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On Wednesday December 12th, the Wall Street Journal published an article stating that the National BSA has hired a bankruptcy attorney in apparent reaction to the high costs of defending sexual abuse lawsuits.  Before the “spin” and rumor in reaction to the story becomes too great, we wanted to share some information to help you with any questions you may have.

 

In communications released yesterday and again today, National BSA reaffirmed its focus on keeping children safe and delivering our nation’s foremost program of character development and values-based leadership training.  BSA went on to restate its commitment to the social and moral responsibility to fairly compensate victims who suffered abuse during their time in Scouting.  And finally, BSA reiterated its deep care and concern for all victims of child sex abuse and its proactive steps to help victims heal and prevent future abuse.  BSA stresses that at no time in its history has the organization knowingly allowed a sexual predator to work with youth; it will always seek to act swiftly when alerted to abuse allegations.   


BSA is committed to communicate transparently and clearly stated that there are no imminent actions or immediate decisions expected by BSA, in light of the WSJ news story.  BSA is in an exploratory phase of a possible financial restructure.  What is the effect of potential BSA decisions on the health of SFBAC?

Here are a few points to consider: 

  • The strength of Scouting for over 108 years has been its “local” presence.  Each unit is owned by its chartering partner; typically, a place of worship, a service club or educational institution.  Just as with units, each council is locally incorporated in the state where it operates.
     
  • The San Francisco Bay Area Council is a 501(c)(3) non-profit incorporated in California.  Our award-winning camps, our service center-YLTC, our bank accounts and investments are owned and controlled by SFBAC.  We have our own governing board, file our own tax returns and we develop and manage our own budget and finances.
     
  • The relationship between a local council and the National BSA is similar to a franchise operation.  The BSA has granted SFBAC a charter to operate and we do so according to a nationally written but locally approved set of Bylaws and Rules and Regulations.  Our charter from BSA allows us to independently operate within Alameda and San Francisco counties.
     
  • SFABC receives no funding from the BSA; we pay fees to BSA as a part of our charter agreement with them.  These fees provide for a modest return value from BSA, but our day-to-day operations are more than 99% funded from dollars locally earned and raised.
     
  • All local donations to our Council stay local to support the nearly 10,000 youth we serve.
     
  • We partner with BSA, for business purposes in several areas such as insurance, IT, Youth Protection programs and so forth.  Our employee benefits programs are purchased from BSA and BSA manages the retirement programs for our employees.
     

In summary, it is important to understand that while SFBAC is affiliated with National BSA in many respects, instances where BSA decides to restructure or adjust its organization will have little to no impact on the Council. 

© 2020 Golden Gate Area Council, BSA - All rights reserved. Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter
© 2020 Golden Gate Area Council, BSA - All rights reserved. Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter