A capacity-building campaign to expand the programs and ser vices of Crossroads of America Council Boy Scouts of America
Once upon a time, Scouting was a one-size-fits-all proposition. Many moms stayed home. Many dads worked 8-to-5. And many sons of the city, country and suburbs joined look-alike Scout troops to build character and experience the great outdoors. It doesn’t work that way anymore.
When Shelbyville Boy Scout Levi Weakley met U.S. Army veteran Sherman Williams, the two quickly hit it off. The teenage militaryhistory buff was full of questions, and the World War II combat medic, who served unarmed in major battles throughout Europe, had plenty of stories to tell. What the veteran didn’t have, Weakley discovered, was all of the medals he deserved. So the Shelbyville teen made an appeal on Williams’ behalf to U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar. A few months later, Weakley found himself pinning on Williams’ chest a Bronze Star, the fourth-highest award for valor in military service. Subsequently, Weakley helped the 84-year-old veteran get two other medals he should have been awarded decades ago. The timing was good: In April 2007, Williams passed away. “He went to bat for me and got me the medals,” Williams told the Shelbyville News in 2006. “I’m proud of the young man to do that for me.”
It’s not just your father’s Scouting (nor should it be)
Today, kids grow up in different kinds of worlds. Many grow up in families where both parents work. Others grow up with only one parent. Some with none at all.
Kids also grow up in wealth and in poverty.
With a dizzying array of choices (not all of them When Scouting entered its fifteenth year in 1925, the young men in its ranks earned increasing respect for service to others by helping to aid victims of natural disasters such as a tornado in Illinois, an earthquake in California and flooding in Arkansas.
positive). With technology that shows them the world, but doesn’t connect them to meaningful relationships.
Some kids grow up without speaking English.
Some without role models. Some with few chances to visit the neighborhood down the street, let alone the great outdoors.
In such a society, we clamor for programs that
can do more than fill kids’ time — programs that also can shape leaders, character and minds. But even among one of the most proven such programs in the world — Scouting — one-size-fits-all no longer cuts it.
Fortunately, Scouting in central Indiana today
is creative, customized and cutting-edge. Among tens of thousands of nonprofits designed to solve problems, As the organization reached its second decade, it grew increasingly international through World Jamborees, relationships with Scouts in Europe, Scouts participating in expeditions to Africa and other global connections.
Scouting actually prevents them. Seeing the impact, kids and families are signing up, sticking with it and celebrating the short- and long-term results.
Problem is, there’s not enough capacity, nor the
right kind of capacity, to meet all the need.
Bottom line: With your help, we can implement a smart, well-conceived plan to expand and tailor this proven “New Scouting” to serve even more central Indiana young people and their families.
Although Michael Jr., Kelly and Joshua Richardson all earned the rank of Eagle Scout, their dad, Michael Sr., is quick to admit that there were times when the boys almost dropped out of Boy Scouts. It wasn’t seen as cool by some of their friends, he says, who were more interested in sports or just hanging out. But even after he and the boys’ mother, Calle Richardson, divorced, the parents worked together to make sure all three boys continued to participate in Scouting. Why? Because they know Boy Scouts is a positive force in a world filled with negative peer pressure. “Scouting gave them an option to do what’s right,” Michael Richardson says. “There’s so much stuff out there to do wrong.” This positive parental pressure seems to have paid off: Today, 18-year-old Joshua and 20-year-old Kelly are both in college, and, after a successful football career at Eastern Michigan University, 22-year-old Michael Jr. spent part of his summer participating in NFL tryouts.
Disciplined, “be-prepared” capacity building — not pie in the sky
When top business leaders from throughout central Indiana volunteer to plot a future for Scouting, we ask them to not only contribute their expertise, but also to practice what we preach. That means, for example, that our planning process must toe the line of the Scout In the 1930s, membership grew to more than 1 million. When the U.S. entered World War II, Scouts took an active role in the stateside war effort, distributing bonds and collecting aluminum and other resources. Scouting’s ranks quickly grew to include nearly 2 million young men. The 1950s saw Scouts become more engaged nationally, with activities such as a get-out-the-vote initiative, blood-donor campaigns and clothing collections for poor and disaster-affected families.
laws: Trustworthiness, helpfulness and thriftiness play starring roles. Most of all, it means “be prepared” — for different kinds of kids from many different parts of a fast-changing world.
