• by Tanya Gazdik , May 12, 2024

After 114 years, the Boy Scouts of America is changing its name to Scouting America.

“The Scouts have seen dwindling membership numbers in recent years and currently have just over one million members,” according to PBS. “That includes 176,000 girls and young women, with over 6,000 achieving the highest rank of Eagle Scout.”

In a move towards inclusivity, the Boy Scouts stopped excluding openly gay youths from its activities in 2013.

The rebranding comes as the organization seeks to embrace inclusivity and distance itself from recent scandals. The organization continues to emerge from bankruptcy and is paying out more than $2 billion to men who say they were sexually abused as scouts.

“However you identify your gender, that is not a matter to us. Our concern is how to help you grow as an individual -- how we can best serve you," said Communications Director Gordon Shattles, adding that the new brand encourages an open-door policy to recruit more diverse members, including those in the LGBTQ community.

"We are opening this up so that we say, really, 'Scouting is for everyone and we welcome you,'" Shattles told CBS News. 

There are three lessons from the name change that marketers “should embrace as you work to build a brand that is inclusive of the people you’ve chosen to serve, regardless of their identity,” according to Forbes.

All decisions should be values-led, names changes are only starting points to belonging, and where you start isn’t where you have to stay, per Forbes. 

Not everyone is enamored with the new name.

“For many, the name change is only further confirmation that the Boy Scouts have abandoned their traditional role of instilling traditional masculine virtues in boys, becoming yet one more arm of a progressive culture-war blob,” according to the National Review. “Although America is currently undergoing another acknowledged crisis for boys and men, the Boy Scouts of America won’t be there to meet their needs.”