2026 Fund the Adventure

This year our theme will celebrate great achievements along with the 250 th year for the United States! This year’s we will celebrate historic milestones through our nation’s history. Everyone’s campaign will begin during the Revolutionary War time frame. As your “Time Traveling team or Unit” secures donations then your team will unlock year specific details and milestones for your measure. Milestone information that may or may not be depicted on this year’s special “FUND THE ADVENTURE” patch bordered in Red White and Blue!

Units are already scheduling FOS presentations beginning in February. If you want to schedule a meeting let us know at round table or contact CJ or Tasmine to schedule a presentation.

Clinton.Stewart@Scouting.Org or Tasmine.Bennett@Scouting.Org

scan QR Code below to donate

Midnight Sun Council Board Campaign

Our goal this year is to raise $66,500. Last year, we raised 91% ($54,712) of our $60,000 goal. With the planned increase in our Board size and the great momentum we have going into this year, we shall start off our campaign with a “shot heard around the world”! You can make your 2026 FOS pledge at any time, including today 🙂. Come join us as we travel through time in celebration of our country’s birthday.

Each of our four teams are being asked to raise $16,625 this year.

From https://www.history.com/articles/what-was-the-shot-heard-round-the-world:

On the night of April 18, 1775, hundreds of British troops set off from Boston toward Concord, Massachusetts, in order to seize weapons and ammunition stockpiled there by American colonists. Early the next morning, the British reached Lexington, where approximately 70 minutemen had gathered on the village green. Someone suddenly fired a shot—it’s uncertain which side—and a melee ensued.

When the brief clash ended, eight Americans lay dead and at least an equal amount were injured, while one redcoat was wounded. The British continued on to nearby Concord, where that same day they encountered armed resistance from a group of patriots at the town’s North Bridge. Gunfire was exchanged, leaving two colonists and three redcoats dead. Afterward, the British retreated back to Boston, skirmishing with colonial militiamen along the way and suffering a number of casualties; the Revolutionary War had begun.

With the Shot Heard Around the World, I know of at least one team that has bolted out of the gate and is sitting next to Benjamin Franklin in the Pennsylvania State House, now called Independence Hall, as the Declaration of Independence is being signed.

Ben leaned over to the team observing this great event, and stated the following:

Enjoy your trip through time and space – it can be a wibbly wobbly timey wimey sort of thing. This link will help explain the trip we all will be taking. It’s about 15 seconds:

CAUTION: You are time traveling this time. Do NOT go back in time, stay on the forward-facing time stream as if time is linear and gather money as you travel. If you go back, you may lose the money that you have collected. Do NOT meet yourself in the future, as that may cause a time paradox and we want you to be able to come back to our time line or worse, you may get stuck in the future and be of no use to us here in the now. There are fixed points in time as outlined below. Do NOT try to alter them.

As the fifth week of our board campaign concludes we achieve 32.5% (or $21,615.00) of our overall goal of $66,500. Keep up the work everyone. March is a big month for the board campaign (budgeted for an additional $12,500.00) rightfully so as we should start
to receive pledges/donations from your team’s efforts. Halfway through the month we have received $3,500 in pledges, I hope we pick up the pace for the rest of this month, we have $9,000 to go to hit budget this month! As we all know the Council is short on cash early in the year with added multiple bills from freezing pipes at the office as well as getting additional heating oil due to the extended time and drop in temperatures. Thank goodness Iplow donates the office parking snow plowing. Thank you so much Larry Bennett for that project sale coordination, this is truly a budget-relieving service. With these added expenses, paid if full pledges would help us pay those bills now. We do have additional fundraising efforts spinning up to cover those expenses, but direct support now would help tremendously.

Board Campaign Time Traveling Status

Team Delorean seems to be having trouble finding fuel or fixing a flat tire or something. Their time machine has a thin layer of dust on it from the last two weeks in 1792. Bob notices some hot water splashed on the floor and a faint smell of chlorine in the air as Brandon, Steve Dan and himself all return to the time machine’s location (old barn in 1792) from looking for donations. I am sure we will see a time jump soon. Team remains in the year 1792 at 20.18% of their goal or $3,355.00.

