Boy Scouts explore 'all options' amid financial woes

Here is a US News article from the same sources which links the BSA letter referring to this tragedy, and here is a recent annual report for the BSA, including statements of net assets. As far as I can tell, assets minus liabilities are about a billion dollars, which would seem to indicate sufficient resources for the organization to weather two disasters of the scale of what Michigan State just went through.

Interestingly, I’ve not heard of the number or severity of cases that would suggest this. So either there are a bunch of cases out there that would reduce BSA’s assets to zero (net), or they’re considering using bankruptcy to shield assets from legal action. Personally, my take is that if they’re doing the latter, they need to take “trustworthy” out of the Scout law. Put bluntly, is Philmont worth more than the young men who were abused? Really?

And this is pretty sad to see, as I’d been under the impression that they were a leader in child safety—they may still be one of the better organizations out there, but if they’re really facing a tidal wave of legal action, obviously some things have gotten through the cracks.