Filling in the Project Proposal

Filling out your project proposal doesn’t need to be difficult, but it can be if you try to do it alone. Here are some page by page, question by question helps for how to enter your proposal for your Eagle Project.

Your application should be typed. It doesn’t have to be, but typing it is a way that you can show that becoming an Eagle is important to you – and it is courteous to everyone else who will read your project. Hand written workbooks are often hard to read, and they are harder to revise if you need to make changes. You can access the form online here: http://scouting.org/filestore/pdf/512-927_fillable.pdf. Save the file to your computer before using it.

Pages 2-5

Read these pages. These pages contain the guidelines for choosing an eagle project and list the restrictions to the types of projects that can be chosen. Not  all worthy causes make great eagle projects.

Page 6

This contact page needs to be filled out before your project will be approved. This is a list of people who play a key role in completing your project. Contact your scout leader or your project coach if you don’t know some of the people.

Page 7

Fill your name in on the blank. See how easy this is.

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Briefly describe your project: This is a short statement that explains what you are going to accomplish. It should be written almost like a checklist. Here are some examples.

•         For my project I will lead a group of volunteers and refurbish 4 picnic tables at Mutual Dell. Eagle table will be sanded, puttied, primed and painted.
•         For my project I will lead a group of volunteers to cut and sand 300 wooden shapes for Primary Children’s Hospital.

Tell how your project will be helpful to the beneficiary. Why is it needed? – This is an important paragraph. You will use these reasons as you try to recruit help.

•        The tables currently are in disrepair and full of splinters. They aren’t used very much. Refurbishing the tables will make them safer to use and people will be able to enjoy using them.
•        Patients paint and play the shapes as a diversion from the cancer treatments. By completing this project we can help children have fun and take their minds off their cancer treatments for a while.

When do you plan to begin work on the project? Provide an estimated date when you would your main project event. This can be a specific date or a broad range, like saying “Around the first part of July.”

How long do you think it will take to complete? Many scouts put days or weeks as their response to this question. However, put your response in hours. If you think it is going to take 4 hours to do the project and you have 10 people including you helping, your estimate would be 40 hours. You should also include the preparation time. A good leader is able to estimate the workload of a project. When you ask people to help with your project you should be able to provide them an estimate of the time commitment you expect.  

Approximately how many people will be needed to complete this project? Some projects require 20 helpers while others only 5. If you have too many, they will be bored and think you wasted their time. If you recruit too few, they might be working for longer than they anticipated. Part of being a good leader is figuring out how many people you need for the task.

Where will you recruit them (unit members, friends, neighbors, family, others)? Explain: You are not limited scout labor for your project – you can recruit anyone to help you. My only caution with this question is that you need to recruit people you can lead. If you recruit all adults and leaders it might be harder for you to show leadership during your project.

What do you think will be most difficult about leading them? A good leader is able to anticipate problems and solve them before they happen. This question is trying to get you to think ahead.

Materials/Supplies/Tools Scouts frequently get these items mixed up. To know the correct category for an item, you only need to ask yourself one question: At the end of the project, what am I going to do with this item.

Materials are items that become part of the project. At the end of the project you will leave them. Examples would be cement, gravel, wood, nails, and paint.

Supplies are items that you are going to throw away at the end of the project – they get used up as part of the project.  Examples would be tarps, garbage bags, donuts, water bottles, sand paper, etc.

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Tools are items that you will take home with you at the end of the project. This would include shovels, saws, paint brushes, etc.

Permits and Permissions – Will you need to secure permissions and permits (for example, building permits)? Who will obtain them? How much will they cost? How long will it take to secure them?  Some projects may require extra permits. Ask the benefiting organization about permits. Some instances when you may need a permit might be if you are building a structure or selling something.

Preliminary Cost Estimate - A good leader is able to budget money. They are able to anticipate costs and manage their funds. This question is a preliminary estimate of how much you think your project will cost. You also need to specify how you are going to cover the cost.  If you are going to do a fundraiser, you will need to fill out page 17 which is a fund raiser approval form. If you will get the funds through contributions made by your family, unit, parents of unit members, or the chartered organization, you are not required to fill out page 17.

Project Phases - Your project is a big event. A good leader is able to separate big projects into smaller ones, and break those into smaller parts until there is an assignable, doable task. For your project proposal you only need a few project phases. For your final plan you will need to break these phases up into smaller tasks.

For our project refinishing tables at mutual dell, our phases might be:

1. Complete the final plan
2. Preparation phase (materials, costs, and schedules)
3. Recruiting phase
4. Purchasing Phase
5. Table preparation phase
6. Table painting phase

For the project of cutting out shapes, the project phases might include: 

1. Complete the final plan
2. Preparation phase (materials, costs, schedules)
3. Recruiting phase
4. Purchasing phase
5. Wood prep phase
6. Cutting and sanding phase
7. Delivery

Logistics: How will you handle transportation of materials, supplies, tools, and helpers? Will you need a tour plan? A good leader is able to work through logistics. How will you transport everything? How many vehicles will be needed? If you have people in your vehicle taking them somewhere as a scout activity, you need a tour plan.

