Stockholm meetings end on a high! 

Three days of WSF Board & Committee meetings in Stockholm have come to a close on a high with an extremely generous donation from two longstanding BP Fellows plus presentations to two new BP Fellows by our Honorary Chairman, HM The King of Sweden together with our Board Chair, Rob Woolford. 

Over 30 volunteers, together with Foundation staff, and World Scout Bureau colleagues, participated in the meetings, which included eight Committee meetings for fundraising, investment, audit, oversight and a joint meeting of all fundraising committees to look at the proposal put together by the Strategy Advisory Group, followed by the 77th Meeting of the Foundation Board. See our media gallery here.  

The Institutional, High-Value Donors/Regal Circle, Honours Programme and BP Fellow Fundraising Committees met on the first day to discuss progress since their last online meetings, on work underway in small groups, and to review progress against 2024 targets and ongoing projections. Key highlights from the fundraising committees: 

• The Institutional Fundraising Committee reviewed the development of new partnerships, reviewed a strategy for engaging corporations and discussed strategic funding priorities to inform our strategy going forward. 

• The High-Value Donors/Regal Circle Fundraising Committee discussed plans for 3–4 key events in 2024 to spotlight the impact of contributions via the Foundation, outline key priorities for funding in the new strategy period and widen our network of Regal Circle Members.  

• The Honours Programme Fundraising Committee considered the excellent progress since its last meetings, and received updates from small working groups on legacy giving and is working to review the different levels of the Honours Programme and their respective incentives. 

• The BP Fellows Fundraising Committee considered the progress to date on developing Chapters, and work to better define the Young BP Fellow journey, the appropriate donor recognitions and working towards renewed tools to support recruiting of new Fellows. 

The Joint Meeting of the Fundraising Committees considered the overall progress to date on the Strategy, as presented by the Strategy Advisory Group, demonstrating positive results for fundraising and engagement, in addition to considerable work done on financial forecasting, after two years of implementing the Strategy. The Advisory Group proposed a modification to the Strategy to better clarify and focus the KPIs and fundraising efforts and there was discussion on projections, restricted and unrestricted funding needs, and support for the updated KPIs. 

Meetings of the governance committees took place on the Wednesday afternoon.  

• The Investment Committee discussed, amongst several items, a proposal for the future management of the Foundation’s investment portfolio in preparation for the Board Meeting. 

• The Audit Committee reviewed the annual Audit along with the financial statements from the external auditors and recommended that the Board approve these financial statements at its meeting. 

• The Oversight Committee received updates on the joint grantmaking managed by the World Scout Foundation and WOSM supporting project funding for the global and regional level and National Scout Organizations, in addition to an overview of donor reporting, and a detailed review of two recently completed funded projects, which were both found to be satisfactorily in compliance with the robust grantmaking process in place. 

At the 77th Meeting of the World Scout Foundation Board, our Honorary Chairman called on Board Members to intensify their efforts to raise more funding to help more young people have a better life through Scouting, growing up with respect for other people and different cultures in society. Amongst many highlights from the Board Meeting, we’re pleased to report that: 

• Our revised Strategy KPIs were approved by the Board. The Strategy Advisory Group will continue its mandate to support key areas integral to the continued successful implementation of the Strategy. 

• The Board received an update on planned events, including the preparations for our 76th BP Fellowship Event in Rio de Janeiro, 25–28 October 2024, which will take place in the presence of our Honorary Chairman. A rich programme is in the process of being finalised with the support of the Brazilian Scouts and registration will open in June. 

• The Board received an update by the JP Morgan Team as well as an in-depth update by the Investment Committee. Members approved the proposal of the Investment Committee to explore the creation of a WSF Investment Fund. 

• The Board approved the 2023 audited financial statements.  

• Board Members delivered a positive progress update on Messengers of Peace, which was warmly received by all present. 

• The Board endorsed the new Financial Planning and Reporting System presented at the meeting, which allows for better forward planning and reporting. 

• The Board approved the WOSM annual Operational Grant for 2024/2025 of USD 2.8 million. 

• WOSM delivered a detailed report on the use of the 2023/2024 annual operational grant, and sincere appreciation was expressed for Andy Chapman and Jo Deman’s contributions as ex-officio Board Members over the last seven and three years, respectively. 

• The Board thanked David Huestis for his long-standing active service on the Foundation Board as they approved his request to be moved to the “Life Member of the Board” category.  

• The Board appointed Jennifer Hancock as the WSF representative on the World Scout Committee for the next triennium, a role which will commence on 24 August 2024, following the closing of the 43rd World Scout Conference in Cairo, Egypt. Geoff Morgan was also warmly recognised for his contribution to date on the Committee.  

• The Board appointed Wolfgang Kniese as the Foundation’s representative (Member) on the WOSM Finance Committee for the next triennium, also commencing from the closing of the World Scout Conference in Cairo. Soo Keng Yeoh’s contribution to date on this Committee was also warmly recognised. 

• The Board approved the Chapter Charter for the UK Chapter and recognised Craig Turpie’s support in this process.  

• The Board received the positive report of the Oversight Committee, underlining the strong collaboration between the Foundation and World Scout Bureau on grant making and outlining how the process of documenting projects via the grant management system, has been optimised over the last years.  

Over the course of the three days, Board and Committee members, plus accompanying guests, were also able to connect and network over a series of evening engagements, including at dinners hosted by Swedish Board Members. Two of our Committee members also enjoyed getting to discover local Swedish Scouting, joining one of our Young BP Fellows at his Scout Group!  

On the final night, two of our long-standing BP Fellows shared the wonderful announcement of their generous donation to World Scouting, which was warmly applauded by all present. Two new BP Fellows were also presented with their iconic gold World Scout Foundation pin by our Honorary Chairman and with their BP Fellow certificate by our Chair, Rob Woolford. 

Our sincere thanks to everyone who joined us for the active participation, frank exchanges and most of all, for the quality work undertaken to date by everyone involved to drive fundraising and donor engagement to achieve our Strategy, including by BP Fellows worldwide. Special thanks too to the supportive technical and events teams at the Royal Palace, as well as Göran Hägerdal for expert local support. 

We look forward to doing more, together, and look forward to seeing as many BP Fellows as possible in Rio de Janeiro in October! 

Photos: 77th Board Meeting, Committee meetings, Stockholm, BP Fellowship presentations & Committee Members. Photo credits: Henrik Garlöv; World Scout Foundation. Rio de Janeiro by “12019 from Pixabay”.