding of what it means for a lodge to be thriving, high-performing, or even challenged in any particular area of lodge operation.
- Background: The Lodge Performance Measurement Program (PMP) has been used for the past five (5) years following the evolution from the BSA’s previous Journey to Excellence (JTE) program. PMP serves as a tool to understand how lodges have performed in the past and to look forward to helping OA lodges set local goals that allow them to get stronger, more effective, and provide greater impact year after year and have a fantastic OA lodge program. At the start of each year, a task force of the National Committee reviews all of the PMP data received to understand where our lodges are trending and which, if any, PMP standards are inconsistent (either high or low) with the reality of lodges. With this review, we consider tweaks to different measures – some going down, others going up – to keep expectations grounded in the realities of today vs. standards invented in the distant past. If there are any changes we vote to accept, we announce this in March – as opposed to waiting an entire year to implement them – so lodges have the best opportunity in front of them to be a lodge on the rise, High-Performing, or Thriving.
In looking at the data gathered from the latest recharter exercise and understanding the Order’s emphasis on membership growth for 2024 and beyond, the National Committee approved (on 18 March 2024) three slight shifts for the PMP worksheet. Those changes are:
- Item #4: Membership Retention goals for high-performing lodges move to 71% (from 70%) and for Thriving Lodges to 50% (from 45%).
- Item #5: Membership Growth goals for High Performing lodges move to 5% (from 4%)
- Item #10: Lodge Leadership Development goals for High Performing lodges move to 13% (from 11%)
All other items remain unchanged from 2023.
This year will be a special one for the Order of the Arrow, especially as many of us come together in Boulder, Colorado, for the 2024 NOAC. I hope to meet you there, and, as always, please reach out if there is anything I can do to support you and the critical role you play in the development of the youth and members of your lodge.
Your friend,
Chris Grove
National OA Chair