The Troop Discussion Forum and Crew Discussion Forum, aids in administration, scheduling, polling, accounting, mass emails, and funding of Venturing Crew and Scout Troop activities. It supports an integrated on-line store, accepts monetary donations and approved registration/activity fee through your Paypal account and Paypal chip reader.
The Discussion Forum comes with pre-installed forums and topics needed to operate a Troop/Crew efficiently. It allows the administration more free time during meetings to Train the Scouts, endorsing them to lead, and approval of them to run the show.
It is the ideal social media for a Venturing Crew and Scout Troop! Forums and topics sections can be private for Troop/Crew members only or public to inform the community of Troop/Crew activities and aid in fund raising.
Unlike Facebook, you control all aspects of the Troop's/Crew's web presence and web page content providing a consistent presentation of up to date, easily found, and relevant on-going Troop/Crew activities.
zcrewdiscuss.us is neither associated with, nor endorsed by, the Boy Scouts of America.
This site opens popup windows. Why? It will reduce the number of clicks to get the information you desire and your browser tabs are not cluttered up. Most modern browsers allow popups by site so allow them for this site in your browser.
Crew Discuss has a fully customizable home page which you design using BB codes or HTML/CSS.
Great tool for Scouts to earn their programming and digital technology Merit badges and Venturing Nova Award in the Computers STEM exploration.
Public Information
Information you wish shown to the public is easily defined and all the other information can be made private for the Troop/Crew eyes only.
Cash Book Spreadsheet
An Xcel spreadsheet is provided to keep accounts for each Troop/Crew member and The Tropps/Crews general account.
Calander
Crew Discuss includes a calendar of events for quick reference with entries that link back to the Crew Discuss Message board Topic where all the event details are found.
Polling
Poll the Crew for their activity and service project preferences. Supports on-line discussion of the activity and service so that the Troop/Crew is fully cognizant of the trade-offs and can make their decision on how to vote before the meeting. Meeetings are therfore streamlined as to administration and business of the day.
Donations
Accept donations for specific programs with specific fund raising goals.
Supports a Paypal payment portal.
On-line Store
Set up a store on your message board using Ecwid. Sale products that the Crew produces to raise funds.
Accept payments for registration and activity fees. You can accept payment wherever you have Cell phone coverage using the Ecwid application and the Paypal's chip reader.
Background
We have developed "Crew Discuss" and Troop Discuss, both Scouting Discussion Boards.
We were motivated to create the message board due to our involvement with a Venturing Crew where we observed that the regular meetings were mainly talking, repeating information for benefit of members, and very little doing.
Meetings should be focused on accomplishments, training, experiences, leadership development exercises, actually creating something and skill development. Boy Scout meetings are just that where Scouts are given time to work on the requirements for advancement. Now our Venturing Crew experience may be atypical of Crews in general but the The "Crew Discuss" tool will eliminate much of the administration of a Venturing Crew.
We live in a new era where people can bounce ideas off of a community of people around the world having common interests using message boards. A Scout Troop, Patrol, and adult leaders need a message board where the Troop can discuss among themselves privately the issues and activities that are top center in the minds of the scouts. Having a private message board will foster Troop spirit, build teamwork, and develop comradery within the Troop without influences and distractions from outside the Troop or Crew.
"Troop Discuss" and "Crew Discuss" are messaging Board AKA Discussion Forum where information is disseminated to the Troop/crew and where the Troop/crew can comment on proposed activities. It also is a means to fund the Troop/Crew through advertisements and donations, and an online store. It supports all of the documentation needed to coordinate an outing, community service, special project, recruitment, and fund raising. The messaging board has public forums to provide a web presence for the Troop/Crew to introduce the public to the Troop's/Crew's objectives and accomplishments.
It takes so much time and effort to administer a Troop/Crew! The Troop Discuss and Crew Discuss eliminates most of that time so there is more opportunity spent on projects and outings and working with the Venturing Crew. The adult leadership is relieved of the administration as that role is assumed by a discussion board administrator who is one of the Troop/Crew who operates and maintains the "Troop Discuss and Crew Discuss"message board.
