In the early 2000s, the internet was just starting to figure out how it fit into real life. Russ Votava was a dedicated volunteer with a knack for web development and a passion for scouting. Based in Lincoln, Nebraska, Votava spent years working with his local Boy Scout council, which served 16 counties across southeast Nebraska. What began as a volunteer project to build a simple website for the council soon evolved into a groundbreaking digital solution that changed how Boy Scout councils across the country handle event registration.
“I offered to put a website together,” Votava recalls. “And one of the things I built was a basic registration system so people could sign up for meetings, events, and camps — something nobody else in the Boy Scout world was doing at the time.” This was Votava’s humble beginnings — driven by service to solve a need.
Innovative Scouting Event System
The system Votava built wasn’t just functional — it was pioneering. Complete with payment processing, it became one of the first tools of its kind tailored specifically for Boy Scout councils. Initially built as a labor of love, Votava’s system quickly gained traction after it caught the attention of national leadership.
Each year, the Boy Scouts of America host a national annual meeting featuring awards and innovations from councils across the country. Votava and his Scout Executive submitted their work for the BSA President’s Award for Marketing Excellence — and won. Not once, but three years in a row. Those victories brought national visibility, and other councils began reaching out, asking if Votava could do the same for them.
Votava’s innovation was recognized even in early iterations of the software, and that national exposure was the catalyst for a career change. Votava spent a year writing software and turned it into a commercial product, which he launched as ScoutTools and later changed the name to CouncilWare, a full-featured registration system.
More Adventure, Less Admin
After launching CouncilWare, Russ Votava didn’t stop innovating. He turned his attention back to a critical need in the Boy Scouts’ ecosystem: the Order of the Arrow (OA) registration system. He completely rewrote it, applying everything he’d learned.
While Votava has a smaller customer base than his competitors, quality is what has helped CouncilWare quietly retain and win over councils from competing platforms. Councils get frustrated with bulky interfaces and outdated tools. Votava says users often switch because CouncilWare is simply more intuitive and mobile-friendly, with a modern design and seamless integration into councils’ existing websites. CouncilWare also sports a WordPress plugin, which remains a unique, time-saving advantage for councils.
Bigger Projects and Integration with the National BSA System
In early 2024, the planning committee for the National Scout Jamboree invited Votava to bid on a registration platform for the event. He won the contract, completed development by fall, and launched the system in November.
The Jamboree platform is no small project: it integrates directly with the national BSA login and member verification systems to ensure registrants are active members in good standing, with completed youth protection and background checks. “It’s pretty sophisticated,” Votava noted. “It validates every registrant in real time.”
Real-Time Insights
One of the most powerful features of CouncilWare is its ability to give Scout leaders and camp staff a real-time window into each attendee’s journey through camp. Every Scout’s profile includes key details — things like troop affiliation and custom attributes such as church size or dietary needs. But the real game-changer comes in the Activities and Progress tabs.
Once Scouts are signed up for merit badge classes, leaders can easily see their full weekly schedule. More importantly, they can monitor progress as it happens. As long as there’s internet at camp, Scoutmasters can pull out their phones, check in on any Scout in their unit, and instantly see how they’re doing. That kind of visibility empowers leaders to support Scouts in real time, catch problems early, and celebrate progress as it happens. Once the week is over, leaders can generate printable records and even upload the results directly into BSA’s national advancement system. This seamless pipeline from instruction to official credit saves councils massive amounts of time and effort — and ensures Scouts get the recognition they’ve earned without delay.
“I just want to help kids go camping,” Votava says. For him, software isn’t just a product — it’s a tool to remove barriers, simplify processes, and give volunteers and staff more time to focus on what really matters: mentoring and providing program for youth.
From Transformers to Troop Rosters: A Game-Changer for Scouting
Before CouncilWare, before ScoutTools, before writing a single line of registration code, Votava was building forecasting models and facility tracking systems for a utility company. His career at Lincoln Electric System (LES) began in 1980 as an engineering student, using computers to crunch economic data and eventually evolving into a role where he mapped out Lincoln’s power grid needs 20 years into the future. It wasn’t just engineering — it was systems thinking, anticipating growth, and building solutions long before others saw the need.
Fast forward to today, and CouncilWare is more than a product — it’s a legacy of Russ’s passion for innovation and his deep roots in Scouting. His systems now support councils across the country. Now he’s continuing to invest in the company and looking toward the future.
Votava is much more focused on purpose than profit. “I just want to help people take care of the details so they can focus on what matters — getting kids outdoors, into camp, and experiencing what Scouting has to offer.” That’s the throughline of Russ’s work, whether it’s modeling electrical load or mapping out summer camp merit badge schedules: make it easier, make it smarter, and make it matter.Learn more and reach out to view a demo at CouncilWare.com/Get-CouncilWare.
