Summary
The National Eagle Scout Association (NESA) is for those who earned the most recognized marker of resilient leaders and good character. NESA should model the best of BSA’s best.
Instead, NESA is a moribund clown show. It hustles Eagle recipients with scam-adjacent tactics. Despite raising a ton of money, it does little.
Creating an appearance of impropriety, NESA’s practices are offensive to the reputation and viability of BSA.
It’s time to hit the reset button and clean-slate the NESA. It must stop all scam-adjacent behaviors. It should be folded into the BSA Alumni Association, its brand attached to a “birds of a feather” special-interest group.
Income
Per BSA’s 2021 IRS Form 990, NESA had $2,111,350 of income: $2,092,716 of program-service revenue and $18,634 of miscellaneous revenue.
The income appears to be from:
- pricey memberships, ranging from $100 to $500
- a scammy yearbook that appears to be sold in packages ranging from $120 to several hundreds of dollars
Does NESA do any good?
NESA’s news page is where you should find a record of what it’s doing. It reveals that NESA is moribund.
About half its news is regurgitation of materials previously published by BSA’s marketing arm (example). Much of the rest is promotional or generic, lacking much distinct value for Eagle Scouts.
Some articles describe where NESA sent a representative to a national-scope event. For example, in 2022, NESA ran a booth at NOAC where you could win a patch or take a photo. Shocking accomplishment.
One article is notable: 2022 NESA Highlights reveals that NESA used its generous income to:
- Stop publishing a print magazine.
- Set up a new website that uses free software.
- Send an email newsletter that regurgitates what’s already on its news page–the same stuff that affirms NESA is moribund.
Hold on, NESA might do a little more than nothing. It may fund part of a national-office employee to assist its 33 volunteer leaders and to administer scholarships (mail checks, record applications, etc.). Being generous, that’s probably half of a $100K employee, or $50K.
An additional $200K to $400K might be put into functions that are more generically related to BSA Alumni.
The remaining $1.6 million to $1.8 million appears to be dumped into the national office’s annual revenue stream.
This isn’t bad per se. A point of alumni associations is fundraising. Therefore, funding other BSA activities is nominally appropriate.
NESA needs to be transparent about what it funds. That is only vaguely suggested by glurge-ey text on NESA’s home page: “further the mission, values, and time-honored traditions of Scouting”. Um, OK?
Wait, what about the roughly half-million dollars of scholarships? Sorry, doesn’t count: that is funded separately, by endowments (more below).
Scammy who’s who book
This is where NESA smells terrible. NESA engages in scam-adjacent behavior, sullying its reputation and tarnishing the Eagle Scout rank. This invites questions on whether the national organization even cares about BSA’s mission.
If you’re a recent Eagle Scout, NESA uses a contractor to trick you into buying an expensive “who’s who”-style, pay-to-play book. This book is falsely marketed as a yearbook. This hustle is run under a pretense of updating Eagle alumni’s information. (2024-04-04 update: NESA may have shifted terminology to “Eagle Scout Directory”. That addresses approximately zero of the problems. 🤡)
NESA’s contractor aggressively sells this book. The image at the top of this article shows some (not all!) of the postcards a recent Eagle recipient got. Just like garden-variety scams, they all start with lies about urgency.
In Facebook volunteer groups, parents share that if one is to communicate with this company, you’ll get aggressive pitches and have a hard time getting off their spam list. You know, just like garden-variety scams.
These yearbooks are notable for what they aren’t:
They aren’t yearbooks. NESA’s book is just a list of Eagle Scout-rank recipients that happens to be year-filtered and prettied up. That is different than a yearbook, which is is “a school publication that is compiled usually by a graduating class and that serves as a record of the year’s activities” (source). Importantly, a yearbook describes a shared experience, which contrasts with NESA’s “yearbook”: Take any two Eagles from the “yearbook”, and it’s almost certain they will never have heard of each other. Like garden-variety scams, NESA sells this book under false pretenses.
They aren’t worth the paper they are printed on. They are vanity publishing. As a who’s who-style pay-to-play product, it’s a pricey way to get your name in a book. You know, like a garden-variety scam.
They aren’t well received. Social-media discussions of the NESA book are overwhelmingly negative. You know what else people have negative opinions of? Garden-variety scams.
NESA knows the book is regarded poorly. Instead of doing the right thing and stopping it, NESA makes a half-hearted attempt to whitewash it: In NESA’s FAQ, the first question in the yearbook section is on whether the yearbook is a scam!
Even worse, the answer to “is it a scam” sidesteps the truth. It makes a laughable claim that it helps NESA improve information on alumni. If alumni were successfully contacted to sell a book, doesn’t that mean NESA already had the person’s correct information? Even if I am missing something, there is nothing about outsourced data-collection that could justify scam-adjacent behavior.
This behavior isn’t new. An older version of the NESA site suggests NESA started this with 2012 class of Eagle recipients.
An obsolete, 20th century artifact, yearbooks are in a death spiral. It’s unlikely many youth want this book. This smells like a cynical hustle of parents and grandparents, who hail from generations that used to value yearbooks. BSA capitalizes on hard-earned trust to dupe families into buying who’s who-style, pay-to-play garbage.
But hey, maybe NESA is making a lot of money from this? You know, like garden-variety scams?
