Nothing your Scout unit can do raises community awareness more than a service project.
These good turns are some of our best marketing tools. They send the message that Scouts are here, making life better for others.
But where to start? I’ve collected 101 Scout service project ideas below. These should get you started, but really anything that fulfills a community need (and follows the BSA’s Guide to Safe Scouting) can count for service hours.
And those service hours count toward your Journey to Excellence, or JTE, score.
At the pack level, you can achieve JTE bronze status by completing two service projects in the year — and entering them on the JTE website. Complete three service projects, and you’ll get silver. If at least one of those three is conservation-oriented, you’ll get gold.
At the troop and team levels, it’s three projects a year for bronze, four for silver and five for gold. At the crew and ship levels, it’s two for bronze, three for silver and four for gold.
Service projects are required for Second Class, Star, and Life ranks. For Star and Life ranks, these may be individual projects or as a member of a patrol or troop project, including assisting on Eagle service projects. The Scoutmaster approves the project before it is started.
Resources
Scouts BSA Requirements
For Eagle Scout rank, the Scout, while a Life Scout, must plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project benefiting any religious institution, school, or community. An Eagle Scout project may not:
Fundraising is permitted only for securing materials needed to carry out the project. There are specific guidelines for fundraising, including a new Fundraising Application; see the Project Workbook for details.
There is no minimum number of hours that must be spent on carrying out the project. The amount of time spent must be sufficient for the Scout to clearly demonstrate leadership skills.
The most current Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook must be used to meet this requirement.
Paper copies of the workbook are available at the Firestone service centers. Only the official workbook is acceptable.
Read (and re-read several times) the workbook and carefully follow each step.
The project proposal MUST be approved by the following PRIOR to starting the project:
In completing the project workbook, be sure to provide all the information requested.
Resources
Comments, Questions, Concerns?
Email – advancement@colbsa.org
Please visit colbsa.org/hours for the holiday hours of the resource center and the scout shop.
