Eagle1993

Assets at risk... 1- Summit appears On National’s balance sheet as a major land asset at over $370M. Other high Adventure bases (not specially listed) show up as $60M. 2 - $800M of various financial assets 3 - $258M endowment Financial Condition-from annual report The National Council’s financial condition for 2018 and the next few years will depend, in large part, upon three factors. The first is the outcome of the litigation discussed within this report (see Note 9) and the impact to GLIP (Note 7). The second lies with the success of securing donations for the Summit project in order to continue to pay bond payments as scheduled and maintaining compliance with debt covenants. The third factor is the economy and legislation and their effect on market conditions and liquidity requirements. Note 7 This is about their General insurance program.... Note 9 .... There continues to be additional lawsuits filed alleging sexual abuse, including claims for punitive damages. The National Council could be required to pay damages out of its own funds to the extent the claims are not covered by insurance or if the insurance carriers are unable or unwilling to honor the claims. Based upon the nature of and management’s understanding of the facts and circumstances that give rise to such actions and claims, management believes the reserves established by the General Liability Insurance Program of the National Council are sufficient to provide for the resolution of these lawsuits. However, in the event the General Liability Insurance Program or its reserves are insufficient to resolve such claims, it is the opinion of the National Council that the total amount of payments to resolve current and future claims could have a significant impact on the financial position or results of operations of the National Council in the future.

The Eagle Scout award .... 😳

I am writing to you today in anticipation of news reports that will speculate about the BSA’s financial position. We have an important duty, and an incredible opportunity, to focus as an organization on keeping children safe, supported and protected, and preparing youth for their futures through our nation’s foremost program of character development and values-based leadership training. To do so in perpetuity, we are working with experts to explore all options available to ensure that the local and national programming of the Boy Scout of America continues uninterrupted. We have a social and moral responsibility to fairly compensate victims who suffered abuse during their time in Scouting, and we also have an obligation to carry out our mission to serve youth, families and local communities through our programs. We care deeply about all victims of child sex abuse and we are steadfast in our belief that one incident of child abuse is one too many. We sincerely apologize to anyone who was harmed during their time in our programs. As you all know, we have always taken care of victims – we believe them, we believe in fairly compensating them and we have paid for unlimited counseling, by a provider of their choice, regardless of the amount of time that has passed since an instance of abuse. Throughout our history we have taken proactive steps to help victims heal and prevent future abuse. I want to stress that at no time in our history have we knowingly allowed a sexual predator to work with youth, and we always seek to act swiftly when alerted to abuse allegations. Please know that these matters continue to have the full attention of the highest levels of our organization, and we will communicate transparently as there are developments or updates to share. I wanted to update you today due to the news speculation, and I want to assure you that our daily mission will continue and that there are no imminent actions or immediate decisions expected. Thank you for your continued support of the Boy Scouts of America. Michael B. Surbaugh Chief Scout Executive Boy Scouts of America 1325 West Walnut Hill Lane Irving, TX 75038 Copyright © 2018 Boy Scouts of America. All rights reserved.

There wasn’t much beyond the first paragraph. This is one key “Filing for bankruptcy would put the brakes on the litigation and give the nonprofit the chance to negotiate with victims who have sued.” I think the GSUSA damages (if any) could be lumped in. However, bankruptcy could lead to some ugly outcomes.

I think anyone looking at the annual reports could see this coming. This is horrible news and I am very concerned about loss of camps and property. One glimmer of hope.... many organizations rise from the ashes and prosper.... I certainly hope BSA will.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/boy-scouts-of-america-considers-bankruptcy-filing-amid-sex-abuse-lawsuits-11544649657

As a Cub Scout Leader who is going through recharter, I can tell you we are losing scouts to sports and busy parents. I have had 0 parents tell me that girls, gays or god made a difference with their membership. What I have been told has been 2 major reasons for not joining or dropping.... - both parents work schedules are too much to support their child in scouts... if they could simply drop them off at meetings and outings... that could work. They don’t have time to help their son with PWD, etc.... already too busy. - Sports....they see sports, especially for boys, as the best way to grow their son. For those inside the program, we know the unique benefits and experience scouts provides. I don’t see the general parent population seeing it outside of the Eagle Scout. My guess is that if they de-emphasized Eagle, you would see even faster attrition... it is the one topic I consistently have parents from outside scouting ask me about when considering joining.

So much discussion about the names got me thinking about the famous Romeo and Juliet line that fits this discussion .... “What's in a name? That which we call a roseBy any other name would smell as sweet." That got me thinking that someone could rewrite Romeo and Juliet to be a tragic story of two lovers... one from the house of BSA and the other GSUSA. I then switched Juliet to Juliette given the GSUSA reference.

Usually it is about cub scouts crossing over this spring... so in that case the parents are right (correcting me when I say Boy Scouts). That said, I have also had the snarky response from a few like you mention.

I was wondering where they would define what to call members of Scouts BSA... thanks for the link. I’ve only remembered seeing references to the program name. I expect if 5-10 years, perhaps 50 based upon our UK friends’ experience, scouts will clearly mean Scouts BSA and Girl Scouts will be GSUSA. That is unless GSUSA changes to Girl Guides. So, if a girl is in Scouts BSA she would say... I’m a scout. If she is in Girl Scouts she would state I’m a Girl Scout. Boys will probably either call themselves scouts or Boy Scouts.... either should work. Just had a thought.... I see a new take on Romeo and Juliette (see what I did there). Romeo is an Eagle Scout and Juliette is a Gold Scout.... you know the rest...”what’s in a name.” I’m surprised how quickly my area is already switching over to saying Scouts BSA. I hear it from parents (those with kids in BSA) who correct me when I say Boy Scouts.

