Scout fundraiser ends quotas, discounts

The annual Friends of Scouting drive for the Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts of America will feature some significant changes this year.

The campaign, set to begin this summer and fall, will no longer include quotas and discounts. It will be similar to what Utah's other two Scout Councils — the National Parks Council and Trapper Trails Council — are already doing.

"In years past, a neighborhood troop would gather contributions for Scouting," said David Kunz, Great Salt Lake Council development and marketing director. "Once a contribution goal was achieved, a 10 percent 'gold club' discount on summer camp fees was earned. This discount is being discontinued and replaced by overall lower camp fees that are simple, competitive and equal for every young person."

Camp fees for the 2010 season will be reduced nearly 17 percent, and high adventure camp fees will be reduced 15 percent, he said.

"Rather than working toward a discount when conducting the FOS drive, troops will be asked to follow the Cub Scout motto and simply 'do your best,' " Kunz said.

These changes are expected to take some fundraising pressure off many local scout leaders and their troop sponsors.

John Gailey, spokesman for the National Parks Boy Scout Council in Orem, said his council deliberately lacks quotas or discounts in its drive.

"The idea is we want to give every individual an opportunity to give," he said. "We try to go to every single house."

Its costs at least $100 a year to support each Scout in the program, Gailey said.

Kunz said Scouts, leaders and volunteers will still conduct the neighborhood drive by going door-to-door and will be asking people to be a friend of Scouting to support the 65,000 youths involved in Salt Lake, Summit, Tooele and south Davis counties.

"We hope that each home will have an opportunity to contribute to ensure the future of the Boy Scouts of America," he said.

The Friends of Scouting drive brought in $2.3 million from 90,000 donors last year in the Great Salt Lake Council, an average of about $26 per donation. It represents 32 percent of the council's total income.

"There is a common misconception that the BSA is primarily funded locally by its chartered religious sponsors," Kunz said. "Many do not know Scouting is mainly financed by families and businesses. Each year, political pressures are reducing the list of corporations and government bodies who are able to sponsor Scouting. It is up to committed individuals, their families and their businesses to secure Scouting's future and the lives of those it reaches."

Like the Great Salt Lake Council, the National Parks Council begins its campaign each August. The Trapper Trails Council conducts its drive in the late winter and early spring.

e-mail: lynn@desnews.com