Monday, November 12, 2007

Who really makes the Boy Scouts of America work?

In yesterday's Deseret Morning News there was a lengthy article about the salaries of the executives of the Boy Scouts of America organization. I personally had no idea that the executives of an organization that I was personally involved in made so much money. The Great Salt Lake Council's Scout executive, Paul Moore, pulls in a salary of $194,458.00 and benefits of $19,544.00, according to the article. The money isn't what bothered me the most about the article, though. What bothered me the most about this article was the seemingly pompous attitude of the executives that were quoted. Mr. Moore was quoted as saying, "If I were not making that salary here, I would probably be making a larger salary in the BSA somewhere else." Mr. Moore, I'm more than convinced that there are several just as qualified individuals here in Utah that would do your job at half the salary.

Now maybe it's time for a wake-up call to Mr. Moore. I think he needs to realize that if it weren't for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Boy Scouts of America would never have 3 districts in the state of Utah. Maybe it's time for the LDS Church to implement it's own scouting program in the USA like they do in other countries.

The article also goes on to note that the Friends of Scouting fund-raising drive pays for a majority of the large salaries. I found it interesting that Utah is the only place where units have quotas. I know that I personally will adjust my contributions in the future in light of this article. I will give to my own troop directly, instead of contributing to the Friends of Scouting.

To my original question, the Boy Scouts of America would fail miserably if it weren't for the dedication and support of the thousands of volunteers who give so much of their time to help boys.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Quotas? That's news to me. I am an Assistant Scoutmaster to a non-LDS troop here in Utah, and have been involved in the district. I have never heard of quotas before.

As far as having the LDS church start its own program - if it does, I wish it luck. Unfortunately because of the way things are set up with scouting and the LDS church, there are many scout "leaders" that do little or nothing. Some LDS people who are called go to great lengths to do the best they can, but, by my observations, most don't.

As to the size of thier salaries - I don't know much of what they do, and I am almopst completely unqualified to judge.

ThaddeusQ said...

Did you read the article? The article talks about the quotas that are used with the LDS units.

As far as bad leaders, you are going to have bad leaders no matter what organization you have. My experience with the BSA has always been with very good leaders.

Anonymous said...

I to was envolved in Scouting for a long time. I am troubled by the way the LDS church runs its so called scouting program. It is and all ways will be the Boy Scouts of America. The LDS church runs it like it is an off shoot of its mutual program. It is NOT. You do not "call" a leader of the scouts it should be some one that wants and is interested in scouting. As for salaries for the leaders it is The Boy Scouts of America buisness in what the salaries are and not of the LDS church or annnybody elses buisness. If I knew how much they made I would have stuck with it longer, I am really missing out.

Anonymous said...

It isn't suprising that the council executive makes nearly 200,000. I'm from the Washington DC area, and council executives here can make upwards of 300k plus benefits. FOS, however, mostly goes to support council-wide events, such as jamborees and summer camps. As for your comment towards the volunteers, I concur completely. Volunteer leaders are the life and blood of the Scouting movement.

Anonymous said...

I wonder what is considered fair compensation in Utah for a 40 year professional who manages 60+ full time employees, has an annual program budget of $6 million dollars, serves 75,000 youth, operates 8 seperate camp facilities, and has raised an endowment of almost $4 million dollars.

You get what you pay for, and this council has done nothing but improve since his arrival. Do some research.

ThaddeusQ said...

"Do some research."
I'll respond with read the original article. The author of the article already did the research.

Anonymous said...

I have read the original article. Highly slanted, the entire thing is obviously more of a complaint about the church's relationship with scouting than it is about the salary of one highly talented, highly successful executive.

The assertion in this blog post that one could find a myriad of individuals to do this job at half the salary is amusing. I'm sure you could find plenty to do the job at that rate, and all would fail, miserably.

You get what you pay for, Utah. Apparently, you remain content with mediocrity in all things.