Best Annual Report

Greater St. Louis Area Council
Council Classification: 200-300
Contact: Joe Mueller

Objectives

The council's annual report is a comprehensive summary of all activities and programs, and tells how Scouting makes a difference in our community and families. It reports progress toward meeting goals and objectives, as well as fiscal prudence.

Other objectives include:

• A publication that can be used in recruiting council- and district-level volunteers.
• A publication that can be left behind during sales calls to educational, religious, and community organizations that could be potential chartering organizations for Cub Scout packs, Boy Scout troops, and Venturing crews.
• A publication that foundations can use in determining grant and other funding requests.
• A publication that can be used in endowment and planned giving seminars.
• A publication that can be distributed to the general public to show Scouting is a strong and vital community asset.

Planning Process

Fleishman-Hillard Public Relations did the layout and design pro bono for the council. The designer was challenged with ensuring the report was visually appealing, easy to read, and organized.

The pinewood derby is synonymous with Cub Scouting. The 50th anniversary of the pinewood derby gave the council an opportunity to show how the activity is more than just building a model racing car—it's about building a relationship. Millions of parent-son relationships were strengthened during the last half century by the pinewood derby. We reviewed the concept and possible story ideas with high-level marketing volunteers.

The stories were written by the director of public relations and approved by the families featured in the report. Each of the three stories attempted to show how a family was affected by the pinewood derby. The council's accomplishments were included along with the vignettes. We also featured a sampling of pinewood derby cars from throughout the decades.

The portrait photos were taken pro bono by a photographer who performs a large quantity of work for Fleishman-Hillard. The printing was a gift-in-kind from Color Art Printing.

Outcomes

The annual report was distributed at our annual meeting and recognition dinner. The speeches and audiovisual presentations mentioned the positive outcomes of Scouting. The council emphasized how the pinewood derby and hundreds of other Scouting activities can strengthen relationships between Scouts and their parents.

Learning Points

We received very positive feedback by focusing on such a popular element of the Scouting program. This was especially true when presenting the annual report to potential donors who were in Cub Scouts as youth.

The Merits of Marketing (marketing.scouting.org) is a resource for local councils, developed by the Marketing & Communications Division of the National Council, Boy Scouts of America.