Scouters and others have been receiving letters from various nonprofit organizations claiming to support the Boy Scouts of America and seeking contributions. Some of these groups refer to Scouting in their name: "Save Our Scouts", or "Scouting Legal Defense Fund", and some do not. All of them claim to be supporting Scouting's legal activities in some fashion, but none of them are authorized by BSA to be seeking funds. Most importantly, no contributions to these groups go directly to Scouting. The Boy Scouts of America does not solicit funds in this manner and you may be assured that no names or addresses are ever sold or given to anyone outside the organization. These groups generally use mailing lists purchased from commercial organizations which compile such lists from magazine subscriptions and other sources.

We regret the confusion and misdirection of contributions that these solicitations cause and we are taking appropriate legal measures to deal with these parties. Under our federal Constitution these groups have the right to solicit funds and to express their support, but they do not have any right to mislead or confuse people.

Some of these organizations have provided support to BSA through "friend-of-the-court-briefs" or published articles, but we would prefer that they did not seek to profit by these activities through soliciting funds in the name of Scouting. Their activities have resulted in confusion and frustration for many of the recipients of these solicitations. Anyone who wishes to support the Boy Scouts of America should make their contributions directly to local Scout Councils. Councils may be listed in your telephone directory under "Boy Scouts of America" or you may find a council by searching the council locator at http://www.scouting.org. Online contributions and additional council information may be found at http://www.give2bsa.org.