Guides4Guides is a project of Outdoor Service Guides. This website aims to share handbooks, ideas, planning tools, and other resources to help the Outdoor Service Guides’ leaders succeed at scouting, leading, and managing a group. There are many aspects to running an OSG group well and not all of us have experienced everything. Some of us were scouts ourselves before we became leaders. Some of us have never scouted before but have good organizational skills. Some of us are totally new and just don’t know where to begin. Guides4Guides is here to help by giving you the resources you need so your scouting group can have fun together and thrive.
What is OSG?
Outdoor Service Guides (OSG) is an inclusive, co-ed, outdoor, and service-focused scouting organization in the United States. The organization was founded in the early 2000s and has served as a safe space for all scouts to grow, learn, and be of service to their communities in the years since.
- We strive to be radically inclusive and have been from the beginning. We want to bring the magic of scouting to everyone and make the game of scouting something everyone can enjoy.
- We are closely based on the original vision of scouting. This means we wear uniforms, go outside, teach kids outdoor skills, learn to be self-reliant and part of a team, and celebrate scouts for doing their best.
- We are run and managed by volunteers. We are a group of dedicated families working together to make great things happen for our families and communities. It’s all for the love of the game.
- We have a narrow focus: scout craft and service. We do these two things with passion and we do them exceptionally well.
- We are community-oriented and family-friendly. We have appropriate space for every member of a family who wants to scout.
- We empower youth, building confidence through outdoor skills and encouraging teamwork and leadership.
- We also foster a devotion to service where these skills are used to better our communities and develop a sense of belonging and citizenship in our communities.
Outdoor Service Guides is a member of the World Federation of Independent Scouts (WFIS). For more information, please visit: https://www.outdoorserviceguides.org
How is OSG organized?
The National OSG organization is divided into seven regions: North East, New York City, South, Midwest, South West, West, and California. Each region has a commissioner whose job is to help individual scout groups, ensure our leaders are appropriately background-checked and provide a conduit of communication and training between the National Commissioner and our members in the respective region.
In addition to the different regional commissioners, there is a Board of Directors that appoint a Chief Commissioner, Treasurer, and Secretary. There are other teams working under the direction of the Chief on various target areas, such as Training, Media and Outreach, Diversity and Inclusion, and Quartermaster. These dedicated volunteers are all usually leaders within their own local groups. OSG is an all-volunteer organization.
What is this website all about?
Our goal with this website is to build a resource to help scouts and potential scouts. There is a lot of great information about how to start a scout group, how to run a meeting, and even what to eat for dinner when on a camping trip. We’ll be adding information here on campsites we think are great, service projects, and upcoming training events or regional moots.
This is a work in progress and a product of our community. If you have an idea for something you would like to see included, want to write a blog post to share something your group has done, or have a question you want us to answer, please let us know. We are doing this with our Rover motto in mind: Service. How can we be of service to you?
What is all this BPSA stuff I keep seeing?
Outdoor Service Guides was formerly BPSA or Baden Powell Service Association. We made the decision to change our name in July 2020 and confirmed the new name in 2021 after much deliberation. This site features some resources that were created before the name change. These resources still have great games, ideas, and activities, so we will continue to share them here.