About Us

PUBLIC BENEFIT STATEMENT 2025

The purpose of Scouting is to help young people achieve their full potential as individuals, as responsible citizens, and as members of their local, national and international communities.

Fulfilling this purpose benefits the public by:

· Equipping young people with essential skills like teamwork, communication and leadership

· Fostering personal growth and social responsibility

· Contribution to a more positive and engaged citizenry

In Axe Scout District, which broadly covers the southern half of North Somerset, we directly support:

· 260+ young people between the ages of 14 and 18 across 7 Explorer Scout Units and a Young Leader Unit.

· 350 leaders and 120 trustees across 18 Scout Groups to deliver Scouting locally to a further 1300+ young people between the ages of 4 and 14. Each Group is a separate charity with its own trustee board.

· a District-wide Scout Network for young people between the ages of 18 and 24.

We do this by:

· managing the appointment process for the approval of all adult volunteers across the District.

· supporting learning and development of all adult volunteers across our District to be able to run the Scout Programme.

· providing opportunities for young people between the ages of 14 and 18 to become Young Leaders

· managing and delivering a development programme for Young Leaders – many of whom go on to be young adult leaders.

· encouraging young people between the ages of 18 and 25 to develop skills by becoming trustees of their local Group trustee board or with the District trustee board.

· providing opportunities for young people from our District to participate in developmental activities elsewhere within the United Kingdom, Europe and the rest of the World.

· providing grants to enable new Scout Groups and Explorer Units to open (most recently Saxons ESU).

· providing grants to help the development of young people inc. hardship grants to ensure no-one is disadvantaged.

· organising and delivering District-wide events for our young people.

· making funds available to loan to any Group in need of short-term help.

· managing our finances responsibly to ensure costs are kept to a minimum enabling us to keep the District element of the annual membership fee as low as possible.