So the plans you see here have been vetted
by thoughtful people. Many alternatives have been carefully considered.
What’s more, all of the planning and
forecasting has been donated by the best in the business. Those who implement this plan will be asked (or will volunteer without being asked) to do the same.
Consequently, this $16 million campaign
is based on what’s essential now, rather than simply seeking more than the $22 million raised last time. It’s a campaign designed not to sustain what exists, but to expand the capacity of proven programs faced with growing demand. As a result, it offers contributors a refreshing departure in a philanthropic age of everescalating, near-continuous funding appeals: a goal that’s less than our last capital campaign — a campaign that was launched 10 years ago.
Bottom line: If you choose to help our community through this disciplined initiative, your dollars will go where they should go — to benefit young people and their families in proven-effective ways.
Paul Page isn’t progressing through badges and ranks as quickly as some of his buddies, and he’s not able to keep up with them in every activity. But, his mom is happy to report, nobody gets more out of Scouting than this 13-year-old boy with autism. That’s why Donna Page has jumped into Scouting herself, taking Scoutmaster training and joining her son on campouts and at virtually every meeting. Invited into Scouting last year by James Agresta, a friend from church, Paul quickly found himself among kind and understanding friends who encourage him but also expect him to work hard and do his part. “It’s such a great opportunity for Paul to be with other kids and to learn to work with other boys,” Donna says. She adds that he’s already shown signs of growing through the lessons he’s learned from Scouting. “I just can’t say enough about the experience.”
STRATEGY
Help bring innovative, customized Scouting programs to urban, rural and other settings where young people have tremendous needs
For many people, the stereotypical
Scout troop meets at a church or school,
effort and creativity. In economically
has committed adult volunteers with
disadvantaged areas, for example, adult
seemingly endless time, and includes a
volunteers aren’t always available. Many
homogenous-looking group of boys in
are working multiple jobs. Single parents
identical uniforms.
of multiple children aren’t always able
Some troops still look like that.
But if Scouting is to make the additional difference that’s so desperately needed, it needs to be as varied as the young people,
But customization takes time,
to leave one child to serve the Scouting interests of another. So we must pay parttime Scout leaders and involve parents in ways that require less of their time.
families and communities that could
benefit from Scouting.
Scouts often have their entire family
Today, central Indiana’s
ScoutReach program is bringing a new brand of highly customized Scouting
Another example: Hispanic
in tow — from grandparents to aunts, cousins to siblings, parents and more. So we shape family-focused programming.
to economically strapped urban and
“Our challenge,” said U.S.
rural areas. It’s serving families from
Appellate Judge Carl Stewart, “is to
many kinds of backgrounds, and whose
deliver a traditional Scouting program in
cultural and language differences must
non-traditional circumstances.”
be addressed if Scouting is to make a meaningful difference. It’s helping kids and families with special needs. It’s even helping the juvenile justice system cut down on repeat offenses.
Bottom line: By funding the three strategies outlined in this document, we can leverage a direct ScoutReach investment of $3,798,000 into $7,865,333 of total benefit to disadvantaged youth and their families.
Amanda Albee has had plenty of opportunities to help others. The daughter and sister of Eagle Scouts, she spent her younger years tagging along on Scouting service projects. As she has grown older, she’s volunteered at hospitals and participated in church mission trips. But it was in the summer of 2007, when she and eight other young men and women from her Venturing crew repaired and repainted Katrina-damaged homes in New Orleans, that she felt she truly helped someone. On her last day in New Orleans, Amanda found herself overwhelmed by the horrific hurricane experiences described by the people who live in a house she was painting. It helped her understand what they had been through, and what her crew’s efforts meant to them. “I love to help other people,” says Amanda, now a pre-med student at Wittenberg University. “Every chance that I get, that’s what I want to do.”
STRATEGY
Help adapt and maintain a strategically tiered network of central Indiana camps that meet the varied needs of central Indiana Scouts There’s nothing like time at camp to
build character, self-confidence and
America Council owns the land it needs.
camaraderie. For young people from
But not all the camps are outfitted in
families with the time and money to
ways that would provide the needed
travel and share adventures — or kids
level of customization. With your help,
who grow up with adults who love the
however, we can implement a well-
outdoors — camp can be a comfortable,
planned series of improvements that will
welcome experience.
enable more Scouts from more diverse
But not all kids grow up that
way. For those raised in poverty, travel
Fortunately, the Crossroads of
backgrounds and levels of experience to reap the proven benefits of camp.
rarely happens. For kids who grow up
in cities with lots of lights and noise, a
improvements is to update and upgrade
dark, quiet forest and a massive lake can
Camp Krietenstein (near Terre Haute).
be frightening.
