Planning your Eagle project

What an Eagle project is, and what it isn't

Your Eagle project is the part of Eagle Scout that people in your community will actually see. As a Life Scout, you plan, develop, and lead a service project that helps an organization other than Scouting America: a school, a park, a library, a place of worship, a food pantry, a historical society, or another community group. You use the official workbook, and you get your proposal approved before any work starts.

The most important word is lead. The project is a test of whether you can take an idea, turn it into a plan, and get a group of people to carry it out well. You'll still work alongside your team, but your main job is deciding, organizing, explaining, and keeping things on track.

• It is a project you plan and lead, with other people helping you do the work.
• It is for a non-Scouting organization, and they decide whether they want it.
• It is not mainly a fundraiser, and it can't be done for an individual or a business.
• It is not routine labor, like a job the organization's staff or volunteers do every week anyway.
• There's no required number of hours. A project is judged on planning and leadership, not on how long it took.

Find an organization that needs something

The best projects start with a real need, not with an idea you already had. Start with places you know: your old elementary school, the park where you run, a library, your place of worship, or a group that helped your family. Then branch out to nature centers, animal shelters, museums, community gardens, and senior centers. Your interests can point the way, too: try the outdoors, helping people, or history and government pages for ideas.

Ask for the person who handles volunteers or facilities, such as the principal, the volunteer coordinator, or a park's volunteer or education staff. Email them with a parent copied, and bring a parent or another adult to any meeting. The reaching out guide has more on how to word the first message.

What makes a project strong

A strong project isn't the biggest one. It's one where you can clearly show you made the decisions, solved problems, and led people. Before you choose, picture the work day: will you have a team to organize, jobs to assign, and a plan to explain? If you could do the whole thing alone in an afternoon, it probably needs more.

Project ideas to get you thinking

These are examples, not a menu. Your project should come from what your beneficiary actually needs, and it can look nothing like these.

• Building: design and build benches, a shade structure, or storage shelves for a school or community center, with plans the beneficiary approves.
• Conservation: work with a park to remove an invasive plant from a section of trail and replant with native species, or build water bars to stop erosion.
• Wildlife: build and install nesting boxes or a pollinator garden for a nature center, with signs explaining what lives there.
• Collecting and organizing: run a drive for books, coats, or hygiene kits, then sort, pack, and deliver them in a way that saves the receiving group time.
• Education: create a set of trail guide signs, a kids' activity kit for a museum, or a safety display for a library, researched with their staff.
• History: help a historical society or cemetery association clean and map grave markers or record a building's history, following their rules for handling old materials.
• Health and community: organize a blood drive with a blood bank, or a community cleanup day with a neighborhood group.

The workbook and approvals

Download the current Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook from Scouting America, not from an old email or a friend's folder, because it's updated from time to time. Your council may also have its own steps, so ask your Scoutmaster or Eagle coach how it works where you live.

1. 1

   Write the proposal

   Describe the project, who it helps, what you'll need, who will help, and how you'll keep people safe. It doesn't need every detail yet, but it needs enough to show the project is real and doable.

2. 2

   Get it approved before you start

   Your proposal is approved by your beneficiary, your unit leader, your unit committee, and your council or district. Don't buy materials or start work until every approval is signed.

3. 3

   Make a detailed plan

   Turn the proposal into a working plan: materials lists, costs, schedule, job assignments, and what you'll do if it rains or a helper cancels. The workbook has a section to guide this.

4. 4

   Lead the work

   Brief your team at the start, assign jobs, check on each group, and adjust when something goes wrong. Keep a log of hours, helpers, and any changes, and take before-and-after photos of the site itself.

5. 5

   Write the report and say thank you

   Finish the project report in the workbook: what happened, what changed from the plan, and what you learned. Get the beneficiary's sign-off, and send thank-you notes to everyone who helped.

What to do next

Requirements for Eagle must be finished before your 18th birthday, and a project often takes longer than people expect, especially waiting for approvals. If you're getting close, talk to your leaders early. This week, pick two or three possible beneficiaries and ask your Scoutmaster who in your troop or district helps Scouts with projects.

• Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook (opens in a new tab) — Scouting America's official workbook page, where you get the current version.