Team Quantum Accelerator Took some time this week exploring the new terrain they find themselves in. Remaining in 1803 when the United States completed the Louisiana Purchase. Expanding our borders Northwest from New Orleans all the way up to what Montana is now. Seeing all that land and wanting to explore Matt, Kal, Larry and Mike took some time this week and added $20.00 to their total. They remain in 1803 only now in December instead of November. After exploring new territory in December, they return to their time machine to see a perfectly formed square of Ice with a hollow center on the ground. Almost like a bunch of water overfilled a very large water trough. Puzzled by the phenomenon, the team refocuses on their task at hand. The Team moved from 25.26% to 25.38% or $4,220.00 this week.

Hot Tub Time Machine Cathie, Bill, Craig & CJ were standing around their time machine when it was all powered up and filled but for two weeks fumbled around and couldn’t decipher the controls. Frustrated, CJ kicked the side of the tub when it finally sparked, whizzed shuttered and jumped time in a flash! Seems all the prep work and rechecks on the hot tub paid off! In a whirl of time travel, the hot tub stopped quickly in 1776 at the Declaration of Independence, then shot again to 1787 when the United States Constitution was signed, right past 1792 (past Team Delorean) when chlorine was added. The team didn’t see any signs of Team TARDIS in 1803 but figured it was due to the chameleon circuit in the phone booth. With the hot tub working well the team propelled themselves to 1865, the year the Civil War ended. The Civil War effectively ended on April 9, 1865, when General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. However, the war was not officially declared over until President Andrew Johnson’s proclamation on August 20, 1866, where we leave this weeks’ time traveling leaders. The Hot Tub Time Machine watches President Andrew Johnsons’s Speech announcing the end of the war. They increase from 6% to 37.53% (or $6,240.00 of their team goal of $16,500.00.

We thought TEAM TARDIS was in trouble and caught a slow worm hole. Well apparently, it was just a long jump that started out slow but picked up speed by Friday. They jumped again through time leap frogging right over the hot tub in 1865 and found themselves in Boston on March 10, 1876. Peering through a window from the street at the Bell & Watson laboratory located at 5 Exeter Place in Boston. They see Mr. Bell speak into his “electrical speech machine” known today as the telephone. “Mr. Watson, come here! I want to see you.” It was recorded in history as the very first telephone transmission. News of Bell’s invention quickly spread throughout the country, even throughout Europe. The first long distance telephone call was made on August 10, 1876 by Bell from the family home in Brantford, Ontario to his assistant located in Paris, Ontario, ten miles away. By 1878, Bell had set up the first telephone exchange in New Haven, Connecticut. Long distance connections were made between Boston, Massachusetts and New York City by 1884, (the year IEEE was founded.)

In 1876, Bell got a patent for the telephone and started the Bell Telephone Company with others in July, 1877. Two years later, this company joined the New England Telephone Company to form the National Bell Telephone Company. In 1880, they established the American Bell Telephone Company, and in 1885, American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), still a large enterprise today.

Team TARDIS gathered an additional $3,500.00 in pledges this week! Allowing them to see with their own eyes the first telephone call before jumping back into the time machine to find more pledges! Tardis retook the lead from the Hot Tub Time machine and now sits at 46.92% or $7,800.00 out of their $16,500 goal.

Time Travel Checkpoints:

$0              1775    “Shot Heard Around the World” is our kickoff

$1,000      1776    Declaration of Independence

$2,500      1787    Constitution Signed

$4,100      1803    Louisiana Purchase

$5,700      1865    End of the Civil War

$7,300      1876    Invention of the Telephone

$8,900      1903    Invention of the Airplane

$10,500    1910    Boy Scouts of America was formed

$12,100     1959    Alaska becomes the 49th  state

$13,725     1969    The Moon Landing

$15,000    2004    Facebook started

$16,625    2026    250th  Birthday of the United States

Keep up the good work everyone, If you haven’t made your pledges or started to hit up prospects I urge you to get moving post haste. 5 weeks down and March is the biggest goal we have. An additional $9,000 is needed to be on par for the month of March!

Moving along the Scout Law series brings us to the sixth coin in the series “Kind” in 2025.

