The objectives of the Outdoor Education Center Fund-raising piece are:
The OEC will be developed on 210 acres in the heart of Orange County. The property has been dedicated and conveyed to the Orange County Council by The Irvine Company with the understanding that the council will design, develop, operate, and maintain the camp at no cost to the county or taxpayers and that the camp will be available to all Orange County youth groups.
There are many reasons for developing this property. In Orange County, there is only one small public campground, and few small private facilities available: The 62,000 youth enrolled in Orange County's Scouting program need a location to camp and to experience outdoor education at its finest.
Although it will not be a traditional Boy Scout camp, the OEC will greatly expand BSA's presence, making us synonymous with leadership in outdoor programming. It is our goal and duty to deliver quality programming to meet the local needs left by governmental budget cuts. The Outdoor Education Camp will allow easy, inexpensive access to youth of all communities and economic backgrounds.
To develop this piece, the chairman of the board, chairman of the campaign, Scout executive, former Scout executive, director of marketing, and director of finance met to discuss the uses of the piece, themes, the process for getting endorsements, photos, copy, and timeline, and to determine influential community leaders who could give endorsements.
A clean format, good outdoor photos, clean and concise copy, and a sophisticated feel were the goals of this piece. Rather than using corporate mug shots, a photo shoot was held to take great outdoor shots to further emphasize the outdoor feel of the piece.
Copy and quotes were developed to tug on heartstrings, produce memories, and develop the realization that today's youth are not having the same outdoor experiences that our donors had.
We printed 500 of these brochures in the first print run and have raised $14 million. We will begin our second print run in February. The individuals chosen for endorsements represent many of the areas that we are focusing on when asking for gifts, and have been right on target, with many of our donors commenting on the strength of our backing already.
The donors that we are seeking and the chairman of the campaign are the leaders of the biggest businesses in Orange County. Our piece needed to reflect their positions and to position the new facility as the premier youth-serving outdoor facility. With this audience, it was critical that a higher-caliber piece be produced. More money was spent, but the return has been substantial.
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.