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Safety Issues: Describe the hazards and safety concerns you and your helpers should be aware of as this project is conducted. A good leader is prepared in case things go wrong. In the sample projects, working with wood could cause slivers or small cuts and scrapes. We would want to make sure there is a first aid kit. We would want to make sure that only trained individuals use the power tools. There would be similar concerns with the picnic table project, plus we would want to help the workers stay hydrated since it is outside.

Future Planning: List some steps you will take to complete a final plan. For example “Complete a more detailed set of drawings.” As you look at your list of project phases, what area’s need more work? Some things from our sample projects might include:

•         See how many pattern fit on one piece of wood
•         Test how long it takes to cut out one shape
•         Determine routes for handing out fliers

Signatures: Five signatures are required. It doesn’t matter what order you secure them – but the district signature needs to be last. I suggest working with your project coach until you they are comfortable with your proposal. Then send it to Don Simons or I. We will review your project and let you know if we will sign it, or make some suggestions for you to fix. After we accept the project, get the other 4 signatures and then make arrangements with us to get our signature last. You can do it!

Other helps – I have created a website to store helpful links and other resources in one place. The website is:  http://timpeagle.blogspot.com. On the website you will find this and other documents, links to the various forms you will need, and a list of all of the projects done in the Timpanogos district in the last year. 

How to choose an Eagle project

When it comes right down to it, your project doesn't have to be fancy or have any personal meaning. It doesn't have to draw on any particular talents. All that is important is that you decide on a project that fits the guidelines, and make it happen. 

There are thousands of opportunities for service. If you have a hard time coming up with a project, here are some of the things I ask scouts to help them decide. 

1. Have you or someone close to you ever been helped by someone else? Have you ever been sick, or scared, or in trouble, and someone or organization came to your aid? How did they help you - perhaps you could make a project helping an organization help others the same way you were helped. For instance, a scout who had several operations as a child was given a small cloth doll that he colored, and then took with him to all his surgeries. The doll helped him as a child to be brave. For an Eagle project, the scout decided to make similar dolls and donate them to the same hospital to help other children. Is there an organization you could work with to help you say, "thank you?"

2. Do you have any special talents? Use your talent as part of your project. A scout who played the piano and violin organized a concert fund raiser. Another scout played the trombone in the school band and a dance band. He organized a fund raising concert featuring all of the bands. The money was then used to fund their projects. A scout who was a talented web developer organized his troop to create content for a community organization web page. Is there something you could do to utilize your talents as part of your project?   

3. What do you like to do? A scout who liked to do lots in the outdoors contacted the forest service with a project he thought would be worthwhile in an area of the mountains he enjoyed. A scout who liked to read did a project to collect and purchase books the library in a detention facility. A scout who liked to ride bikes collected, fixed, and donated bikes to refugees in the community, then organized a bike rodeo to teach basic bike safety. What do you like to do? Perhaps you can turn what you like to do into an eagle leadership project. 

Project Guidelines

Choosing an eagle project doesn't have to be a difficult task. There are lots of opportunities all around you to give meaningful service. There are some rules, however, on the types of service projects that qualify as an Eagle Leadership Service Project. 

The basic rules for eagle projects are stated in The Boy Scout Handbook: While a Life Scout, plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to your religious institution, school, or your community. Let's examine each of those requirements. 

Life Scout - You should not start to project or your project proposal until you have obtained the Life rank advancement. 

Plan - You are to plan your project. Plan means you will create a blueprint or a script that volunteers will later follow. Your plan should be complete enough that someone else should be able to follow the blueprint if you happened to be ill the morning of the project.  

Develop - Through your project you need to show that you can identify a need and come up with a solution. It might be that you choose a project from a list. - many organizations have lists of available projects - but you should try to find some way to make the project yours, and figure out how to accomplish the task.

Give Leadership - The purpose of this project for you, the life scout, is to show leadership. You should not do all of the work yourself. Leadership involves in the development of a good plan, conveying that message to others and recruiting them to help you accomplish the labor required. It involves ensuring helpers are trained what to do, and are given clear instructions. Leadership involves motivating everything to complete the task at hand. Showing leadership involves making sure proper safety precautions are taken to make sure your helpers remain safe. 

Helpful to your religious institution, school, or your community - Absent from this list are individuals, businesses, and BSA. Building a wheelchair ramp for an individual in your neighborhood is a great service project, but it wouldn't qualify as an eagle project because it benefits only an individual. Building the same wheelchair ramp at a senior citizen's center would be a great eagle project.  You project should benefit a non-profit organization. 


Other restrictions specified in the workbook include: 

• Routine Labor - If your project is normally done by someone's job, it is probably routine. If the organization has already allocated funds to do the project, it is probably routine. If the same project will need to be done next year, it is probably routine. Projects that involve clean-up or trail maintenance are usually routine. Painting is typically considered routine. Routine projects can be made non-routine with great fund raisers, or by combining it with non-routine project elements. 
• Fund Raisers - Most projects require a fund raiser, but raising money cannot be the end result of your project. You should do something more with the money than just donate it to an organization. 
• Group Projects - The project is an individual matter; therefore, two Eagle Scout candidates may not receive credit for working on the same project. 
• Other restrictions are listed on page 2 of the workbook. 

External Links

USScouts - An overview of the requirements and limitations of the project and writeup.