BSA NAM 2021 Annual Business Mtg

[CynicalScouter]

 

[MattR]

Anyone got the cliff notes version? Kind of brings back memories of Pip.

[CynicalScouter]

28 minutes ago, MattR said:

Anyone got the cliff notes version? Kind of brings back memories of Pip.

Imagine a hostage video, but without the warmth.

1. We are in bankruptcy, and we will survive.
2. That said, until the BSA emerges from bankruptcy, on advice of legal counsel, we will NOT be electing new board members until the bankruptcy is over. (There's a complicated legal reasoning for this about exculpation).
3. All is well. We will survive the bankruptcy.
4. Smaller councils (Class 200-500) want what amount to guaranteed seats on the national committee. That is being considered and a survey will be sent to local councils Key-3. That said, nothing is going to change until after we emerge from bankruptcy.
5. Congratulations first group of female Eagle Scouts.
6. We will equitably compensation victims and continue the mission of scouting. We promised that in February 2020, we re-promise it again.
7. We are sorry for the abuse.
8. We survived COVID and went virtual.
9. Mosby: Number #1 priority is a global plan that covers LCs and COs. Anything other than that creates too much instability. "I believe we are close to a final resolution."

[johnsch322]

48 minutes ago, MattR said:

Anyone got the cliff notes version? Kind of brings back memories of Pip

Scouts or unit leaders that matter are unaware of the bankruptcy details, and that is good (he should of put a thank god in there)

[CynicalScouter]

5 minutes ago, johnsch322 said:

Scouts or unit leaders that matter are unaware of the bankruptcy details, and that is good (he should of put a thank god in there)

Yep. That's the point. Unit leaders: don't worry, don't ask questions. Just do what you are told.

[CynicalScouter]

https://scoutingwire.org/top-12-key-takeaways-from-the-bsa-2021-national-annual-meeting/

May 28, 2021

The Boy Scouts of America held its National Annual Meeting (NAM) virtually on May 23-28, 2021, enabling attendees from all over the United States and around the world to tune in remotely to its National Business Meeting and other events throughout the week. Below are the top 12 key takeaways from the meetings.

1. At a high level, the main focal points for the BSA 2021 National Annual Meeting included working on a resolution to the bankruptcy, further increasing the commitment to youth protection, and growing membership. These topics permeated discussions across multiple meetings during the week and continue to remain a priority.
2. The 2021 National Annual Meeting marked the official launch of the BSA’s new Service Territory model, which replaces the Region and Area structure. There are now 16 Service Territories, which helps to streamline and simplify the service and communication to councils and volunteers in those locations.
3. Though COVID-19 prevented some bases from opening last year, this summer, all of the BSA High Adventure Bases will be open and welcoming Scouts to experience the magic of the unique and iconic high-adventure programs at Philmont, Summit Bechtel Reserve, Florida Sea Base, and Northern Tier. The bases are also actively signing up Scouts to participate in 2022 programs next summer.
4. Scouts around the nation are participating in the Summer of Service, an opportunity for Scouts to do what Scouts do best – serve communities as a force for positivity and goodness in a world that needs the Scouting spirit now more than ever.
5. NAM featured a look back at some of the key moments for the organization during the past 12 months. This included a focus on the inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts and the Be the Change event that celebrated this remarkable group.
6. The meeting discussed BSA Family Adventure Camp, which invites families (including BSA families, friends, and members of the general public) to enjoy one-of-a-kind vacation adventures for all ages at BSA High Adventure Bases.
7. The 2021 Class of Silver Buffalo recipients and the 2021 Silver Antelope recipients were celebrated. Rabbi Peter Hyman was presented with the rare Bronze Wolf Award. The Bronze Wolf is an award BSA National Commissioner Scott Sorrels received in 2020. 
8. Dan Ownby, national chair of the Boy Scouts of America, will extend his period of service through May of 2023. This extension of service recognizes the extraordinary challenges placed on the BSA during a year unlike any other in the organization’s history. This provides Ownby additional time to support and realize key initiatives in his role.
9. Brad Tilden, recently retired as CEO of Alaska Airlines, was named national chair-elect for BSA and will serve in that role until moving into the position of national chair in May of 2023 at the conclusion of Ownby’s term.
10. During the National Executive Board meeting, the board commissioned BSA CEO and President Roger Mosby, designating him as the 14^th Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America. This further formalizes his ongoing role and commitment to the organization. Roger will continue on in the role of CSE beyond the organization’s emergence from bankruptcy.
11. This year’s NAM featured the introduction of dedicated Fireside Chat virtual meetings on topics of Safety, Membership Growth, Female Board Leadership, and Governance. 
12. For 2022, the BSA’s intention is to hold the in-person National Annual Meeting in San Diego on May 23-27.

Thank you to National Annual Meeting supporting sponsors – Birkholm Direct, Black Pug Software, Bridgford Foods, Diamond Brand, Hartsook, Jitasa, United Healthcare, and Waterford Press.

Edited June 3, 2021 by CynicalScouter

[CynicalScouter]

Transcript part 1 (created via automated system, so be forgiving).