Nope. All this scam-like behavior, yet we miss the whole point of a scam. It brings in little!
BSA’s net proceeds from the who’s who book is likely the $18,634 figure in its 2021 IRS Form 990. It’s hard to see any other line of business for NESA that would generate this “other” revenue. (While the author is open to correction, it is unlikely that an updated figure will change the big picture.)
All this reputational damage, tarnishing the Eagle Scout rank, hustling families, creating an appearance of impropriety, just to boost the national organization’s income by 0.007%? This is yet another example of the national organization’s pervasive cultural rot.
Why lead in with “scam-adjacent”? Suppose we indicated NESA’s behavior on a gauge. At a minimum, the needle is resting shamefully close to “scam”. “Scam-adjacent” is positioning the needle charitably to accommodate diverse opinions, not to certify that NESA’s behavior is scam-free.
But the scholarships
Well, NESA hands out scholarships. That means it does good, right?
Aaron on Scouting‘s July 22, 2022 article, NESA bestows more than $500K in scholarships to Eagle Scouts, spills the beans: NESA’s scholarships are “funded by multiple endowments”. If NESA and its revenue disappeared, the scholarships would still be funded.
The scholarship endowments are revealed in the 2022 Treasurer’s Report, page 29. They add up to at least $14,086,000. A safe, 4% annual withdrawal is $563,000. These dollar amounts could easily be higher; the treasurer’s report only provides transparency for 74% of restricted-asset dollars, so it’s unclear what $55,787,000 of restricted funds are dedicated to.
While BSA’s story on the amount of NESA scholarships is inconsistent, they are still a good thing.
Here’s the inconsistency: Aaron on Scouting says NESA hands out “more than $500K” in scholarships to Eagle Scouts. However, Aaron on Scouting refers to a solicitation website that claims $700,000 of scholarships. BSA’s Form 990s tell a third story:
| Scholarship | 2019 grants | 2020 grants | 2021 grants |
| National Eagle Scout Association scholarships | $174,500 | $21,524 | $133,850 |
| Cooke Eagle scholarships | $264,857 | $246,946 | $324,734 |
| NESA STEM scholarships | $31,250 | $25,000 | none |
| Palmer scholarship | none | $2,500 | $9,375 |
| McElwain Eagle scholarship | $30,000 | none | $12,500 |
| TOTAL | $500,607 | $295,970 | $480,459 |
Fact checks are invited:
- BSA 2019 Form 990 (start at page 95)
- BSA 2020 Form 990 (see page 50)
- BSA 2021 Form 990 (see page 46)
Whether the scholarship amount is $700,000 or just under $300,000 or somewhere in between, it make a difference for Eagle Scouts. The scholarships are a good thing, but they are not a NESA thing.
NESA’s future
What should NESA’s next steps be?
The yearbook must stop. Now. This is an unacceptable practice. It reflects piss-poor judgment, and NESA knows it. NESA must direct its contracted agency to stop hustling Eagle alumni and end all sales. It must fulfil or refund all pending purchases. NESA must commit to never again engaging in scam-adjacent activities.
NESA’s independence must end. Sometimes we need to hit the red button to assure an organization’s relevant future. NESA is an example. NESA appears to have only one worthwhile, current activity: Acting as a birds-of-a-feather group within BSA Alumni. Beyond that, it does nothing that justifies 34 leaders or its current degree of independence. With a new vision, new leadership, a new name (it cannot include “association” or synonyms), and a mandate to openly act under BSA Alumni, a reimagined NESA might become relevant.
Realign NESA’s current leaders. I appreciate the willingness of NESA’s leaders to serve. Where we need to go with NESA needs minimal NESA-specific leadership. I want you to find a new way to continue service to BSA, especially if you’re prepared to help excise the national office’s cultural rot.
Be transparent. It’s great for us to encourage Eagles to give financial gifts back to Scouting. It is crucial, however, to be transparent as to what Eagles are funding. Use clear, direct language. Stop the doublespeak and glurge. And if you can adopt specific funds, do it!
Editorial
NESA’s current state is an important lesson-learned on the national organization’s pervasive cultural rot. Fueling inertia, the rot perpetuates shameful practices.
This colors my main take on NESA: As an Eagle Scout, I value all BSA alumni, Eagle or not!
My own path to Eagle was a series of meaningful experiences leading to a valuable distinction. I do not wish to diminish the award. But I desire no alumni-affiliation level gated by something I did as as kid. While I know several Eagle adults who serve nobly, I know far more non-Eagle alumni who are also great people.
I do not seek separation:
- I wish to network with all BSA alumni or volunteers, not just Eagles.
- All can provide aid to youth on the path to Eagle, not just Eagles.
- All can assure Scouting for the next decades, not just Eagles.
- All can continue to give back to communities through service, not just Eagles.
Therefore, I am uninterested in continuing NESA’s pseudo-independence.
If at a BSA alumni event there was a brief sub-gathering of Eagles, that’s fine. I’ll drop in. I have zero desire for anything more. I did not earn Eagle to separate myself from others.
We need to accept that a rebooted NESA will be different. A birds-of-a-feather group for Eagles under BSA Alumni, combined with reasonable revenue building, would be a great turnaround, a healthy outcome.
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