Organizations That Operate Scouting Units

Civic, faith-based, and educational organizations operate Scouting units to deliver the programs to their youth members, as well as the community at large.
Approximately 120,000 Scouting units are owned and operated by chartered
organizations. Of these:

Providing adequate meeting facilities
Providing quality leadership for the Scouting unit
Appointing a chartered organization representative to coordinate all Scouting unit operations within the organization

Source: 2008 Boy Scouts of America Local Council Index, using December 31, 2008, membership data

Name of Organization	Total Units	Total Youth
Parent-teacher groups other than PTAs	4,789	181,249
Private schools	3,099	94,862
Parent Teacher Associations/ Parent Teacher Organizations	2,025	76,881

The 20 civic organizations or groups with the largest Scouting youth membership

Source: 2008 Boy Scouts of America Local Council Index, using December 31, 2008,
membership data

Name of Organization	Total Units	Total Youth
Groups of citizens	4,688	132,255
Business/industry	3,452	75,905
Lions International	2,628	72,017
American Legion and Auxiliary	2,744	71,596
Other community organizations	2,270	60,277
Rotary International	1,483	45,528
Fire departments	1,386	34,325
Kiwanis International	1,102	34,283
VFW, Auxiliary, Cootie	1,161	32,566
Community centers	1,458	32,427
Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs	816	27,334
Elks lodges (BPOE)	846	23,208
Nonprofit agencies	643	16,172
Playgrounds, recreation centers	584	15,213
Athletic booster clubs	588	14,675
Chambers of commerce, business associations	487	13,496
Homeowners’ associations	401	12,262
YWCA, YMCA	456	10,738
Optimist International	274	9,509
Loyal Order of Moose	320	8,412

The 24 faith-based organizations with the largest Scouting youth membership

Source: 2008 Boy Scouts of America Local Council Index, using December 31, 2008,
membership data

Name of Organization	Total Units	Total Youth
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints	37,146	402,127
United Methodist Church	11,499	367,238
Catholic Church	9,265	291,443
Presbyterian Church	3,801	124,861
Lutheran Church	4,176	120,912
Baptist Churches	4,351	105,303
Episcopal Church	1,259	41,841
United Church of Christ, Congregational Church	1,311	40,076
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)	1,283	34,401
Community Churches	1,099	30,445
Other churches	1,000	25,356
Church of Christ	580	15,225
Evangelical/independent churches	314	7,453
Church of God	267	5,880
The Salvation Army	225	4,856
Jewish synagogues and centers	204	4,330
Church of the Nazarene	160	4,197
Reformed Church in America	129	3,908
Church of the Brethren	130	3,291
African Methodist Episcopal	207	3,107
Assemblies of God	77	2,117
Pentecostal Churches	137	1,954
Islam, Muslim, Masjid	100	1,910
Buddhist Churches of America	55	1,481