 

Hello and welcome to the twenty twenty one national annual business meeting. Thank you for joining us. And I wish we could have all met in person, but that was clearly not possible. And even though it's all been through. Zoom We've had some terrific conversations this week. I appreciate everyone's participation and insight in these sessions. And here's the good news. We are currently planning to meet in person next year in beautiful San Diego, California, the week of May, twenty third through the twenty seventh. So mark your calendars. You'll be hearing more details soon. Let's get moving. Here's Jim Turley with our nominating committee report.

The Governance and Nominating Standing Committee is comprised of Janice, Brian Howard, Dennis Keynesian, Phil Condit, Dr. Gordon Aguy, Ron Kirk and his immediate past national chair. I serve as the chair of the committee. covid-19 once again necessitated the cancellation of the in-person national annual meeting. As a result, the NTSB found it necessary to change the national meeting to a virtual meeting. Now, as you all know all too well, what kinds of America is currently operating under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code? The national executive board has been really actively engaged in overseeing the bankruptcy process. The current executive board has had several special meetings as required, very deep knowledge that is really crucial to the corporation's successful emergence from bankruptcy. It's anticipated at the time of the emergence from bankruptcy. The court will enter a exculpation order. You'll find that all actions taken by the board were appropriate or in good faith and in compliance with fiduciary obligations. Only currently serving board members who would be covered by the exculpation order. Accordingly, the BSA is legal advisers recommended that the board postpone the annual election of the board until the BSA emerges from bankruptcy. Now, in recognition of these unusual circumstances, the governance and nominating committee unanimously recommended that the national executive board postpone the election of the NLRB until after the BSA emerges. That recommendation was accepted and all current board members will remain in their positions until their successors are elected. As to the national executive committee, the the members have spent an extraordinary amount of time overseeing the bankruptcy process, the contributions of the bankruptcy task force chaired by Alison Schuler and comprised of Scott Sorrell's, the Brad Tilden, Ben Ownby and Roger Moseby. And truly unbelievable. The task force has met over 40 times this year alone. A nominating committee believes that is most definitely in the best interest of the organization to keep the current executive committee in place with one slight modification that the nomination of Brad Telvin to serve a two year term as national chair elect. It is anticipated that Dan Andre will serve for two more years as national chair and then Brad would succeed him. I want to say first congratulations to Brad and thank you to both Brad and to him for all you are doing. The nominating committee nominated the following members of the Executive Board to serve on the NSC Day on the National Chair, Scott Sorrell's National Commissioner, Brad Tilden, National Chair and Finance Committee Chair and decide on an Enterprise Risk Management Chair. Allison Schueler BSA Mission, Reputation and Strategy Chair. Jack Firth, Development Committee Chair, Schipp Oppenheimer Diversity Committee Chair. Terry Suzuki, Human Resources Chair. Matt Rosenberg at large member Michael Theas, also an at large member. And I will continue as the governance and nominating committee chair. The national executive board unanimously adopted the report of the governance and nominating committee, and those individuals were elected to his or her positions yesterday. Now, in addition to the above named individuals and pursuant to the BSA bylaws, Roger Moseby is a member of the executive committee by virtue of his position as president and CEO. The governance committee recommended that the executive board commission, Roger Moseby as a professional scouter and give him the title of chief scout executive, I am really pleased to report that the recommendation was accepted and the board has commissioned Roger and he is now the 14th chief executive of the BSA. Finally, the committee recommends that an invitation be extended to the president of the United States to serve as honorary national chair and that he be elected by the executive board to that position if the invitation is accepted. My understanding, as our president has accepted that invitation. That concludes my report. Thank you all.

