1980Scouter

The LC's have A LOT more they could give up(most,not all). I feel all cash and investments except for 6 months operating capital should go to the fund. And maybe 50% of current camps too. That will still leave an alive BSA. They will have to work harder in the future to stay afloat.

Fair is LC contribution close to all endowments. Start from scratch with limited camps.

You have to keep in mind that in a year or two, there may be no Scouts BSA at all. This could happen. At this point there is still alot of things up in the air. This court case in my opinion will not be over for some time.

How bad is national and LC's hurting for cash. A LC by me is advertising that the DE's will come to you to pick up any new registrations and the money of course. They said this is important so scouts can start advancement right away.

Has anyone else heard BSA recruiting ads on their local radio? This past week I have heard some. I know they said after bankruptcy they were going to do an ad campaign to get membership back up.

What if this was years before the lawsuit and the LC's seeing that many of them have tens of millions in cash, decided to update and repair all scout camps in use? How great would that have been? There is no scout camp out there that could not use a few million dollars or more to get the camp in top condition. Then a well maintained camp would draw more use and make it more sustainable.

Do you not think if it was a positive situtation and they had an agreement the BSA would be yelling it from the tallest mountain? This announcement could set the tone for other CO's to follow. If it is not an agreement and settlement will others follow and drop scouting too?

As far as LC's contribution, if they would come up with a plan where each LC gets to keep ONE camp and 6 months operating funds where everything else goes to the settlement I think it would fly with no problem. Get rid of council offices too. With technology today a central office is not necessary. Some staff could work out of the camp or from home.

I agree 100%. Knowledge is power. I was able to estimate my LC contribution within 10% after following this forum. The BSA does not communicate well, and that may be their downfall even if they survive bankruptcy.

You are so right. My LC has 20 million in property and investments but they act like they do not have two dimes to rub together. I had no idea they had this much in reserves. I made a large donation for a camp project. Six months later they sold the camp. I was never able to get any reply where my money went. So yes it is all about $$$ for salaries.

I do not know how I feel about scouting continuing. It was a very good program for me in my time, but I feel like I did not have any knowledge of all the horrors going on. As many posters have said home life in the past was not great. Mine was no different, not so great. Scouting was a fun time most of the time. I feel like the BSA needs to shut down and reboot maybe in the future. They are going to lose most of their assets in this proceeding. Scouting now is more about large paid staffs on councils. Maybe rebooting can get back to the roots of very few employees and focusing on Scout values and camping, not fund raising.

Very well said, last paragraph. That sums it up in my opinion but we will see.

I think there is still some money out there especially from LC's. Mine has 20 million in assets and is paying 6.5 million into the settlement. Not all LC's are like this but I was really surprised reading how much reserve funds some councils have. National still has HAB's and other small assets. I feel like it will take more of these assets if there is to be a settlement. While not fair, maybe the cash rich councils could contribute more to try to get a final deal with CO's covered. If the goal is to truly save scouting for the future, it might take this.

If there is to be a settlement that covers CO's too, how can it not involve a large increase in contributions from National and LC's to the fund? Why would any organization have to contribute hundreds of millions to the settlement, stay in the BSA program, even just through a facilities use agreement? I just don't see how BSA can ask CO's for any money if they hope to retain them in the future.

Lake Erie Council just announced they will contribute 6.5 million to the settlement. They have around 450 claims. They are using a line of credit to pay for it. They have 20 million in assets including two camps, they sold a third camp last year. Very interesting on a line of credit use to pay for this.

The one thing I wonder about is the future abuse cases. We all know this will continue to occur if on a much smaller scale. But adding girls especially of the teen aged years I think abuse will continue, even between scouts too. Surely there will be lawsuits especially after this and past lawsuits set that lawsuits are successful. I think if BSA survives it is a matter of time before they are forced out of existence. A few weeks ago there was a assault that occurred at a scout camp in my county. Not sure the details, but the local sheriff was called and it was in the paper. Goes to show this is not an easy issue to solve.

And he has a Boy Scout T Shirt on in the mug shot. Good for PR. Priceless.....

Simon Kenton Council in Ohio announced at a scouting forum that they will most likely sell Chief Logan Reservation and Camp Madison Lake. CLR is a main summer camp where this is the last summer for camping. Madison Lake is a very small camp, basically a single campsite on a state park lake. They also said they have to contribute 2.7 million to the settlement in cash and property. They said they were surprised that it was not more. This council has been very upfront with the bankruptcy for the past year.

Very good summary. I agree with you 100%. Welcome to the forum!!!

I feel for your pain. Going through the process of recalling bad times is difficult. Has your state legislature had any discussions on changing the law? If enough people make a case to the gov't, maybe laws can be changed.

So maybe in a week we should hear more from our LC as they vote on it. There has been nothing from my LC on it ever. Councils need to be honest and upfront about what is going on. They are trying to present a face that everything is fine. We do not need the numbers but how about some communication about our camps future?

Agree on larger councils size and membership wise. If you council has less than 15,000 scouts it could do better and cheaper merged to save costs.

It is my hope with the national bankruptcy and LC contribution to the settlement as well as decreased number of scouts it will cause LC's to realize that really very few staff are needed. Have a great web site with all info/forms/scout shop items and you are golden. Very lean staff needed=less fees and fundraising.

Wow that must be a well funded LC. The SE salary is crazy!!!!!

This was my point exactly. Councils could do with 50% less staff or more. Especially if they all end FOS and do a higher registration fee. No need to fund raise as much. I remember growing up in scouting my council had very few employees and nice camps. This was in the 80's. The registration fee was minimal then too. I believe there was greater United Way support then though. People donated then because they knew it would benefit camps and not salaries.