A PROPOSAL
Nobody had a bad experience. Nobody had a great one either.
Most families don't leave Scouting because of the program. They leave because the pack's communication breaks down, or the program just becomes too much to keep up with. A pack position exists to fix exactly this. Most packs don't have it. So I'm proposing an AI-assisted New Member Coordinator: a system that does the family-communications work for the volunteers who can't keep up with it.
Jeremy Fuksa
THE FAMILY
They don't leave the program.
They leave the mess.
Every week brings a pile of new messages — when they get sent at all. Some come late. Some are full of insider jargon. Some never arrive, because the volunteer who was supposed to send them got busy. The family doesn't see a communication problem; they see a pack that doesn't have it together. So they leave.
“I was so lost! And I didn't want to interrupt the meeting to ask what something meant.”
Pack 247
iMessage
Don't forget Tuesday at GS, 6:30.
Working on Bobcat reqs + handshake.
Kits drop at B&G — sign up via the form Sue sent.
Notifications
Joe Lewis (Cubmaster)
Hey Sue can you call the Patterson family? They didn't show last week
Hendricks family
Sorry to bother but when is the next den meeting?
Mrs. Patterson
RE: Tuesday meeting — quick question…
Kim family
is my son in the right uniform?
Den 4 parents
Anybody know when the Pinewood kits are dropping?
THE PACK
The volunteers are drowning in work nobody trained them for.
The work of keeping a family from falling through the cracks is CRM work: knowing what each family needs, and reaching them at the right cadence. Scouting America created the New Member Coordinator position to do exactly that. Only 15% of packs have it filled, and about 2.5% of those bring any professional marketing experience. Retention keeps a pack — and the program itself — alive, and it's implicitly assigned to 628,000 volunteers who were never trained to do it.
Pack Memory
Pack 247
Sunday · 9:14 PM
Answered the Hendricks family — they asked whether a uniform was required for Tuesday. I told them a pack t-shirt is fine for now.
Auto-handled · No action needed
Tonight · while you were out
- · Nudged 2 RSVPs for Tuesday's den meeting
- · Sent Bobcat handbook link to the Kim family
- · Followed up on Patterson permission slip
- · Confirmed the Pinewood Derby kit delivery
A SOLUTION
An AI New Member Coordinator that is always available.
A family asks at 9pm — what's a Bobcat, where do I get the handbook, is my kid behind — and gets an immediate answer, written for their pack and at their comfort level. RSVPs get nudged on Sunday night. Permission slips get followed up before the meeting. The volunteer stops being the bottleneck. And nothing falls through.
Pack 247
iMessage
Generic
Welcome to Pack 247! We are excited to have you join our Scouting journey. Please bring your scout to our weekly meetings.
With Pack Memory
Hey — Sue here, from Pack 247. Tuesday's Bear den meets at 6:30 in Mrs. Patterson's classroom at Good Shepherd. Wear whatever — a pack t-shirt is plenty if you don't have a uniform yet. I'll find you when you walk in.
Pack Memory
Pack 247
For you · 1 decision
The Patterson family hasn't engaged in 9 days. A check-in before Tuesday tends to bring families back.
12 handled this week
- · Nudged Patterson family — confirmed RSVP
- · Sent welcome packet to Hendricks
- · Answered “what's a Bobcat?” for Kim family
- · Reminded Den 4 about Tuesday's meeting
- · Followed up on Pinewood Derby signups
WHAT IT LEARNS
A different cadence for every family.
Week two, the messages start fitting. The jargon gets explained. The reminders come on Sunday night, when the family is actually sitting still long enough to read them. Week six, the cadence feels like someone is paying attention. Week ten, the family feels included and cared for. They stay.
Pack 247
iMessage
Hey — Sue here, from Pack 247. Tuesday's Bear den meets at 6:30 in Mrs. Patterson's classroom at Good Shepherd. Wear whatever — a pack t-shirt is plenty if you don't have a uniform yet. I'll find you when you walk in. We'll be working on Bobcat that night.
What's a Bobcat?
Pack Memory
First rank every new Cub earns — Scout Oath, Law, sign, salute. Your kid is learning it now, just like everybody starts.
ABOUT ME
I am an amplifier.
A creative director of mine once called me an amplifier. The work I do is to recognize a good idea, give it shape, and make it land. This is what that looks like.
Scouting America has named a retention problem. This is just the beginning of a possible idea to tackle it.
I'm Jeremy Fuksa. I work fluently across creative, engineering, and AI. I'm looking for senior product or design strategy roles.