As chair of the Resolutions Committee, I'm privileged to report to the National Council. Any proposed resolution submitted by a voting member of the National Council for consideration at the annual business meeting must be submitted to the Resolutions Committee. The deadline for receiving resolutions this year was May 14th. The charter and bylaws of the Boy Scouts of America states the resolutions committee is authorized to review and determine whether any resolution proposed by a member of the National Council is appropriate for discussion at the National Council annual business meeting or whether any such matter should be referred to another committee or dealt with in some other manner. The other members of the resolution's committee are Ron Kirk and Jim Turley, the BSA as general counsel, serves as a staff adviser to the resolution's committee. Those resolutions are reviewed to verify the submitter is a national council member as defined by the charter and bylaws, and to confirm that the proposed resolution was received by the deadline. If the proposed resolution meets the criteria, it has the resolutions committee, every resolution submitted is acknowledged in the submitter will be notified after the annual meeting of the committee's action. If referred to a BSA committee for consideration, that committee is to consider the matter carefully and report on any action or recommendation to the National Executive Committee. This year, 61 identical resolutions were properly submitted by members of the National Council. The resolutions proposed changes to the BSA bylaws pertaining to the nomination and election, the national executive board. The National Executive Committee. The important points from the resolutions are these one designate 20 and large seats to be filled by individuals nominated by the government's nominating standing committee and elected by electronic vote to designate 16 seats to be filled with individuals selected and elected by each of the 16 National Service territories. Three designate for additional seats to be filled by individuals nominated by a special nominating committee consisting of the chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee and the chairs of the 16 National Service Territories. These four would represent all Class 200, 300, 400 and 500 councils. Councils falling within each classification would be the ones to elect those council class representatives by separate electronic vote. Changes to the executive committee composition include not more than 12 individuals, with six coming from the at large representatives to the national executive board and six coming from the National Service territory representatives and or the council class representatives. Numerous comments have been received from councils who do not support these resolutions. Some did request that the BSA examine its governance structure to provide for additional local council involvement in decisions made by the national board. A special task force was appointed earlier this year by National Chair Dan OMB to review and consider these proposals. That task force is chaired by past national chair Jim Turley, who is chair of the Governance Nominating Standing Committee. Other members are former national presidents and board members Dr. Robert Gates and Rex Tillerson, former national commissioner Alan Morrison, and National Executive Committee members Michael Sears and Nathan Rosenberg. In accordance with the bylaws, National Chair A. and B is an ex officio member of the task force. On April 16th, Dan sent a letter to all council presidents advising them of the appointment of the Special Governance Task Force, this governance issue are also discussed with local council representatives during the national key three visits to eight locations around the country the week of April 17th. The twenty third. A survey on governance issues will be sent to all local councils the first week of June. After reviewing all available information, the Resolutions Committee unanimously determined that the proposed resolutions require and deserve significant additional review and discussion and that any action should take place after the BSA emerges from bankruptcy. Accordingly, the resolutions committee is referring to proposed resolutions to the governance nominating committee and the National Executive Committee for Careful and Thoughtful Study and Consideration. That concludes my report.

