Friends of Scouting does some good.
When I first participated in Friends of Scouting I felt much like you did. I support scouting enough with everything else I'm doing, now you want me to go beg from my neighbors too?
I learned a little more about it, which made it less distasteful for me.
Each charter organization benefits from the council and district, and it takes money to run those organizations.
A portion of Friends of Scouting goes towards purchasing camps. The Great SL Council just purchased the land in the Uintas that they've been leasing for years (south fork of the Bear?). Now they can develop the camps a little more than before and do some things the forest service wouldn't allow. Troops get a discount when they go to a council camp. Troops from outside the council pay more.
A portion goes towards liability insurance. Pays for when a scout does something like burn down half the mountainside and the council is responsible or a kid gets lost and they are paying search and rescue, etc.
A portion goes for training for district roundtables and support.
Also - they are using Friends of Scouting to supplement money lost by United Way reducing the amount they give scouting each.
Anyway, I felt a little bit better about the program and contributing when put in those terms.
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