Email that supposedly came from National?

[Joni4TA]

All the links in the email refer to "kintera.org" as far as I can tell.

 

It came from - Boy Scouts of America [scoutingfriends@netbsa.org] and was titled "Thank you Scouters"

 

 

Anyone else get this email or familiar with kintera.org?

 

The email says at the bottom:

 

Links in this e-mail direct the user to URLs at Kintera,com,(Notice it says ",com" and not .org) a technology partner of National Council, BSA. No personal information is provided to any entity outside the BSA. E-mail address used was provided at registration or re-registration.

 

Remove yourself from this mailing.

 

Remove yourself from all mailings from Boy Scouts of America National.

 

Modify your profile.

 

[packsaddle]

Go to their web site. They're a fund-raising management company with a variety of products and solutions. Boooorrrrriiiiinnnnnnggg!

[Joni4TA]

yeah I plugged kintera.org into my browser.

 

I get this message: "Kintera.org is no longer active. To get to Kintera.com please click here"

 

"The Click here" link goes to - http://www.kinterainc.com/ which is a fundraising company.

 

So in the email, one of the links that said it would take you to BSA's official website, but when you hover over the link it says this: http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=8eKJJZNCLmLTI6I&s=crLPL5PGIcJMK1NGLnF&m=hiLNKXPELdK0F

 

I clicked on it. (Ignoring my instincts not to click)

 

Sure enough it took me to BSA National! Perhaps the email is legitimate after all.

 

So since it appears valid, here was the message:

 

"Thank You Scouters!

The beginning of the holiday season gives us all an opportunity to reflect on the blessings each of us receive everyday.

The Boy Scouts of America is truly blessed because of the dedicated service provided by our 1.2 million volunteers who deliver a quality program of character development, citizenship training and personal fitness to nearly 5 million youth members.

 

In addition to the over 1 million registered Scouters, we are further blessed with countless other Scouting supporters, friends, parents, community leaders, and donors. We could not continue our work with the youth of America without them.

 

All of us have had people who made a real difference in our lives- parents, teachers, family and for many their Scout leaders. Please, take a moment and thank them, it will make their day...and yours too.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

The Value of Scouting

Across the country, Scouts are making a difference. The Value of Scouting stories will connect you with brief photo essays on Scouts and Scouters who are making America a better place for all of us. Please share these great stories with people you know.

 

Historical Highlights of the Boy Scouts of America

For 100 years, Scouting has been helping the youth of America find - in themselves and in the world around them - more than they thought possible. A century of building confidence and character is worth celebrating.

 

 

 

[insanescouter]

Here is how I take the email...

 

1) the from address is scoutingfriends@netbsa.org ... netbsa is the internal email all paid BSA professionals use (as far as i know)

 

2) at the bottom of the email it says "Links in this e-mail direct the user to URLs at Kintera,com, a technology partner of National Council, BSA. No personal information is provided to any entity outside the BSA. E-mail address used was provided at registration or re-registration."

 

3) on the Kintera Inc website first thing i see is "Kintera Sphere software as a service technology platform and social CRM (Constituent Relationship Management) system enables organizations to quickly and easily reach more people, raise more money and run more efficiently."

 

 

All of this leads me to believe that is with approval of BSA or sent by BSA. Kintera does more then just fundriasing, they also do email marketing, donor relationships, website creation - just to name a few. To me it sounds like BSA uses a program or service from Kintera to send out their mass (sort of spammish) emails ...

 

 

Scott Robertson

http://insanescouter.org

Helping leaders one click at a time....

[epalmer84]

The BSA apparently contracts some services such as Kintera. Another is Bork Communications who run BSALegal.org.

 

Ed

[Joni4TA]

Yes, I think I was just being a little overly skeptical. In this day and age we get all sorts of phishing emails and junk mail. My initial thought was that the email was a negative one because none of the clickable links I hovered over actually appeared to go to a website I was familiar with, but once I clicked on a link it ended up at BSA National.