I want to start off today with a thank you for all the hard work put in by both volunteers and staff in this past year, it's been a difficult period in which our personal business and scouting lives have been affected by the covid pandemic. The air was further complicated by the ongoing litigation surrounding the bankruptcy. We continue on our goal of exiting bankruptcy this year with the two objectives that were stated back in February of twenty twenty one to equably compensate victims through a victim's trust and to continue the mission of scouting as a movement. We are truly sorry for anyone that was abused while in scouting. Child abuse, especially sexual abuse, is a pariah of our society. That had happened in scouting is especially appalling. What excites me today, though, is all of the scouting that continues to go on nationwide, despite covid units continue to meet. Most of our council summer camps were closed last year, but you can still find ways to connect and get kids into the outdoors. A lot of innervating meetings were done out of necessity on March 30th. Five of our youth members Tyler Gray, Kendall Jackson and Alexander Derrick Porter and Tiffany Leron gave the Tony Tony report to the nation like much of 20 20. This report, done annually as required by our charter from the US Congress, was done virtually. We would have preferred to have delivered the report in person. But due to the challenges and travel restrictions brought on by the covered pandemic, our youth representatives had to adapt to the times. Tyler Kendall and Derrick and Tiffany did an excellent job in presenting the report and answering questions to Cheryl Johnson, the honorable clerk of the House, and Caesarea Berry, the honorable secretary of the Senate. Some of the highlights of the report on 20/20 include these things. One, we served over one point one million youth last year. Forty nine thousand volunteers, fifty one thousand units, over thirty six thousand charter partners played a vital role in delivering the mission. There were more than forty eight thousand five hundred Eagle Scouts. That number, nearly one thousand were young women to be. The Change Live cast celebrated the first inaugural class of young women Eagle Scouts in February of this year. It had more than three hundred forty three thousand views, and media coverage included more than two point five billion media impressions. Last year, Scouts earned more than one point one million merit badges. Scouting contributed more than five point seven million hours of service. Our Nysa scholarship program awarded over four hundred twenty five thousand dollars to forty five Eagle Scouts. This is a volunteer led program where regional volunteers evaluated the applications and selected winners partnering with our councils. Our growth initiative helped secure our 17 million in a program that helped local councils fund operational staffing needed to grow membership. Despite a pandemic that gripped the nation, the scouting spirit never wavered. Scouts and leaders quickly shifted, using technology to meet virtually while packs, troops, cruise posts and ships used a blend of virtual and in-person meetings. Many councils offered virtual day and overnight camp experiences. For the first time, scouts across the country gathered virtually international Campean, enjoying celebrity interviews and shout outs, games, adventures, activities and even a closing virtual campfire. This event raised over one hundred thousand dollars to support Feeding America. More than four hundred seventy five thousand people participated in this historic event. Three of our four national high adventure bases, in collaboration with health officials, served over ten thousand participants in rugged wilderness and high denture programs last year. Although Philmont did not open for the summer, our programs at Seabass, the Summit Nectar Reserve and Northern Tier maintain the vital outdoor experience that members sought to counteract. Appendixes grip. In some respects, covid is pushing scouting into the 21st century by requiring that we do more with technology. Zoom is here to stay and know spending your day on zoom calls can be tiring. I'm not sure what we would have done without it in this past year. Our number one goal as an organization is to exit bankruptcy with a global plan that will bring wealth to local councils and our chartering partners through a challenging junction. Moving forward with our global plan will perpetuate an environment of uncertainty for the entire movement. At this time, I believe we're close to a final resolution. 2020 was a tough year from the membership standpoint. In a pretty covid year, we could expect to recruit between three hundred fifty thousand four hundred thousand new scouts. We recruited about 90000. This was primarily a loss of Cub Scouts and much of that is attributed to fewer packs functioning. Our goal nationally this year is to recruit four hundred thousand new scouts to a program. We continue to move forward a more diverse view of the world. Today, we have about the same number of youth in scouting that we had in 1940. During that same period. Over the last 80 years, the US population has almost tripled. We moved through a high of about four point eight million scouts in 1973 and declined every since. It is my view that we need to continue to seek diversity not only in our employee base and our local and national council boards, but we also need to actively seek to reach more girls and include more racial and ethnic diversity in forming units and recruiting youth for scouting additional. I'd like to report that our new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Training program was developed this past year for employees, which is now being completed by all. And a similar program is being developed for volunteers, which is scheduled to be completed and ready for use this summer. And our 2020 high adventure summer programs were affected. Just like most council camps this year, all of our high adventure bases are open except for the Canadian side of northern tier. We expect full programs with lots of scouts having adventure of a lifetime. I saw in the opening video BSA Family Adventure Camp is a new twist on providing outdoor fun and learning for today's families. The unique experiences of this type of camping gives the BSA the opportunity to engage new families who may not have previously considered scouting as camping opportunities. There are three locations available so far at our national high adventure basis. With more to come in the future, a select councils are added to the network. Outdoor participation among families today is growing leaps and bounds, why not provide the same opportunities in scouting? We will start the transition from areas and regions to national service territories immediately after NAM. This structure moves from the four regions and twenty seven areas to 16 national service territories. I want to thank the many volunteers for the countless hours put into this transition. I also want to thank the many volunteers that have served on air and region communities in the past. The work done by these volunteers was truly remarkable. One of the main purposes of the nasties is to streamline communications between national and the councils. This effort came out of the Churchill study as a way to not only improve communications but to improve council performance in the areas of safety, financial sustainability, percent of youth market share, youth retention and youth diversity. Another exciting feature of summer activities is the summer of service. Summer of service will be a way to engage members and alumni into a higher calling service. This will be a nationally coordinated push this summer that will increase local visibility and reinvigorate Scouting's brand locally. You can participate as an individual with a unit at the council level, with alumni groups, with your lodge or any other way you choose to engage. The goal is to provide service to be kind, kind to one another, kind to those less fortunate, kind of those different than you and kind to the environment. I'm encouraging all of you to engage in helping others and reinvigorating Scouting's brand. You'll see other programs and supporting our brand, especially coming out of bankruptcy. One of the many changes that you've seen us cutting lately has been the transition from the iconic Boys Life magazine to scout life. Many, of course, have ask why the change perhaps is best summed up in a letter penned by Young Scout before the title was changed. Here's some of the excerpts of what I said. Labels have become extremely important. Whether they are divisive or unifying, no one can deny the power that labels have. This power is especially pronounced in its hold on younger kids who may not be old enough to understand the connotations a label may have or the context surrounding it. My question is this why not scout life? Why has it not been changed to something more inclusive? So my all female unit will feel just that included. Why indeed. And now it has an audience. Support has been overwhelming. Over 87 percent of letters to scout life have been very positive from the first issue of boy's life in 1911 to the next issue of Scout life and twenty twenty one, the tradition of great reading continues. Robert Baydon well spent the first half of his life in the British army, where he emerged as a hero in England. He used that status to change what he saw as a lack of development of young men into good citizens. His status as a hero presented an opportunity to help youth development and preparing children for the adult world. It began with young men, which soon expanded to young women through the Girl Guide program. The popularity of this program quickly caught on in England and soon spread throughout the British Commonwealth and from there, the world. William Boice was an American newspaperman and the founder of the Boy Scouts of America. Boys focused on teaching self-reliance, citizenship, resourcefulness, patriotism, obedience, cheerfulness, courage and courtesy. His status in US society enabled him to enlist business titans of the time to support the program. And many prominent politicians, including Teddy Roosevelt, were early supporters. Today, millions of youth and adults have been influenced by the scouting program and its scout oath and law. Today, scouts not only learn the many aspects of self-reliance, but learned the value of giving back to their communities through national and local government programs like Scouting for Food. The many community service projects that go on annually is over in over 250 councils. Scouting goes on and I suspect very few scouts, or for that matter, unit leaders are aware of the bankruptcy details. And that's good. They need to keep scouting alive with eyes on the mission. Please take care of yourselves and reach out to others that may need additional support. A scout, after all, is helpful. Remember, you are volunteers and professionals have persevered this past year to bring our amazing program to young people. And that is something to both be proud of and something to continue into the future. The past history of sexual abuse is a horrible nightmare for both the victims and the movement. Despite this, scouting has benefited many tens of millions of youth over the past one hundred eleven years. I have the confidence it will continue to benefit tens of millions into the near and distant future. We all have a duty, volunteers and professionals alike, to the mission of scouting, that is. The fiduciary duty of all board members, both national and local, the duty to mission. Thank you.