This smaller, more close-knit camp is
So for central Indiana to serve
many kinds of Scouts from many kinds of backgrounds, it needs a well-designed, well-maintained network of camps — challenging places for experienced
The most significant of these
the right venue for first-time campers, especially those from urban areas. Its retrofit will simultaneously address the need for a Venturing co-ed camp for high school youth.
Scouts; smaller, less-threatening places for first-time campers; and a rookielevel camp for younger Scouts. It also needs a co-ed camp for high-school-age Venturers.
Bottom line: Our $6 million Strategy 2 goal would allow us to provide the appropriate camp experience to Scouts from all walks of life, all Scouting levels and all expectations.
Ed Finch knows that his Scouts aren’t typical Boy Scouts. Locked inside the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility, they can’t camp, work in the community or enjoy other typical Scouting activities. So Finch, a Pendleton Recreation Leader, brings Scouting to them. Through public speaking and cultural awareness training, Finch hopes to help the boys advocate for themselves and appreciate the differences among them. He puts them to work with service projects such as pulling weeds and collecting pop-can tabs for Riley Hospital for Children, which helps them think less selfishly. And through it all, he hopes to help them grow. Does it work? Finch notes proudly that last year, when the facility experienced a riot, none of the boys involved in Scouting participated. “I think the Scouting program helps them with the choices they make,” he says. And what do the boys think? Well, with only 14 spots available in the program, Finch always has a list of boys waiting to participate.
STRATEGY
Improve access so it’s easier for central Indiana Scouts, families and volunteers to sign up, get trained and participate in Scouting
Even the best, most customized program won’t succeed if it’s not easily accessible and convenient. And right now, with antiquated technology and a landlocked downtown training center, central Indiana Scouting is not very accessible. That’s costing us volunteers, parental involvement and regional participation that are crucial to community impact.
Right now, Scouting operates
from an overcrowded, out-grown facility on one of Indianapolis’ busiest downtown streets. There’s not enough parking for volunteers and parents who need training. Not enough space for the supplies they need. And if you want to show someone how to pitch a tent, the only space is the alley beside the building.
If we’re to “be prepared” to
extend proven programs to more Scouts
leader task force that considered a host of alternatives — from remodeling or expanding the current facility, to adding facilities, to acquiring or building new.
And while physical access is
vital, electronic access is outmoded, too. Scouts, potential Scouts, parents and volunteers have, of course, become much savvier in their use of technology. If we’re to make the most effective use of limited volunteer time, engage parents with hectic schedules, and make the most effective connection with young people on their preferred cyber turf, then significant enhancements are essential. Again, a team of volunteer business leaders worked with tech-industry experts to hone the most cost-effective mix of improvements needed to enhance electronic access and training.
in more ways with more impact, the best, most cost-effective solution is to build a new kind of Scout Education and Program Center in a more convenient location already owned by the Crossroads of America Council. That’s the conclusion of a 21-member business-
Bottom line: With $6 million for improved physical and cyber spaces, we can reach and serve more Scouts, potential Scouts and volunteers with welcoming, accessible and exciting opportunities.
Seventeen-year-old Kevin Bursaw often saw the long lines outside the Trinity Free Clinic on Saturday mornings. He knew that the people in those lines, most of them Hispanic and all of them unable to afford health care, often showed up two or even three hours before the clinic opened for its weekly free medical services. And he imagined how tiring it must be to stand and wait all that time. So one day he gathered tools and materials and headed to the clinic to install some benches. Before his Eagle Project was complete, Kevin had not only installed three benches, but also enlisted 15 volunteers, trucked in 2,800 pounds of cement, knocked out a fence, battled swarms of bees and planted countless flowers, all to create a welcoming and comfortable place for clinic visitors to wait. “This was all possible because of Scouting,” Kevin says. “What Scouting means most to me is helping others.”
How much will our community benefit? It’s up to you.