A $250 donation will get this limited-edition coin.  Featuring our very own Scouts in action is T65 featured from an actual picture of them competing in the Midnight Sun Council 2025 Klondike Derby!

Talk about a great collectable!

Do not wait to send in this year’s donation to secure your coin and fill your plaque (Plaques are also available if you have filled your previous plaque or if this is your first year donating)

 For more information contact CJ Stewart via email at clinton.stewart@scouting.org or call the Council office at (907) 452-1976.

Click here or scan the QR code below to donate directly online.

You can also just send a filled-out FOS Pledge card (see link below) to the Council office

2026 FOS Brochure page 1

2026 FOS Brochure page 2

“My Friends, No great endeavor is accomplished alone.”

The time is fast approaching us now for our annual Friends of Scouting presentations to each unit. We conduct this unit level campaign through presentations made preferably at a Cub Scout Blue and Gold banquet, Boy Scout Court of Honor, and Venture parent’s night. Presentations are typically 5 to 7 minutes with time to collect pledge cards.

“Friends of Scouting” is a campaign to provide financial support to your local council. In our case, that is Midnight Sun Council. This support is in the form of a pledge or donation from a company, organization or individual to ensure the financial viability of a council. Each council, including Midnight Sun Council, must raise all of its own funds to support its operating budget. Councils receive excellent program support from our National office but no financial support is provided. Scouting continues to grow and thrive within our council for many reasons, not the least of which is funding. The Midnight Sun Council serves not only the Fairbanks North Star Borough but approximately 279,000 square miles (49%) of the State of Alaska. Each year the Friends of Scouting campaign is conducted annually among the parents of Scouts and volunteer leaders. Families are the ones who see firsthand the benefit of Scouting for their child. District and unit volunteers conduct the campaign in order to give all Scout families the opportunity to support the Scouting program. During the months of January through April, each Pack, Troop, Crew and Post should schedule a “Family” Friends of Scouting presentation. This presentation explains to parents how our Council is financed and educates them about our facilities, camps, resources and funding needs.

Since Scouting began in 1910, its variety of programs have helped children succeed and has provided a lifetime of memories to each child. The mission of the Midnight Sun Council Endowment Fund is to solicit and receive contributions and dispense funds to assist and support ongoing programs, development needs and operational expenses of the Midnight Sun Council, BSA. The long-range goals for the Endowment is to provide not only a reliable source of the distributable income, but to have the assets positioned and managed to provide for anticipated yearly increases in the needs of the Council.

Midnight Sun Council Heritage Society:
The Heritage Society is the collective group of individuals who have contributed to the Midnight Sun Council’s Endowment Fund. The Fund provides a reliable source of funding to support Scouting programs now and into the future. Membership in the Heritage Society starts with a donation of $250 to the endowment fund. Additional giving levels within the society:

* Heritage Society Member: $250 minimum
* Sourdough Member – A deferred gift commitment to the Midnight Sun Council Endowment

James E West Fellowship: $1,000 or more in cash or market securities to the Midnight Sun Council Endowment Fund. Additional giving levels with this fellowship:

* Grand Teton Member – $2,500 minimum
* Pikes Peak Member – $5,000 minimum
* Mt. Whitney Member – $10,000 minimum
* Mt. McKinley Member – $15,000 minimum

1910 Society: $25,000 or more, outright or in a pledge payable within 5 years to the Midnight Sun Council Endowment. Additional giving levels within this fellowship:

* Ernest Thompson Seton Member – $25,000 minimum
* Daniel Carter Beard Member – $100,000 minimum
* Theodore Roosevelt Member – $500,000 minimum
* Waite Phillips Member – $1,000,000 minimum

The Founders Circle: $100,000 or more in the form of a deferred gift commitment to the Midnight Sun Council Endowment. Additional giving levels with this fellowship:

* Bronze Member – $100,000 minimum
* Silver Member – $250,000 minimum
* Gold Member – $500,000 minimum
* Platinum Member – $1,000,000 minimum

Endowment Emphasis
James E. West Fellowship Award Enrollment
James E. West Fellowship Recognition
Donor Recognitions
Major Gifts Recognition
Winthrop Rockefeller Award