Good afternoon, each of you should have received the financial information materials for this meeting, which include the 2020 draft of the consolidated financial statements. I won't repeat all the details here today. However, I would like to highlight certain items within the twenty twenty unaudited statements. As you are all aware, the outbreak of covid 19 and the pandemic and the measures adopted throughout the country to mitigate the spread have significantly impacted the National Council. These measures required us to close Skout shop retail stores and certain locations for periods ranging from three to five months during the year due to certain state regulations. We are also required to close our high adventure bases during certain parts of the year. Further, the filing of bankruptcy by the National Council in February of twenty twenty also has had a significant impact on expenses as we continue to work towards exiting bankruptcy. First, let's refer to the unaudited statement a financial position. Total net assets on this page will show a decrease by approximately 70 million dollars. This decrease relates primarily to reduction in cash balances, lower amounts in cash received in 2020 compared to 2019 due to the absence of the 2019 world scouting jamboree and the absence of the world's contingent fees related to that jamboree. Second, high adventure based fees were down due to covid-19, which caused cancellations or otherwise disrupted the camping season. Additionally, fees were negatively impacted by the absence of national order of the Arrow and law enforcement conferences, as well as canceled scouting new classes also attributable to the lower asset balances, lower inventories on hand and.

[CynicalScouter]

Transcript part 2 (created via automated system, so be forgiving).

The end of 2020 versus 2019. This was due to lower sales and reductions in inventory, particularly in supply, these decreases in cash were offset by significantly reduced spending and lower expenses throughout, thus reducing the payable balances when comparing 2020 to 2019. Please now refer to the consolidated statement of revenues, expenses and other changes. Total revenues were down one hundred and seventeen million from last year. This reduction is again attributable mostly to the covid-19 pandemic as we experienced lower supply sales and lower investment income. We did see an increase in overall membership registration fees of approximately 17 million dollars that helped to offset the other reductions in revenue. As you're aware, this was primarily due to the increase in the youth registration fee to sixty six dollars in August of twenty twenty, as well as the increases related to the joining fee and charged fee increases. But also note that most of the rechartering occurred before the largest impacts of covid that started to be felt significantly in the US in March of twenty twenty. Further, offsetting these lower revenue amounts was also an increase in other income. This was due to a transition of revenue and cost from the Employee Welfare Benefit Trust to BSA operations moving to expenses. You will see here significant reductions in expenses as well. Total expenses were down approximately one hundred and seventy five million dollars as a result of the pandemic and the full closure or partial closing of our high adventure bases. Suspending in preparation for these high adventure based activities was down significantly in 2020. I have to go also to the expenditures related to inventories and store operations for supply where they were down due to start closings that for that period of time virtually halted sales to offset cowbirds, negative impact on revenue, overall reductions in workforce or initiated. That resulted in reducing costs for payroll across all areas of the National Council due to the bankruptcy. You'll see here, glib claims expense, which includes amounts paid for lawyers and for claims, is down one hundred and twenty million due to the majority of claims now being managed through the bankruptcy from February. Twenty twenty on currently the twenty eighteen. It is still in progress by PricewaterhouseCoopers, and management is working closely with the audit committee chaired by Frank McCalister, towards the completion of that audit. Again, please keep in mind that the results share today for twenty twenty are an audited and are subject to change. Mr. Chairman, this concludes my report.