At the Crossroads of America Council, we don’t ask for major gift dollars often. In fact, we don’t ask unless these funds can truly make a difference. And we don’t ask unless there’s a genuine need.
But right now, every day, we see young people
— right here in central Indiana — who need our As the nation turned its attention to the environment during the 1960s and ’70s, Scouting took a leading role with efforts such as cleaning thousands of miles of highways and gathering millions of tons of litter.
help and yours. We see problems that affect all of us. Problems that could have been prevented if we had just reached the right kids with the right programs at the right time.
Please, consider a gift to benefit one or more
of the three strategies outlined here — an expansion of customized Scouting programs, a strategic network of camps, or increased accessibility. Our campaign staff and volunteers would love to tell you more, and to help shape a gift or grant that’s meaningful to you, to young people in need, and to the community we all share.
Since the Boy Scouts of America was founded in 1910, more than 110 million young men and women have found the organization to be an exciting and relevant way to serve, grow and enjoy their youth.
Bottom line: More Scouts. More ways. More impact.
STRATEGY
Giving opportunities
Strategic Camp Network
Measurable differences you can make
$6,016,000
Your gift to Scout camps will help serve more Scouts in more ways and make more impact via: • Renovation of Camp Krietenstein to serve first-time Scouts, ScoutReach and Venturer campers • Targeted renovations to camps serving Scouts throughout the Crossroads of America Council • Addition to long-term maintenance fund to care for Council facilities over time • Even safer camp facilities that enhance parents’ peace of mind Measurable impact you can make (by 2012) • Increase ScoutReach youth at camp by 50 percent (from 1,000 per year to 1,500 per year) • Increase total annual camper days by 20 percent (from 249,000 camper days per year to 300,000) • Provide meaningful outdoor experience for at least 400 Venturers annually
STRATEGY
Customized Scouting Expansion
$3,798,000
Your gift to expand customized Scouting will help serve more Scouts in more ways and make more impact via: STRATEGY
• After-school Scouting expansion
Enhanced Scouting Access
• Special-needs Scouting expansion • Public housing/community center Scouting expansion • Hispanic Scouting expansion • Juvenile-diversion and juvenile-corrections Scouting expansion
$6,186,000
Your gift to enhance access will help serve more Scouts in more ways and make more impact via:
• Scouting subsidies to help more low-income families
• New Scout Education and Program Center • Enhanced technology to make Scouting more convenient for Scouts, families and volunteers throughout central Indiana
• Scout Education and Program Center curriculum for ScoutReach families
Measurable impact you can make (by 2012)
• Explorer/Venturer Scouting expansion
• Camp improvements for special-needs ScoutReach participants Measurable expansion impact (by 2012) • Expand ScoutReach • Expand classic Scouting
27 percent (from 11,047 to 14,060 youth)
6 percent (from 19,271 to 20,400 youth)
• Expand Venturing/Exploring
52 percent (from 2,689 to 4,100 youth)
• Overall expansion
17 percent (from 33,007 to 38,560 youth)
Retention impact • Among all Scouts (from 66.4 percent to 70 percent) • Among low-income Scouts (from 61 percent to 65 percent) Volunteerism impact • Increase number of volunteers by 26 percent (from 11,139 to 14,000) • Increase mentoring time available by 26 percent (from 3 million hours annually to 3.78 million hours annually) • Create new learning opportunities at Scout Education and Program Center for 2,200 ScoutReach leaders and families annually
What else you get when you help Scouting and Crossroads of America Council
Better education for our young people Scouts have 15 percent higher high school graduation rates than non-Scouts
Strong values
Scouts are 44 percent more likely than nonScouts to agree that “helping others should come before one’s own interests”
More commitment to service
Scouts are 33 percent more interested than nonScouts in volunteer service
Shaping future leaders
Scouts are 50 percent more likely than nonScouts to have leadership responsibilities when they become adults
Regional reach
Crossroads of America Council serves young people and their families in 25 central Indiana counties with a population of 2.3 million
Well-trained and active volunteers
More than 11,000 central Indiana adults volunteer for Scouting
Crossroads of America Council Boy Scouts of America 1900 Nor th Meridian Street Indianapolis, IN 46206 (317) 925-1900 www.crossroadsbsa.org
Ph o t o g ra p hy p rov i d e d b y To m C a s a lini A l l im a g e s p ro p e r t y o f B o y S c o u t s o f A m e r i c a