Every local council is fiscally sound

[RememberSchiff]

This goal was stated in the 2006-2010 and again in the current 2011-2015 National Strategic Plan, but it has not been reached yet despite selling camps and merging councils.

Where does the money go and is spending money the only approach to reverse membership decline? If so, I don't think it is working.

 

Getting real numbers (budget, fundraising, donations, salaries, membership) is rare. This article "Des Moines Boy Scouts battle debt after years of borrowing" is an exception, still I am baffled by some of the numbers, decisions made and who did not know what.

 

http://dmjuice.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120423/NEWS/304230019/1001/NEWS

 

Wonder how much Philmont and Summit treks will cost through this council?

 

[DLChris71]

I went to that site that lets you look up the tax records for non profits, and my local council was running a deficit. But it wasn't as big as the council in the article. At the rough estimate of 3M in expenses vs. 20,000 members that's approximately $150 per member per year, so maybe $175 per scout.

[Eamonn]

Talking with my wife today.

I said that the four most dangerous words in the English language are "I've been thinking."

You can be sure what follows is never good and as a rule means me spending money or more money than I want.

When I see "and there is an executive committee that meets in between, I get the same kinda feeling.

Ea.

[Basementdweller]

And you thought that there were number games played now. It is about to get real crazy if this is fact. What a coincidence my council just spent multimillions on a new office building......

 

 

A scout is trustworthy unless your a Pro Scouter.......It's okay, they are doing it for the boys, NOPE.

 

Ya know, Last september I filled out applications for free or discounted memberships for a number of my pack, I asked for shirts and books for them as well.

 

We have yet to receive anything.....We paid for the recharter fee for all of them....No shirts or books either.....

 

Ya I take shots at the pro's I have yet to have one do anything he promised except show up for the FOS presentation or to collect the new apps and fees.

[boomerscout]

the money goes for wages, expense accounts, professional training workshops hundreds of miles away, and new furnishings for the office. Anything left over goes to camp.

Why would you think these bureaucrats different from any other?

[BS-87]

It's cases like these that our national organization is pointing to as a reason the Area Project in Michigan is going to be necessary for all Councils.

 

I strongly suspect that the real answer is smaller councils, not larger. The real answer probably includes more direct service personnel than middle management. It probably takes more decentralization to fix a crisis like this, not less.

 

I'm not one to gang up on professionals usually, but it seems like there's some serious underhandedness going on with the projects this council is involved in. This is evidenced by how little regard this council seems to have for keeping the board well informed. Putting a past Governor on the board is probably a great way to make sure your board won't care about what you're doing. I wouldn't be surprised if their board let these professionals get away with murder...

[Reasonable Rascal]

One part of Mid-Iowa's problems was Eli Brewer, the Council Exec. There was a trust originating from Mahaska County that was stipulated for the support of local (calling Mahaska County 'home') scout programs. He chose to interpret that as providing a DE and other support services as "support" and thus to allow the Council to claim the annual funds to the general coffers.

 

Long story short it was only after losing every single appeal to the original lawsuit that he finally informed the Executive Committee what had been going on. I wish i had even a clue how much money was spent on defending against the original suit and the various appeals but it had to be considerable. It was finally settled less than 10 years ago in any case.

 

RR

[BadenP]

 

Maybe it is time to go back to the original concept of professional scouting, namely have a National headquarters only with no local councils or local pro scouters. All commisioners would receive training at National and act as National BSA reps in their own districts, eliminating paid professional local executives and councils. The reduction of all these expenses should more than fund National, and the position of Commisioner would gain much more prestige and respect and really mean something once again.

 

As far as council camps, many councils are selling off their camps at an ever increasing rate just to meet their bills. Maybe National could run and maintain a series of megacamps all over the USA based on scouting numbers. IMO, council camps have become a huge financial drain and many are not being well maintained due to a lack of funds. Time to cut the cord. Besides there are plenty of county and state parks to take scouts for a real camping experience.

 

With these new "MegaCouncils" National is proposing it is just a matter of time before this becomes a reality anyway. I just want to see a reduction in professional scouting executives on both the local and National levels and who do nothing more than ask for money.

[Tokala]

My Council is financially doing OK. I do cringe when we approve the Council budget because 50% of our costs in the operating budget is salaries. That's professionals, office staff, and 2 camp rangers. I know the Council Executive makes over $100K and I find that appalling. Nice guy, but his staff complains that he is never in the office.

 

We recently had a proposal from our properties committee to renovate our old dining hall. This is a building that was built around 1960 and has no air conditioning. A/C in Florida is a necessity. As a Executive Committee member, I felt it was my duty to review the plans carefully and take my time even though the Council Executive was pushing for a speedy approval. I found some costs that were not defined or included in th bid and pointed it out to the rest of the Exec. Comm. We made him give us those costs before we allowed the project to go forward.

 

I know of a Florida Council that is in debt...to the National Office. That Council has been given an ultimatum and deadline to repay National or they will be merged by the end of the year. I asked the National Commissioner how that was the best thing for the local Scouts. He didn't answer other than to say National wanted its money.

 

I think our better option is to close National and allow the local Councils to operate without the giant money sucking vortex that is located in Irving, TX.

[Tampa Turtle]

Tokala feel your pain. I cringe during the FOS presentation when folks bring up the bathrooms at Camp Brorein, the "money has been going to renovation" for like 10 years. My old Pack lost female leaders over the state of the main bathroom. Went we had our Pack leaders retreat (good idea, with cocktails) and the campout bathrooms was the #1 complaint. Now that was never my issue but probably was representative.

 

Brorein is very overused and I know folks stepped forward to make some improvement contributions at one time but were "strongly encouraged" to direct the money to the general fund since improvements were going to be done anyway. And they weren't.

 

 

[Tokala]

Tampa Turtle, FOS dollars don't go to the capital account; they go to the operations account. Never the twain shall mix in WCFC. Gulf Ridge should be delighted that we sold the 25 acres for $5.4M. That $2.7M that your Council got, saved your butts.

 

I held the latest project up because our last project to renovate our Service Center needed more money at the end. Seems that they forgot they would have to pay the architect. It got my hackles raised because the Exec Board had just grilled my COPE/Climbing director and myself when we requested $3K to replace a roof and storage building that housed $16K in climbing gear. They debated for 20 minutes and were demanding plans, etc. Immediately afterwards the Council Executive asked for $50K to finish the Service Center without providing plans, documents, etc and no one on the Exec Board other than me asked any questions.

[Tampa Turtle]

You are a better man than I Gunga Din.

 

I used to be on a number of non-profit Boards and once ran one. I got no more patience for the thing.

 

It is always bad when folks start ignoring prudent cost/benefit. You were confusing logic with the professionals' digs.