I'm often asked, what's the most important thing we can do for scouting right now, and I think that's easy, go start a Cub Scout pack. And as someone reminded me last night, maybe we should refine that and say start a tiger cub den. We know from our personal journey during the lockdown how it has affected our lives and our schools have been similarly affected, our older scouts have found ways to stay engaged and even thrive. We have nearly fifty thousand Eagle Scouts from this past year, and, of course, we had our inaugural female eagle class and they showed us the magic of the movement. It's been harder for our younger scouts. For the first time or Cub Scout membership lagged Scouts BSA. Rebuilding our scout base after the pandemic is the most important thing we can do, and we do that by rebuilding our Cub Scout base, Cub Scouts are the future foundation of our program. Does the mantra go start a Cub Scout pack or even better, a tiger cub den? Reflecting on this past year, I am struck by the realization that scouting is ideally positioned to help and support the American family in the post pandemic era. Think about it. Our program provides a structured, goal oriented, comprehensive program that is ready made for the American family. We can demonstrably prove how scouting improves lives through character development, outdoor adventure and education. That is the message we need to take to the American family. Ken Miller from Baltimore shared with me a letter that I think really sums it up very well. And I think scouts can tell the story much better than we can. So the letter, which hopefully you can see, says, Dear BSA, my name is Jack and I do not like wearing the mask and the scouts anymore. This is hard because I need to run around with a mask, so please let us take it off. Also, I want to have a packed meeting again, and we have not had one for almost a year. Thank you, Jack. Well, I hear you, Jack, and I don't think anyone at this meeting can can disagree with your sentiments. You know, we're in a situation where. The research of what are our younger generation has experienced in the past year shows there's much work to be done. A current Harvard study suggests that two thirds of their sample in the sample range was seven to 15 years old. Two thirds of that sample demonstrated clinically significant symptoms of anxiety and depression, with corresponding increases in hyperactivity and inattention. Now, the good news, the experts indicate the troubling trajectories can relatively easily be reversed with positive experiences. And by supporting kids through challenges. The Harvard study has found that those who had structured routines exercised and had less screen time fared better. To me, that's starting to sound a lot like scouting. Other psychologists recommend that parents help their children by choosing activities that gives them a sense of purpose and helps them set related goals. That sounds like a recipe for scouting to me. The re-emergence of scouting is already happening. Summer camp attendance promises fun and adventure for tens of thousands of scouts or high adventure basses are ready for an incredible summer. We as a nation are rediscovering the great outdoors. And in fact, we are indeed ready to escape the great indoors as our new campaign will suggest. Units remaining code honors are being held, scouting is happening in America. So scouters, whether you be a volunteer or a professional. We obviously should focus on retaining the youth we have in a quality program. That's always been the calling of the commissioner corps and really now calling for all of us. We urge you to reach out to lapsed units and see what we can do to reinvigorate the promise of scouting, we are already starting to see positive results when we support and re-engage with units and show them just a little extra attention. Finally, go start a Cub Scout pack or tiger cub den. Think about prospects for every type of scout unit as you drive around your community. We all need to act and think like we are part of the local council membership committee and our professionals deserve our best collaboration and support. So call your local scout professional or your membership team and ask how you can help. Start a Cub Scout pack together, we can make a difference as we move forward to deliver our message and our mission. Want to close, I found another letter this week. This is a letter that was sent to the editor of a Wyoming newspaper, and it's from a scout's BSA member who's going to make a great communicator sometime in his future. Very simple and to the point, dear. Energy scouts are very fun, especially the camp outs. I feel like all the boys and girls who are not in Boy Scouts are really missing out. So I agree with you, too, Matthew, and I think that captures very well what we need to think as we leave this national meeting and we can reinvigorate scouting. Thanks for all you do for scouting and the kids of America. Hi, I'm Keith Clark, International Court of owner, chair for this year, just over Buffalo Award recognizes the remarkable group of individuals who have accomplished extraordinary things and serving young people. On behalf of all of us, I salute and thank them for all of their great work. We will honor them formally Friday evening. I hope you'll join us as we celebrate scouting in our Silver Buffaloes.

Hello, I'm Kate Claiborne, international commissioner. Each year, the World Organization of the Scout movement recognizes outstanding service by an individual to world scouting. The award is called the Bronze Wolf, and since it was first awarded in nineteen thirty five, fewer than three hundred and seventy have been presented. The first person to be awarded the Bronze, Wolf, was Lord Baden Powell. This year's recipient is our own rabbi, Peter Hyman. Peter, congratulations from Burns. Wolf, number three. Fifty six and thank you for all your work on behalf of the BSA and scouting around the world.

