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Matt Beem President and COO Kinetic Fundraising, Inc.	Giving Helps the Scouts Saturday, August 25, 2012

PHOENIX, AZ – The Kinetic Institutes for Fundraising honored one of the best fundraisers of the modern era here Thursday.

Bob Mazzuca, who retired Friday as chief scout executive of the Boy Scouts of America, received the Kinetic Institutes Growing Philanthropy Award for Transformational Fundraising Leadership. The award recognizes courageous nonprofit leaders who transform their organizations by growing philanthropy for the individuals and communities they serve.

Rather than asking what is acceptable, they ask what is possible. Then they commit their resources and energy, along with those of their team, to make those possibilities real.

Jason Barlow, who chaired the BSA Hudson Valley Council’s “Always Prepared” campaign, nominated Mazzuca for the award. Mazzuca joined Barlow and a crowd of Scouts and Scouters from the New York council in October 2010 at West Point to publicly launch the campaign, which sought nearly $4.5 million in charitable gifts.

BSA Hudson Valley Council leaders gathered earlier this year to celebrate “Always Prepared’s” successful completion. The campaign raised significantly exceeded its goal and raised nearly $13 million.

Mazzuca’s 2010 words of encouragement to the Hudson Valley Council fundraising team galvanized its confidence and sparked its success. Multiply that support across the nearly 300 local councils Mazzuca touched while chief, and there’s no doubt his fundraising inspiration will have a lasting impact on communities, Scouts and Scouters across the country and around the globe.

Mazzuca’s transformational fundraising leadership also is epitomized in the BSA National Council’s Summit Bechtel Reserve high adventure base, which opens next year. During Mazzuca’s tenure, BSA raised more than $200 million for the New Hope, W.Va., Summit – including a $50 million naming gift – which will take the Scouting high adventure experience to a new level.

As the Kinetic Institute’s newest Growing Philanthropy Award recipient, Mazzuca joins a select group of local and national fundraising leaders. Other honorees include:

• Karen Haren, who leads Harvesters: The Community Food Network in Kansas City.
• Gene Tempel, a national philanthropic authority and longtime executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University in Indianapolis.
• Rip Rapson, president and CEO of the Kresge Foundation in Troy, Mich.

It was a personal honor to present the Growing Philanthropy Award for Transformational Fundraising Leadership to Mazzuca. Scouting has shaped much of who I am and is having a profound impact on both of our sons. I’m grateful for all our retiring chief has done to secure the program for generations to come..

The Kinetic Institutes for Fundraising, Kinetic’s educational and philanthropic arm, has three goals:

• To grow philanthropy 25 percent in the next 20 years
• To create a research-based curriculum for fundraiser education
• And to advance a competency-based certification for the fundraising profession

Even though more than $294 billion was given away in 2011 in the United States by individuals, foundations and corporations, I believe it’s more important than ever to grow philanthropy. With public support dwindling and earned revenue increasingly difficult to secure, an expanding pool of philanthropic support is the key to sustaining and growing our nation’s unique and essential nonprofit sector.

Please join me in honoring all those in our community and nation who have committed their personal and professional lives to growing philanthropy. Their actions, both large and small, make a meaningful and lasting difference.