"Troop Discuss" and "Crew Discuss" are simpler choice for administration accessible online by leadership, parents, and members. The primary purpose of "Troop Discuss" and "Crew Discuss" is to facilitate discussion via posting. It is a Much better solution than Facebook. "Troop Discuss" and "Crew Discuss" is well within the capabilities of the 14-20 year old members and it is fun and is a more focused social media for a Troop/Crew. It can become a focal point for conducting the business of the Troop/Crew.
The mission of the Scouts BSA is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law. There are four aims of Scouting: citizenship, character, personal fitness, and leadership. Scouts become examples of responsibility and maturity through service to their community, their environment, and their God. Scouts discover their futures through hands-on exploration of hundreds of possible careers. Scouts challenge themselves as they earn merit badges, advance through the ranks of Scouting, and grow as a leader.
Scouts BSA is a year-round program for boys and girls age 11 through age 18. The Scouts BSA program is not co-ed. The youth are organized into separate troops by gender. So now the entire family can reap the rewards of scouting.
Family involvement is an essential part of Scouting and parents are encouraged to play an active role. Scouting is a rewarding program where youth can learn, lead, grow and participate in a world of exciting outdoor activities. There is nothing more rewarding than helping young people take their first steps down the path to success. Scouting can benefit all families from all walks of life and all backgrounds.
The foundation of Scouting is embodied in the:
Scout Oath: On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.
Scout Law: A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.
Venturing is youth-led and youth-inspired. Youths acquire life skills and gain experiences that will prove to be valuable regardless of where their future takes them, all while having a blast: leadership, event-planning, organization, communication, responsibility — the list goes on!
Scouting and Venturing is all about empowering youth with new skills. Troop/Crew members would be responsible for operating and maintaining the "Troop Discuss" and "Crew Discuss" Messaging Boards. In that vain, we can mentor your BSA Ventruing Troop/CrewDiscuss administrators at no extra cost.
"Troop Discuss" and "Crew Discuss" is hosted on our servers supporting HTTPS: security. phpBB has all the essential security and anti-spam features.
When hosted on our servers your "Troop Discuss" and "Crew Discuss" message boards will have a subdomain name of your choosing, for example "crewxxxx.zcrewdiscuss.us". If you desire you can purchase a top level domain and we can point your "Troop Discuss" and "Crew Discuss" message boards to it.
"Troop Discuss" and "Crew Discuss" has been extended from the core phpBB to include:
During registration on "Troop Discuss" and "Crew Discuss" by prospective adult leadership and crew members, vital information is collected to include:
Contact information
Age, Occupation, and Gender
Venturing Activity interest survey
Program Capability Inventory
Preferred style and language
BSA registration fees and event participation fees can be collected via PayPal and deposited to the Troop's/Crew's banking account. The cash book spreadsheet can be updated with the new receipts and credited to the Troop/crew members account.
Account activation after Registration must be approved by the board administrator. In this way access to the board would be granted only if the person is registered with the BSA and other criteria such as the registrant is the parent of the crew member.
COPPA registrations is supported which requires parental approval for children under the age of 13 to register on the board. If needed "Troop Discuss" and "Crew Discuss" can facilitate this functionality.
Media Rich
"Troop Discuss" and "Crew Discuss" forums, topics, and replies support attachment of
pictures
audio recordings
video recordings
PDF's and other files
These media are to aid the troop/crew in conveying the ideas and plans to other troop/crew members.
Links to Topics and Posts and to external web sites can be inserted in posts and the calendar.
Coordination among the TROOP/Crew has never been so easy
Adult leadership workload is minimized as the "Troop Discuss" and "Crew Discuss" message boards is administered by Troop/Crew member(s) and data entry is made by Crew members.
Project teams facilitated via the online team member discussion forums
Save the trees, dissemination of all information needed by the Troop/Crew is online without need for paper handouts. Forms can be downloaded, completed, and attached to replies.
Attract new TRoop/Crew members by publicizing upcoming events and the benefits of Scouting
PayPal integration, Troop/Crew funding through donate buttons, and on-line store, advertisements, links to crowd funding, and fee collection.
Promote fiscal responsibility, Online Cash Book Spreadsheet showing Troop/Crew income and expense, and Troop/Crew member account balances
A public or private calendar of events with each event having a link back to the relevant board topic.
