Eagle Recognition as a Fundraiser

[SR540Beaver]

I know times are tought and councils are hurting just like businesses and individuals. That being said, does anyone else's council do anything like this? In years past, the council always held an annual Eagle Recognition Banquet that cost you the price of dinner. No more. This year, the council is having a "Gathering of Eagles" event. The Eagles from 2010 and any who have achieved the rank in 2011 are invited to attend for free and be recognized for their accomplishment. Anyone else who wants to attend (parents and family included) must pay $121 for Bronze Eagle participation. $321 for Silver and $521 for Gold. By the way, the $21 represents the 21 Eagle required MB's for Eagle. Part of the purpose of the event is to search out Eagle Scout alumni and create an alumni organization within the council. The other part is hoping that they are all successful business men who will donate money. The bad part is tying the current Eagle Scout recognition to this event and expecting those who want to see the Eagles recognized by the council to pay at minimum $121 to attend the 2 hour event. Thank you, but NO!

 

I realize the council has to raise funds. I just think this is a chintzy way of doing it.

[emb021]

One council I work with has an annual Eagle Banquet.

 

All the current Eagles (ie from the prior year's 'class') attend free. We usually have about 140 Eagles each year, but only about 70-80 will attend (as I seem to recall).

 

Anyone who wants to attend may do so for $40 (that is just a little more then our costs).

 

We have other levels, such as sponsor (you pay for yourself, and another, and extra money goes to pay for an Eagle). And then we have 3 donor levels (several hundred dollars). This helps the cost of the dinner for the Eagles and the extra money goes into a scholarship. NONE of the money goes to the council, it all goes to the scholarship (we give 2-3 $1000 scholarships each year).

 

We have a NESA chapter, so that's our alumni association.

 

I think that's a better method of doing it then what it sounds like in your council.

 

[SR540Beaver]

Here is the flyer for the event. I don't know, as a parent of a 2010 Eagle Scout, this kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Most people I've talked to have a raised eyebrow over it too. Don't the Council Eagles deserve to be recognized in their own right without turning it into a "let's shake the trees for big donors" fundraising event? I can tell you, my wife and I are not spending $242 to attend and that is the only way we can see our son recognized by the council.

 

http://www.lastfrontiercouncil.org/openrosters/DocDownload.aspx?orgkey=2201&id=94551

[Abel Magwitch]

Sad.

 

As I have posted before, our district exec decided to ask the SM at an Eagle Court of Honor if he could do an FOS drive prior to the start of the Court of Honor. This was an on the spot request to the SM about 15 minutes before the court of honor began. The SM told him no.

 

 

[Twocubdad]

Tacky.

 

Ask how they plan to get the Eagles to the banquet.

 

Here, our Eagle banquet is based on sponsorships. A sponsorship is about $80 and covers dinner for the Scout and the sponsor and some small tchotchke for the Scout. I have no doubt the usual 20% council vig is built into the budget. I think parents are $25 a plate, but it's a nice dinner at one of the snobbier country clubs you otherwise couldn't get into for $25.

 

Hey Abel, ask you DE if the troop can come sell light bulbs at the next council board meeting.

[Nike]

Someone in marketing thought this up. Wonder if they passed consumer psychology.

[Basementdweller]

Just attended an eagle dinner....HUGE corporate sponsorship. HUGE HUGE HUGE. Half the tables there were occupied by high dollar corporate types. Banners in the banquet hall.

 

Private VIP reception, drinks and horderves

 

Really nice program full of corporation ads.......

 

No doubt this was a council fundraiser.

.

[shortridge]

That's unfortunate.

 

The flyer makes it sound like an alumni event - "re-connect with other adult Eagles," burn a string, etc. The Eagle "class" is only mentioned once.

 

It also has one of the most ham-handed, unprofessional marketing lines I've ever read: Remember the fun you used to have as a Scout? Building towers and monkey bridges, playing in the dirt, getting the younger Scouts to cook your dinner?? ; )

 

"Playing in the dirt" sounds like what six-year-olds do. And I'm glad to know that teaching younger kids can be boiled down to getting them to cook me dinner. That was clearly written by either someone who was never a Scout, or by someone who doesn't hold a very high opinion of boys.

[Eamonn]

We used to have an Eagle Recognition Dinner where the Scout would get to spend the day tagging a long with someone who worked in an area of interest that the Scout had said he might follow.

It sometimes worked out and sometimes didn't.

Then the sponsor would pick up the dinner tab for both dinners.

It wasn't a big tab. I seem to remember it costing me less than $100.00.

Then the bright spark of a SE we had at the time seen that the Council next door had made a lot of money from the similar event they had.

They are a big metro Council based in down town Pittsburgh, where lots of companies are based.

I heard, but can't say for sure that some of these companies were giving Eagle Scouts money for college and that sort of thing as well as paying several $1,000 for a table.

We tried it and it failed miserably.

So we tried it again and it failed again.

Part of the reason it failed was that the event was moved from the spring to the fall, when many of the older Eagles had left for college and the younger guys were playing sports.

The first year our local power (Electric Company) was the main sponsor, a past Council President and a super nice fellow was a big wig in the company, the following year the area newspaper was the sponsor.

Company sponsorship isn't a bad thing.

Part of our problem is that we just keep knocking on the same doors. Asking the same people for big bucks, golf outings, skeet shoots and dinners. All at about $1500.00 a pop.

I tried explaining that most small businesses just can't afford this.

When I was in business I was hit all the time by everything from the big charities to the guys who just wanted an ad in a program. Still after a while it just became too much.

I went with the American Cancer Society and the Boy Scouts.

To be honest the local Boy Scouts didn't do anything for me as a business man. No dinners where they paid the check!

No real recognition for the business, most times not even a thank you letter.

Ea.

[SeattlePioneer]

>

 

 

My council has a big ticket Eagle banquet in the spring. And yes, parents have to pay for their dinner if they want dinner --- although not a big ticket amount.

 

And yes, I expect a lot of parents drive their kid to the banquet and don't do the dinner themselves.

 

What's the alternative? Should more of the sponsor's money go to buy dinner for the parent(s)? Are we honoring the boy for achieving Eagle or the parent? ( I grant you that too often the parent may be the most motivated person.)

 

This is an opportunity for a boy to have dinner with a local mover and shaker, and to be recognized by that mover and shaker for his achievement. I think that's a worthwhile thing.

 

If mom and dad have to buy their own dinner or go without, I don't feel too badly about that. It's just a cross parents have to bear in a good cause in this case I think.

 

 

 

[Twocubdad]

I don't think they should go for free, but they shouldn't have to pay fundraiser prices to attend with their sons.

 

No, it's not about mom and dad. If the Scouts can arrange transportation, fine. But if someone is driving their son an hour or more across the council, they shouldn't have to sit in the parking lot and eat drive through. As the host of such an event, I would think it inconsiderate to treat the parents as either cab drivers or FOS whales. Our council gets it right -- parents are allowed to attend and pay what is probably the cost of the dinner.

 

My boys play in a community orchestra which is about 60/40 adult/youth musicians. They frequently play at some very nice functions. The band requires parents to attend with youth under age 14 and with those under 18 for out-of-town gigs. Expecially given transportation issues, the parents are usually around regardless. We are almost always treated as guests at the events. At one event were the parents were told to remain outside by the service entrance, we fairly quickly told the band organizers our children wouldn't be available for that performance in the future. We don't necessarily stay for meals (neither do the band members) but are always treated very cordially.

 

There is no reason the Boy Scouts can't do the same.