Popcorn Sales

Helping our kids reach their individual aspirations and acquire solid values is part of parenting, but it is also part of Scouting. The Trail's End mission is to provide a means of raising money for Cub Scout Packs and Boy Scout Troops, with which they can expand their programs and give boys the best Scouting experience possible.

Who Pays for Scouting?

Youth Members
Assisted by their parents or guardians, boys in Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, and Varsity Scouting and young men and women in Venturing pay their share from personal savings and participation in money-earning projects.

Members buy their own uniforms, handbooks, and personal equipment and pay their own camp fees.

Packs, Troops, Teams, and Posts
Weekly or monthly dues and funds from approved money-earning projects meet expenses for supplies and activities in the Cub Scout pack, Boy Scout troop, Varsity Scout team, and Venture crew. These monies help pay for camping equipment, registration fees, Boys' Life magazine, uniform insignia, special activities, and program materials.

Community Organizations
Each chartered organization using the Scouting program provides a meeting place and adult volunteer leadership for its BSA unit(s). The chartered organization and local council must approve unit money-earning projects before the launch of the project.

These funds provide for professional staff supervision, organization of new Scouting units, service for existing units, training of volunteer leaders, and maintenance of council camps. They also finance the operation of the local council service center, where volunteer leaders can obtain literature, insignia, advancement badges, and other items vital to the program. In addition, the service center maintains advancement and membership records.

National Organization
Funds to support the national organization of the Boy Scouts of America come from registration fees, local council service fees, investment income, Scouting and Boys' Life magazines, sale of uniforms and equipment, and contributions from individuals. These monies help to deliver the program of the BSA (through four regional service centers and more than 300 local councils) to chartered organizations that use the Scouting program to meet the needs of their youth.

The National Boy Scouts of America Foundation also provides funding for both local council needs and national organization initiatives. Most of this funding comes from specifically designated gifts made to the foundation by individuals, corporations, and foundations.

• Provides local councils with program development and evaluation as well as camp and office planning, extensive financial counseling, planned giving and fund-raising information, and professional personnel support.
   
• Coordinates a communications network through magazines and literature (handbooks, merit badge pamphlets, brochures, training materials, and professional development training).
   
• Creates a climate of positive understanding and support.
   
• Makes available uniforms, equipment, and program supplies.
   
• Administers national high-adventure bases and national events (jamborees, National Eagle Scout Association and Order of the Arrow conferences, and National Council meetings).
   
• Maintains communication with chartered organizations that use the Scouting program (religious institutions, PTA, civic organizations, labor unions, professional organizations, business, and industry).
   
• Maintains liaison with Scouting associations in other countries as a member of the World Scout Conference.

Donation Opportunities

The National BSA Endowment Recognition Awards

Encouraging gifts to BSA local council endowment funds is one of Scouting's highest priorities. It is one of the best ways to ensure that our council can continue to offer the outstanding programs it now has and also grow to meet the needs of the youth and communities it serves.

In its gratitude for such support, the BSA nationally offers three distinct endowment recognition awards. These awards are presented by the local council to donors who support Scouting's financial future with council endowment gifts.

These programs are:

The James E. West Fellowship Program

James E. West was the first Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America, and he served in that position for more than three decades. The West Fellowship award is available for gifts of $1,000 and up in cash or marketable securities to a council endowment fund. The gift must be in addition to - and not replace or diminish - the donor's annual Friends of Scouting support. Many individuals and corporations make these gifts either on behalf of someone else - such as in honor of an Eagle Scout, Silver Beaver recipient, a special accomplishment, or anniversary - or in memory of a special individual. If an institution is truly "the lengthened shadow of one man," it is more than fitting that the BSA honor James E, West's significant contributions to Scouting in such a significant way.

The 1910 Society

Founded in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America has grown into something larger and more significant than anyone anticipated. We honor that special date by presenting the 1910 Society award to donors who make gifts of $25,000 or more to their council endowments. These gifts can be in the form of cash, securities, land, five year pledges, or other property suitable for a council endowment fund or easily converted to cash. There are four levels of recognition in the 1910 Society that honor four very special individuals who shaped modern-day Scouting:

1) Ernest Thompson Seton, , nationally known artist and naturalist, author of the first official American Scout handbook and many other books important to Scouting;

Seton Level membership: $25,000 minimum gift

2) Daniel Carter Beard, first chairman of the National Court of Honor, national Scout commissioner, and author of many well-known books and stories for youth.

Beard Level membership: $100,000 minimum gift

3) Theodore Roosevelt, first Chief Scout Citizen, first vice president of the BSA and President of the United States

Roosevelt Level membership: $500,000 minimum gif

4) Waite Phillips, one of the BSA's first benefactors, and donor to the BSA of almost 130,000 acres of land in New Mexico which became Philmont Scout Ranch

Phillips Level membership: $1,000,000 and up

 

 

 

The Founders Circle

The newest level of endowment recognition, the Founders Circle, is intended to recognize deferred gifts designated for council endowment funds. With deferred giving (also called planned giving) so widely and effectively used by so many donors, the BSA wants to recognize the importance of such major gifts. Donors are recognized for gift commitments with a minimum value of $100,000. Unlike the other endowment recognition awards, a donor may qualify for membership with gifts made through:

• Charitable bequests in a will or codicil
• Charitable trusts, such as unitrusts, annuity trusts, and lead trusts
• BSA Gift Annuities or BSA Pooled Income Fund gifts
• Life Insurance/retirement plan designations
• Other deferred gifts approved by the local council

As with the 1910 Society, there are four levels of membership within the Founders Circle. They are:

1) Bronze: $100,000 minimum gift commitment

2) Silver: $250,000 minimum gift commitment

3) Gold: $500,000 minimum gift commitment

4) Platinum: $1,000,000 minimum gift commitment

The early founders of the BSA had the vision and commitment to make Scouting the number one youth organization in the world. In that spirit, we honor the modern-day visionaries who qualify for the Founders Circle in their commitment to perpetuate the visions and beliefs of those founders.

For More Information

If you would like to find out more about our gift recognition programs or about Scouting's endowment campaign, contact your local council at (831)-422-5338.

We only have a short time to live, so it is essential to do things that are worthwhile and to do them now.

- Lord Robert Baden-Powell