Thank you for the opportunity to share with you about our great movement and the organizations that support it, while I want to spend some time talking with you about the bankruptcy. I also want to share a few changes, some wins, a handful of accolades and a couple of mandates for our future. The body blows of covid and way too many allegations of molestation abuse have fomented a crisis for the Boy Scouts of America. Pope Francis has said that no one comes out of a crisis unchanged. The Boy Scouts of America will emerge from these crisis has greatly changed. While we will stay true to our values and aims, our organization and the delivery of our programs will change. And just as we have needed strong leadership to deal with this bankruptcy, we will also need even stronger leadership to steer to our future. The leadership expert, Warren Bennis and his co-author wrote One of the most reliable indicators and predictors of true leadership is an individual's ability to find meaning in negative events and to learn from even the most trying circumstances. Put it another way the skills required to conquer adversity and emerge stronger and more committed than ever are the same ones that make for an extraordinary leaders. While these are trying times, we will emerge from this era as stronger leaders and the future BSA will need your leadership to each man and woman in this national meeting. I thank you for your leadership and the treasures that you continue to give to our movement every day. None of us have a crystal ball, but whatever the future brings, we must put safety first. As we heard Rex Tillerson say during the Tuesday fireside chat, safety is not a priority. Safety is a value. If parents cannot trust, their children will be safe while participating in scouting, we might as well fold up our tents and go home. Safety must permeate every part of our movement. We need to hold each other accountable at every board meeting, every staff meeting. Having a safety culture is just not a safety minute to start a meeting. It's a culture where reporting and open dialogue is expected. We owe a safety culture to the future of the young people that we serve. And let's be clear, more and more girls and women will join our ranks. Signing over 1000 eagle certificates for the first class of girls was a privilege of the key three. It was the best job that I had in my first year as chair. Our boards are going to have to change to represent our communities and our future members. This means some of us will leave the board to make more room for women and minority directors. Society is changing. If we look in the mirror, we look pale, male and stale in our nominating committees, local and national. We are going to need to prepare and actively recruit today's new directors who are representative of our communities. Twenty years from now, the National Executive Board of Directors continues to evolve our evolution to continue to focus volunteers between true governance and operational roles. Directors have self selected to serve on one of the three buses, the redBus, overseeing the program and operations the green bus in the management and strategies of the fundraising arm and the blue bus is governance. Thank you to Steve Weekes, national board member and former president of the Northern Star Council for Organizing and Moving the Red Bus forward to provide oversight. The bankruptcy task force is headed by Alison Schuler, National Executive Committee member and former president of the Great Southwest Council. These directors have put in hours and hours each week working with our. Nationals and advisories to cut a Gordian knot of unprecedented complexity. I think each one of them for their work. Unfortunately, the bankruptcy is taking focus and an unknown amount of time, not only at the national but at every local council for all volunteers and professionals. Thank you. On behalf of the young people who will benefit from scouting in the future, as we emerge from bankruptcy, we will continue to improve our structures for governance. As I said in my letter to council presidents in April, representation of stakeholders is important on the national executive board. If you are one of the key three from our from your council, please respond to the governance survey and give us your best thinking young people when when we strengthen board governance and oversight at the national level and at the local level because we mirror each other, board structure and practices, we have to get this right. Emerging from bankruptcy, we are going to have to transform our organizational culture, our organizational norms in particular. We are going to have to do all three critical focus areas accountability, transparency and one BSA. There is way too much of us versus them in our organization and it damages our movement and our ability to serve young people. It wastes precious time and resources, whether it is at national versus local or volunteers versus birds or professionals, forces, volunteers or large councils versus small councils, old guard versus newcomers or professionals versus commission employees, it has to stop. Besides, when you look at the facts, it's just plain juvenile nonsense. For example, fifty six percent of the national executive board of directors have served as president of their councils. Many councils presidents have served as scoutmasters and cub masters. Untold numbers of professionals are volunteers and units. We have one purpose, one mission preparing young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetime by instilling values of the scout oath and law. Everything that we do needs to be tied to that mission. We are all one family, sometimes dysfunctional, and like all families, we have a few crazy aunts and uncles. But let's be clear, this is not about the National Service Center or you or your council or my counsel. It's not about me or you. It's about young people and the future generation of young people that we will serve. We need to turn our organizational chart upside down and focus up on serving units and giving them the support, the tools and the resources to deliver the promise of scouting. We need to continually challenge ourselves, our total cost structure and the value each element brings to those scout and scout leaders. At 5th and main communication is the key to building and trust and breaking down perceived differences. We have greatly elevated the quality and quantity of communication between the National Key three and the Council's Keith Rie's. We will continue to innovate and improve in that critical work and ask that you join us in this important dialogue. We need to listen keenly to one another to ensure the promise of scouting is delivered to each girl and every boy. We are going to have to build accountability into our culture. That is to say, volunteers and professionals will make commitments to each other for results and be accountable for delivering those results. And if you have a pattern of not delivering, there are consequences. And when you deliver the results, there are rewards. Roger Moseby and his team at the National. Service center has provided extraordinary leadership, management and value during this crucible of his time as our president. In particular, I want to thank the members of the profession and other employees of the Boy Scouts for their loyalty and good work as the organization has lost membership and resources to many employees have lost their jobs. Those remaining work in an uncertain environment. Their contribution are appreciated in the region and area. Presidents and their teams have devoted themselves to serving councils. While their work is ending in their current roles, they are acknowledged and appreciated with the new territory starting. We will intensely focus on sharing stories of success. Our National Executive Committee and the executive board have met virtually every month and sometimes two or three times each month. I thank them for their time, commitment and their wisdom to assure strong leadership for the National Council. We are planning a staggered succession of the key three. Roger will continue as our chief scout executive beyond wrapping up the bankruptcy proceeding. Scott Sorel's our national commissioner, is looking out at his term. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to give back to the movement that this that has given me so much in my lifetime. I will serve for two more years. Brad Tilden, the just retired CEO of Alaskan Airlines and former president of the chief Seattle Council, has served on the National Executive Committee and board chairs the Finance Committee on the Bankruptcy Task Force and will now add the title of chair elect. I have said this since the beginning, that we will survive bankruptcy, we will change, look different, be smaller and have less resources. But that's OK and could be great. It can be a foundation to launch a new era of growth and service to youth of America. Your leadership will make that difference. Finally, let me in where maybe I should have started. In the next few weeks, thousands of boys and girls will go to summer camp and will participate in day camps. Some of the luckiest will hike the trails of Philmont sail from sea bass into the ocean off the Florida Keys, paddle in the rivers of the northern tier and whitewater rafting at the summit. Bechtel Reserve. Next week and next, Mont Pax and dance troops, cruise and ships will meet for the first time in fourteen months. Scouting is alive and well. God bless the Boy Scouts of America. God bless the United States of America and God bless you. We're leaving you with a brief highlight reel from the inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts live cast.

Hi, I'm Ali and this is Liberty and we are about to celebrate the inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts. Welcome to be the change.