They want us to say “Scouts BSA”. Where do you see BSA staying “We are Scouts....”?

Some good guidance and info regarding Scouts BSA recruiting and how to handle questions about GSUSA. I would highly recommend reviewing these if you plan to setup a Scouts BSA Girls Troop. This was released to councils today. Brand-Guidance-Talking-Points-for-Scouts-BSA-Info-Sessions-1.pdf BSA-Messaging-to-Staff-and-Volunteers-12-5-18.pdf FINAL Brand Training 12-4-18.pdf

More info just announced... Not sure how you get added yet. In anticipation of the Scouts BSA launch on February 1, 2019, families are already looking for units forming in their area. To help youth join scouts, the BSA has added new functionality that allows councils to display “Coming Soon” units in BeAScout.org.

Actual this partially true. Chartering of new Girl Troops is underway. If girls are to join Feb 1 you need to have a lot of work complete by then. See attached for an example of a plan. Note the contact names will be different for your council. I’m sharing this from a private FB account that is supported semi-officially by Nationals. I recommend searching Facebook for “BSA. Family Packs/Girl Troops” and request to join. There is a lot of info there. Note: This isn’t official and just one example from a leader. Scout BSA New Troop Kit.pdf

ILL...

More info... https://www.wbay.com/content/news/Girl-Scouts-suspend-Green-Bay-troop-leader-behind-vigils-and-memorial-patch-500884872.html AP is also running this story.

GSUSA has now dismissed the Troop Leader for raising funds. Not sure why, but seems to be a policy violation. https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/2018/11/19/green-bay-girl-scout-leader-dismissed-after-organizing-event-crash-victims/2060509002/

I looked back at some of the Pepsi vs Coke lawsuits. Coke responded once that “... (it) seems as if Pepsi would prefer to fight in the courts rather than the marketplace.” While I don’t see this as a fight, GSUSA seems to, and instead of focusing inward to see why girls are not joining (or leaving) they are fighting in the media and court. That may work short term but long term parents and kids will find and choose the best fit for them (or none)... regardless of program names. BSA is offering refunds to any girls who joined Cub Scouts thinking it was Girl Scouts. Surbaugh also notes that Scouts BSA was intentionally chosen vs Scouts.

Interesting NY Times article regarding the lawsuit. What I find interesting is that some GSUSA leaders are expressing frustration with their leadership not listening to the girls with GSUSA. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/09/us/girl-scouts-sue-boy-scouts.html

According to the video, BSA would be liable. For example, Pack xyz sent our flyer that includes term “girls scout”. Is sounds like GSUSA would have to prove damages from that specific flyer and BSA would be liable. For a single unit flyer, What are the damages ... 1-3 lost members? $60? I think that is the point the lawyers were making as to why cease and desist letters make sense. At least that is how I interpreted their video.

I also think the opinion of the ladies who join BSA would also be included in the equation, perhaps girl members of Venturing would have been a great group to ask. I don’t believe GSUSA should have the only and final input. They have made it clear they want nothing to do with BSA going forward. I’m sure their answer would be Backstabbing Scouts of America. I hope that is repaired long term but I don’t see a name conversation happening short term as it would appear that they are approving of this change.

The 1 hour video above, by a Trademark attorney and a patent attorney seems to make clear the only thing GSUSA can enforce is the use of the term “Girl Scouts” or very similar “girl scout” or “girl ... scout”. They seem to indicate that scout is a generic term and no organization has the right to reserve a market for that term. There is no way to protect a market (for example, Apple cannot use Trademark laws to prevent other PC sellers to sell “computers” to girls). Just as GSUSA cannot use Trademark law to prevent BSA from selling scouting services to girls. They can be called scouts, just not “Girl Scouts”. In terms of the examples given, those that contain the word Girl Scout/s will be an issue and there could be some damages; however, they would have to prove the specific damages in those cases. In addition, the example of Juliette quote is not actionable (not a trademark and past Copyright age) and the Girl Scout mission (not trademark could be copyright) is minimally actionable. They saw no way for Girl Scouts to block Scouts BSA or Scout Life Trademarks. In addition they raved about BSA actions to date and claimed they are great in terms of legal impact. The damages should be minimal (they mentioned could be as low as $1). The video is long but informative. At one point they even looked at who (name of lawyer) wrote the complaint as they were surprised at some inconsistencies. One of the lawyers mentioned he was an Eagle Scout and loves the BSA so is biased. Will be interesting to have other lawyers input.

@NJCubScouter Would be interested in your take. It seems like they believe BSA will win the big battle (the name Scouts BSA) but GSUSA may see some wins in damages (but they would have to prove them and these two expect they will be minimal). They called the BSA response “brilliant”, taking the high road and clarifying the brand do and don’ts. After listening to them I question several of GSUSA’s examples as they are not strong indicators of Trademark infringement (for example the quote from Juliette is no longer copyrighted due to age of the quote). Overall interesting take that seems to think that BSA has a strong case. That would make sense as I expect BSA lawyers were part of the name selection.

I’ve never used the terms BSA or GSUSA with new parents. I say Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts. If parent is interested in scouting for little Sally I say, yep, she can join our Cub Scout Pack. I also say we have a great Girl Scout program at our school and if she is interested I can give you their contact info. Never had confusion after that.... and I will continue to help GSUSA regardless of some of their tactics.

They are fighting the trademarks for both Scouts BSA and Scout Life and they want $.