sredl

My question is about scout accounts. I don't think you ever get 100% participation in fundraisers, some families, because they have the means would prefer to just write a check for all of the annual registration fees,outing fees, and big ticket high adventure activities that their son attends. Other scouts, either need to raise their own expense money because of family finances, or because the parents feel that doing so is the better lesson of hard work and it's rewards. Here is where it gets sticky. There are some members of my troop committee that feel that a percentage of everything a scout fundraises needs to go to the troop, which is above and beyond the annual fee. (The annual fee covers all expenses for operating the troop, except outings and activities, but it does include a contingency fund that is maintained at $100 per scout in the troop. The amount for the contingency fund maybe a positive or negative number, depending on whether our roster has grown or shrunk.) Example, if a scout fundraises $1000, he gets a deduction of say $80 for his annual fee, and then 20% of the remaining $920 for another deduction of $184. That is $184 more dollars that goes to the troop, than every other scout was required to contribute. It is actually a tax on a scout, that in some cases, is the least able to compensate for it, other than to do more fundraising. When you look at the costs for high adventure programs and jamborees, in addition to the monthly outing fees, there are scouts that are targeting $5000 in fundraising for their "career". To me, it just doesn't seem fair that after determining the troops budget and operating expenses, dividing that into equal shares, that there is any justification for taking more money from the boys doing fundraising. Basically, the troop coffers continue to grow on the efforts of the scouts that do fundraising. Let me also say this. Anything in the scout accounts can only be used for scout related expenses, as detailed in BSA literature. The troop also has a policy of transferring the account if the boy leaves to join another troop or venturing crew. If the boy quits scouting all together, the money is forfeited to the troop. I apologize for the length of this post, but I was trying to give everyone a complete picture of how things are being run. I welcome your comments, and am curious how other troops are handling things? Thank you in advance.