CEO Update: Q4, 2025

Operational highlights for Q4

Your quarterly inside track on the work of the World Scout Foundation from CEO, Mark Knippenberg

The King’s Appeal 

It was a pleasure to engage with many BP Fellows towards the end of 2025 in support of the King’s Appeal, a time-bound global campaign in honour of His Majesty's nearly 50 years of service as Honorary Chairman of the World Scout Foundation and his 80th birthday.  

The King’s Appeal will culminate in a deeply symbolic moment when we formally present the King’s Fund to His Majesty during the 78th BP Fellowship Gala Dinner in Stockholm on 9 May 2026 — an iconic evening celebrating a remarkable leader, a legacy of service and a shared commitment to Scouting’s future. 

As a BP Fellow, your leadership and generosity are central to this legacy. A peaceful and inclusive world starts with us — and your generous contributions will be allocated to the King’s Fund, to support Scout projects worldwide focused on peacebuilding, community engagement, and transformative youth leadership, ensuring that more young people, especially those facing exclusion or conflict, can access Scouting and create positive change where it’s needed most. Thank you to our BP Fellows who have already pledged or donated. 

Learn more about the King's Appeal and how you can get involved today.  

77th BP Fellowship Event, Kuala Lumpur 

Our Kuala Lumpur BP Fellowship Event was a resounding success! Over 200 BP Fellows, distinguished guests and Scouts participated in the main activities of our 77th BP Fellowship Event, and over 500 guests participated at the stunning Gala Dinner! 72 BP Fellows, including 11 Honours Programme Members (including couples — a total of 17 individuals), were welcomed into the BP Fellowship by our Honorary Chairman, HM The King of Sweden and our new Chair, Beat Wenger, with 43 coming from Malaysia. Re-live the highlights, including those from the Gala Dinner, the Impact of Scouting Seminar, Scout Activity, Foundation Update Session, Malaysia Evening and more, in the web news  and photo galleries. 

We recognise and warmly thank our Board Member Dato’ Soo Keng Yeoh and the YTL Group, and the leadership and Scouts of the National Scout Organisation, Persekutuan Pengakap Malaysia, for contributing to a fantastically organised event with record-levels of fundraising!  

Foundation Board Meeting 

The Foundation Board met in Kuala Lumpur on 24 October 2025. During this meeting, we thanked Rob Woolford for his two years as Chair of the Foundation and appointed him as Immediate Past Chair for two-year term. Beat Wenger was appointed Chair of the Foundation, and Darci Swanson as Chair-Elect, both also for a two-year term. Highlights of the meeting included: 

• The biannual report from the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) on the use of the Annual Operational Grant 
• An update on the roll-out of phase 2 of Messenger of Peace 
• Reports from the Oversight and Fundraising and Marketing Committees 
• Approval of the 2026 Annual Budget, updates to the BP Fellowship Recognition Model, the fully revised Investment Committee Conflict of Interest Policy, the WOSM Annual Grant Distribution Rule, and Board and Executive Committee minutes 
• Approval of the agenda for the Foundation for the next two years as proposed by our new Chair. 

Meetings of the Executive Committee, Investment Committee, Oversight Committee and newly formed Fundraising and Marketing Committee also took place during this quarter.  

Our Baden-Powell Fellowship  

In the last quarter of 2025, we saw tremendous growth in the World Baden-Powell Fellowship, via our 77th BP Fellowship Event, Chapter Events and ongoing individual outreach by the team and BP Fellows. We ended the year having welcomed 121 new BP Fellows, 59 new Young BP Fellows and 71 Honours Programme Members (new Members and others moving to new circles of the Honours Programme). 

With the support of Swedish BP Fellows and Scouterna, the WSF Swedish Chapter hosted two cultivation workshops in Gothenburg and Stockholm, where our Honorary Chairman recognised 21 existing and new BP Fellows and Members of the Honours Programme. 

In other Chapter news, the US Chapter hosted a webinar focused on the presentation and stewardship of Scouting memorabilia, featuring expert insights from the Head of Heritage Services at Scouts UK and our Canadian Chapter was represented by Alex Killby at the Annual General Meeting of Scouts Canada. 

Further to changes to the Recognition Model, as approved by our Board in May and October, we communicated details to BP Fellows on our friend-raising programme, the recognition of new Founder’s Heritage Members, updates to the Young BP Fellowship and the BP Fellowship pledge schedule, and began to implement the new changes. We’re committed to providing a more personalised approach and stronger stewardship for BP Fellows.  

We enjoyed engaging with many of you in person and online, including on social media channels, and were excited to end the year with 111% growth on Instagram! If you do not already follow us on social channels, you can do so by clicking the links in the footer of this page.

Founder's Heritage 

We’re excited to see renewed interest in leaving a legacy to Scouting via the Founder’s Heritage. We would love to offer you a personal consultation, sharing how the Founder’s Heritage can help you align your philanthropic, financial, and personal goals while shaping Scouting’s future for generations to come. 

Institutional Fundraising  

We continued to work closely with World Scout Bureau colleagues to strengthen existing partnerships through regular follow-ups and the delivery of essential reporting for grant funding to several partners. 

Messengers of Peace implementation got underway following the receipt of renewed project funding from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In this same time period, we supported the development of reporting frameworks and the 2026 action plan, in preparation for the December meeting of the Messengers of Peace Joint Executive Committee. 

We also strengthened several corporate partnerships and developed new proposals for funding following positive engagements on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September.  

2025 Honours Programme Field Visit  

From 5–8 December, Honours Programme Members and guests enjoyed an inspiring Field Visit, thanks to the great support of the National Scout Organisation of Tunisia, Les Scouts Tunisiens. We experienced incredible Scouting, exchanging ideas with national leaders at their headquarters in Tunis, learning about national initiatives and priorities, engaging with Scouts during activities at the Hamman Sousse Scout Group and the International Scout Centre in Borj Cedria. 

Discover more about our vibrant encounters, rich shared experiences and the warm hospitality received in our web news and social media posts, and stories. Warm thanks to Les Scouts Tunisiens and everyone who joined us on our Tunisian adventure! As always, our Honours Programme Field Visit participants are leaving a positive legacy of the visit through project support, which is being made possible by their wider contributions to the King’s Appeal. 

78th BP Fellowship Event, Stockholm, Sweden 

This was a busy quarter as we worked hard alongside our fantastic Swedish volunteer team colleagues in preparation for registration, which opened in phases from the end of November 2025. By the end of December, over 350 individuals were fully registered. Information on how to register for a limited number of places for the BP Fellowship Gala Dinner will be communicated to BP Fellows very soon.