SCOUT EXECUTIVE'S MINUTE

Dear Fellow Scouters:

Over the past few months a group of dedicated Scouters lead by Ron Schagrin, Marie Diffley, and Al Knox provided leadership to our budget planning process for 2006. The process was much more open than in previous years. The group received detailed input from each of the districts as well as several program committees. As a result, I believe we will have a much more accurate budget on both the income as well as expense side of the equation.

As part of the process it was discovered that over the past decade the council had seriously overspent its budget on both operating as well as capital concerns. The last several years were operated positively, but cashflow continued to be tight because of earlier expenses. To address this issue it was decided to purposefully raise $100,000 more in income than what is actually spent annually for the next several years.

What can you do to help? Become a Friend of Scouting for a $100 or $250 per year annual gift. Make sure that your Troop attends Camp Napowan for summer camp rather than going “out of council” where you are financially supporting another council's operation. Play in the Golf Outing. Shoot in the Sporting Clays Tournament. Attend one of the council sponsored events like Scout Night with the Chicago Wolves, the Chicago Rush or the Schaumburg Flyers. Buy a complete uniform at the Northwest Suburban National Scout Shop. Participate in the Popcorn Sale or Wreath Sale. Host a table at the Distinguished Citizens Award Luncheon.

The result will be improved finances over time, but more importantly, your increased participation will help improve the quantity as well as quality of our local Scouting program. And isn't that how Scouting works best anyway with a fully active, high quality program chock-full of youth and adult participants? Our budget will be better and our program will equally benefit by your personal and group participation.

Best regards,
Stephen J. Taylor, CFRE
Scout Executive
staylor@bsamail.org