Use ESRI to Identify Growth Potential
Understanding your district is vital to increasing your membership. One tool available to help you do this is the ESRI Council Area Profile. This year, councils were again given the opportunity to purchase this custom report, which along with a TAY and density analysis, includes your council's Community Tapestry Membership Profile and a gap analysis. Councils have the option of receiving the data by zip code, census tract, or school district.
Community Tapestry
Community Tapestry divides the entire population into market segments based on lifestyle characteristics such as presence of children, age of householder, annual income, and consumer spending habits. The Council Area Profile combines this Tapestry data with your membership to identify segments of the population most likely to join Scouting, as well as in which neighborhoods these households are most likely to live.
Gap Analysis
The gap analysis gives the actual BSA membership in each zip code, census tract, or school district, minus the expected membership for that area. ESRI determines the expected membership by calculating the proportion of each Tapestry segment currently served by the council. For example, if 20 percent of your council's membership belongs to the "Main Street, USA" segment, and if there are 100 of those households with children in a particular zip code, there would be an expected membership of 20 youth in that zip code. If you had more than 20 youth members there, you would have a positive gap. If you had fewer than 20 members in that zip code you would have a negative gap.
Positive gaps show that your actual membership exceeds the calculated expected membership—you are exceeding expectations in that zip code. A negative gap tells you there are families in that zip code who have not yet joined Scouting but are very similar in demographics and lifestyle to those in other zip codes in your council who have joined. This can be used to help you locate the neighborhoods where you have the best chance of finding households that are likely to join Scouting. However, to ensure continued growth, it is also important to reach families from segments of the population that your council does not currently serve through Scouting. The gap analysis can also be used to help you identify those neighborhoods so you can develop a targeted recruitment plan for these families as well.
TAY and Density Analysis
Other features of the Council Area Profile include a Total Available Youth analysis and a density analysis. The TAY analysis gives you the total available youth in each zip code, census tract, or school district. It is also broken down by program (6- to 10-year-old males for Cub Scouts, 11- to 13-year-old males for Boy Scouts, 14- to 16-year-old males and females for Venturing). The density analysis tells you what your "market share" is in each zip code by dividing the actual membership by the TAY.
Using all of these tools can help you reach your membership goals by identifying the best areas for potential growth.
Ask your Scout executive if the Council Area Profile is available in your council. If you would like more information about how to use this tool, you can contact the Research Service at 972-580-2103.
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