How we made a real turnaround

to growthANNA MUNSTERHJELM & ANNA KOLEHMAINEN

THE HELSINKI METROPOLITAN AREA GUIDES AND SCOUTSTHE GUIDES AND SCOUTS OF FINLAND

This is us• One of the biggest scout districts in Finland with 8000-11 000 members. • Consists of three cities and one village = The Helsinki Metropolitan Area with one million inhabitants all together.

• 130 local groups, 10-15 employees, 300 volunteers. Annual budget approximately 1,5 million euros.

• paakaupunkiseudunpartiolaiset.fi/in-english

What we did

Once upon a time...• Number of members had decreased for 20 years in Finland. • In fall 2011 we decided to change the direction and made the Growth Plan.

• The Growth Plan was launched in our District Assembly and in regional meetings.

• The Growth Motivation Movie was watched over 1000 times in the first week.

• The Growth Project was led by the District Leader and the employee responsible for local group support. (That means us.)

Scouting is for everyoneGrowth Motivation Movie (in Finnish): vimeo.com/30650608

The Growth Plan• We (as a district) committed to 6 Growth Acts: • Launching new web page focused on marketing • Direct marketing sent to first-graders and their parents • Marketing materials for local groups • Founding three new local groups • Campaign for pre-schoolers • Launching a website offering concrete tips of using the Youth Programme for group leaders

• Local groups committed to 3 Growth Acts: • Taking more members (at least one extra group) • Marketing • Doing Scouting better

Local Group’s Growth Plan

We get more

members We are more visible

We work better

How we involved everyone• We took a good grip of the local groups: • We gave two options: to growth or to garbage? • We met every local group and offered tailored tools for growth. • Every local group made their own Growth Plan we worked on together several times. • We sent reminders to those who hadn’t payed their membership fee. • We rewarded the local groups that had the largest growth.

• We challenged every scout in the district to do their share: • Make a Growth Promise! • Leading by example: Leaders led new packs by themselves • We asked everyone to bring a friend to Scouting

You couldn’t escape the Growth!

• We published new posts every week on The Growth Blog (partiokuuluukaikille.com) • Success stories • Practical tips • Yes we can! Motivation • Making Scouting more cool, uplifting our brand

• Facebook: Make a Growth Promise! The Growth Challenge of the Month • Scouting Quote pics to share on social media

• Growth was mentioned in every newsletter we send

• Every event and course was promoting The Growth Project

A winning concept: Not-yet-scout

• An easy way to get to know Scouting or try Scouting no matter of age

• Scouts could ask their friends to come to weekly meetings and events • A big NYS-campaign on Valentine’s Day (Friendship Day in Finland)

• NYS-friends could even participate our district camp in summer 2012

• Term not-yet-scout has now spread to whole Finland

What we learned during the first year of Growth Project

Some things did not work out...

• Direct marketing letters to first-graders and their parents didn’t do the trick. (We just lost our money.) The next year we send them our magazine (for kids) and a volunteer leaflet (for parents).

• The Growth Challenge of the Month didn’t succeed as well. Maybe it just complicated our message? • We realized that our organization couldn’t support growth.

• It was hard to get any useful support from the national organization so we had to manage on our own. Luckily we found some good benchmark from Sweden and UK.

... But most worked out very well!

• Not-yet-scout concept was super. 500 NYSs participated the district camp.

• The campaign for pre-schoolers reached 2500 six-year-old kids. That is 1/3 of the age group. • The local groups really committed to their Growth Plans and worked hard.

• The Helsinki Metropolitan Area got to know Scouting more than ever. Scouting was more visible in media and in the street view.

• We founded three new local groups.

• 40 extra groups were founded in 2012.

• Reminding people of their membership fee was good business.

31.7.2013For the first time in

twenty years the decrease of our members had stopped.

We realized: If you want a big change, you have to make big changes

• Strategy cannot be outsourced. If you want longlasting growth, you can’t do it just as a project (because all projects end at some point). • We made three big changes: • Change of attitude. Scouting is for everyone! It’s not an inside thing.

• Change of the way we work. From planning to doing. From either/or to both/and.

• Change of organization.

Our new organization 1.1.2013-

GROUPS REPRESENTED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD

LOCAL GROUP

SUPPORT

TRAININGEDUCATION

PROGRAMME (EVENTS)

RECRUITINGVOLUNTEER

SUPPORT

COMMUNICATIONS

ADVOCACY

> TO TAKE CARE THAT YOUTH PROGRAMME

RUNS IN LOCAL GROUPS

> TO TAKE CARE THAT LOCAL GROUPS HAVE

ENOUGH RESOURCES AND SCOUTING IS KNOWN

AND VISIBLE IN OUR AREA.

So where are we now?

Scouting reaches more people in the Helsinki area than ever

• The campaign for pre-schoolers reaches 2500-3000 six-year-old kids in a year. • The ”Week of Adventure” campaign for first- and second-graders reaches 6500 pupils in a year.

• Recruiting, volunteer support and advocacy are becoming a routine (board member, district level groups and an employee). We have also started a new model of how to support local groups.

• We are continuously founding new local groups (this year at least 4).

• We are taking care of diversity and integrating immigrants by founding internationally-oriented local groups and cooperating with immigrants’ organizations.

31.8.2013We got the best feedback,

award and push to keep going: the number of our members

had increased 8 % in a year.

Our next challenges (and how we are tackling them)

• In year 2014 our theme will be Be prepared, be a friend. Every scout in our district will bring one friend to scouting. Personal contact is the best way to get more people in scouting. And the growth will continue.

• Integration of immigrants is a big issue in Helsinki Metropolitan area. We will arrange summer camps together with immigrants’ associations. We are also founding English-speaking groups.

• Helsinki Metropolitan Area is getting more inhabitants all the time. We found new local groups to the new areas (about 3/year).

• We are building even stronger system to support our local groups and volunteers.

Why we think we made it

We had one goal.

We did it together.

We worked our asses off.

We made big changes.

Want to grow? Start now.

• Have one clear goal.

• Choose the best change leader/leaders.

• Make a simple plan.

• Involve every person. You cannot communicate too much.

• Try out new (even crazy) ideas. Do it often.

• Work hard.

• Reward and throw parties - even for the smallest achievements.

• Be ready to make big changes.

• Yes you can! What is difficult, can be done immediately. What is impossible, takes a little more time.

Phew. Thank you!Want to know more?Anna Munsterhjelm Anna KolehmainenDistrict Commissioner Regional Manageranna.munsterhjelm@partio.fi anna.kolehmainen@partio.fiTwitter @annamun Twitter @kolehmaisenanna