Adult Volunteers in Scouts BSA
You are wondering as a parent whether you can volunteer with your child's Scouts BSA Troop. Or perhaps you have been approached by the Scoutmaster or Committee Chair to get involved.
The best place to start is to talk to the existing adults in the Troop. Get to know them and they you.
Roundtables offer continuous training for Scouts BSA Leaders and typically meet once a month in your district. For times consult your district page.
Position specific and advanced training are offered on a regular basis, talk to your district key three for dates and times.
Much training is available at your my.scouting.org account.
Training for Adult volunteers in Scouts BSA
All training is online: Log on to my.scouting.org for YPT and online training
Some training is classroom / face-to-face training.
There are three types of adult volunteers in a typical Scouts BSA troop.
Merit Badge Counselors
Scoutmasters and Assistant Scoutmasters
Committee Chairs and Committee Members
(1) Merit Badge Counselor
If you have a skill or a hobby there is probably a merit badge for it. So read through the list and see how you can help. You must be a registered leader to be a merit badge counselor, but there is no registration fee if you are a paid volunteer in another position. If you sign up to be only a merit badge counselor, then the fee is $25 per year.
Live National videocast 2nd Wednesday of the Month at 2 pm. Past episodes recorded and available.
First episode is February 8, 2023Join us at 2 p.m. Central on the Scouting magazine Facebook page or YouTube channel.
(2) Assistant Scoutmaster
These volunteers serve the program side of the Scouts BSA Troop. You must be a registered leader for this position.
View Scouts BSA "How to" videos on Scouting.org
At the time of this linking there were 191 videos on
The troop meeting (23 videos)
General Information (21 videos, many on youth positions of responsibility)
Activities (64 videos)
Campcraft Skills (59 videos) and
Program Features (24 videos).
click on the link below.