We'll visit with some of the extraordinary young women who have achieved scouting's highest rank. Plus, we have inspiring congratulatory messages from leaders, including CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell, the CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra, MasterChef contestant Jeff Philbin, the first female commander of a nuclear powered aircraft carrier. We also reached out to councils from across the country to hear from their Eagle Scouts about being the change in their communities. And we'll give you a sneak peek at the summer of service.

It's a really, really special thing to get to be in this inaugural eagle class. I feel like this may sound cheesy, but like we're all connected in some way. I believe

in

many.

They

go,

I

believe,

and

maybe

the.

 

[gpurlee]

One of the things that immediately jumped out at me as I quickly skimmed the video of the national annual meeting is that the public face of Scouting, in terms of leadership,  is a bunch of middle to senior aged white men (full disclosure I also fall into that group).  This is one of the challenges that we face if we hope to rebrand as a 21st Century organization that values diversity. 

[CynicalScouter]

16 minutes ago, gpurlee said:

is a bunch of middle to senior aged white men (full disclosure I also fall into that group). 

One person flat out said hat during the NAM.

53 minutes ago, CynicalScouter said:

This means some of us will leave the board to make more room for women and minority directors. Society is changing. If we look in the mirror, we look pale, male and stale in our nominating committees, local and national. We are going to need to prepare and actively recruit today's new directors who are representative of our communities.

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by CynicalScouter

[RememberSchiff]

11 hours ago, gpurlee said:

One of the things that immediately jumped out at me as I quickly skimmed the video of the national annual meeting is that the public face of Scouting, in terms of leadership,  is a bunch of middle to senior aged white men (full disclosure I also fall into that group).  This is one of the challenges that we face if we hope to rebrand as a 21st Century organization that values diversity. 

IMHO, sharper, enthused, younger people heading an outdoor youth organization would haven take their 4G/5G laptop/phone outdoors for their report. Their audio and video likely would have been in sync too. As to content, well it resembled a performance review prefaced by a BTW we cannot be fired.

My $0.02 and a Scout Salute to Scouting Ireland,

Edited June 3, 2021 by RememberSchiff

[Eagle1993]

17 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said:

IMHO, sharper, enthused, younger people heading an outdoor youth organization would haven take their 4G/5G laptop/phone outdoors for their report. Their audio and video likely would have been in sync too. As to content, well it resembled a performance review prefaced by a BTW we cannot be fired.

My $0.02 and a Scout Salute to Scouting Ireland,

I keep hearing the program and how we deliver it will be greatly changed after bankruptcy.  After bankruptcy we will rebrand.  Etc.  They have to have some ideas when they keep saying this .... what are their ideas?  What do they mean?  

[CynicalScouter]

9 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said:

They have to have some ideas when they keep saying this .... what are their ideas?

They are not going to give sneak previews of their rebranding. During the Safety Fireside chat they mentioned they paid a big PR firm to come up with a marketing campaign.

The other thing they kept saying and over was smaller, smaller, smaller.

Quote

I have said this since the beginning, that we will survive bankruptcy, we will change, look different, be smaller and have less resources. But that's OK and could be great. It can be a foundation to launch a new era of growth and service to youth of America.

And frankly, that is probably ALL they know right now. Until they know precisely how much BSA and LCs will have in terms of resources when this is over, putting out statements about how "We plan to operate all 4 HA bases" or "This is our exact plan" would be grossly premature.

Edited June 3, 2021 by CynicalScouter

[CynicalScouter]

6 minutes ago, CynicalScouter said:

putting out statements about how "We plan to operate all 4 HA bases" or "This is out plan" would be grossly premature.

That said, here are the broadest of broad strokes that BSA put into their bankruptcy filing/reorg plan.

a. Membership Levels – Membership levels are assumed to decrease in 2021 by 13%, primarily due to the impact of COVID-19 on programing, but are forecasted to stabilize between 2023 to 2024 and achieve modest growth in 2024 and 2025 driven by the following factors:

• Adjustments to programming and operations to account for reduced membership, including the departure of Scouts affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• Channeling all Abuse Claims to the Settlement Trust, which will remove a significant impediment to the Debtors’ continued operational success.
• Broadening program access for girls and young women, thus potentially doubling total potential participants in Cubs Scouts and Scouts BSA age groups.
• Reimaging public relations campaign to bolster positive visibility and move the organization past bankruptcy, which can generate new interest in Scouting and generate increased donations.
• Improving the organization’s online registration system.
• Improving the rechartering system for Local Councils and Chartered Organizations.
• Expanding delivery methods that make it easier for individuals who might not have access to a local Scouting unit to participate through lone Cub Scouting and increasing these Scouts’ virtual experience.
• Gradual restoration of Local Council resources / refocus on membership growth.

[RememberSchiff]

11 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said:

I keep hearing the program and how we deliver it will be greatly changed after bankruptcy.  After bankruptcy we will rebrand.  Etc.  They have to have some ideas when they keep saying this .... what are their ideas?  What do they mean?  

No systemic changes just cosmetic changes?