SALT LAKE CITY — One of the largest Boy Scout councils in the country is laying off employees because donations are down — possibly a side effect of tension with the Mormon church after the Scouts decision this summer to allow gay Scout leaders.

The fall fundraising is only about half over, but council president Stan Lockhart said preliminary data shows a substantial drop in donations.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the nation’s largest sponsor of Boy Scout units, nearly 38,000 units with 427,000 boys, about 18 percent of all youth Scouts.