berliner

search term "corporate responsibility" I was looking at big defense contractors that hand out money to the community for their image ;-) Say, above the District Executive is the Council and above that National ... So if bmd has a problem with DE who is the next up the food chain/chain of command?

Now 4 DEs in 4 years should at least answer a call or an email - something is definately wrong. Help me out, who is the next one up from DE? Ever contacted them with a slight hint of the backlog? Dont let yourself be ignored and make yourself heard and seen. Be kind, be friendly but dont go away or back down. How far is this office from you? Drive by with a Patrol in tow? ;-) See if I ran into the same wall twice I would be looking to get around or over it ... How many boys do you need packs and bags for ? Ever asked Lions or Rotary for help ??

So in theory you have an advantage and dont have to find something new. Camperships sounds cool, wish they had them here. Good on the BSA for offering it, bad if its not working. Do you have a person on the council to talk to, I mean did you hand in your paperwork 15 times to the same person? Did you ever follow up and ask why they where rejected or not considerd? Did they simply have too many applicants or not enough money? Was something missing? Did you slam the door on the way out? ... ;-)

thank you very much boomerscout: yes indeed a visit to a local library can never replace 1,000 online searches! Ask the librarian by all means. -Check your records if before your time your pack/troop already apllied to something somewhere (treasurer/historian) -Gambling Trusts A lot of grants in NZ are given by Trusts run by the big gambling companies (casino/lotto). There is local licensed places that do smaller grants as well.

Hey Cambridgeskip - I was actually in London for 3 days this year, first time ever in the UK. Got a necker at Baden Powell House too :-D Commonwealth varies more in climate than in culture LOL The Kiwis call (french or freedom) fries = chips and chips/nachos = crisps. They eat a lot of "fush n chops", or fish n chips. Batterd to death fish with greasy fries, yum. Battered and deep fried pineapple rings. nom nom. Even at Scout Group Camp ^o^ (only on the first night after summer camp setup) Only the BSA seems to be an army of "geardo's". Scouts from all other nations I met carry so much less fancy gear out in the field ... I think BSA has the copyright for "car camping" LOL

one more thing I was looking at, totally off the chart here: but "work & income", sort of like welfare NZ, would actually help with fees, but not sure about shirts. Just something I started looking into, but you need both of the parents having low income and willing to work thrue the paperwork. Now books you might swing as educational material.

Sounds like you have done your best so far. Just dont give up. I know exactly what you mean - first thing I got for our spaghetti dinner was a couple loaves of bread. You have to keep on going, with grants and any type of fundraising it takes a lot of effort and teamwork. There is special grants for transportation, as in buying vehilces. Big oil companies have fuel vouchers for volunteers (got turned down like 80% so far, but not always ;-) ) How much are you looking at just for a couple tents, sleeping bags and backpacks? How many kids/$$$. Have you asked you local Lions Club, Rotary Club or Mason Lodge? What about Veterans of Foreign Wars? If there is any Troops closing/folding in your area, what about the gear?

Cant watch youtube at the moment ;-) Will check that out later. Yes adults and kids can both enjoy MP3 players when jogging on their own or what not, and if it takes 10-12 hours to get to camp by train or bus or whatever we let them play video games even. Nowadays camera, music, game and phone come in one piece anyway. If I dont see it outside the tent I wont bother. But I still think that the idea is for them to be together as a patrol, talk to their buddies and on a hike maybe hear the birds and waterfall and what not, and not the Top 40 Countdown. On some hikes MP3s would be a simple safety hazard. Time and place for everthing ;-)

Oi getting specific. Cool - keep 'em coming 8-) In New Zealand Scouts there is no Charterd Organisation concept. The Grant is given directly to the Scout Group. Paperwork has to be signed by: Scoutmaster/Groupleader as well as Committee Chair, C-Treasurer and maybe C-Fundraising Officer/Grant Administrator. Photocopies you need to turn in with the Grant application include the tax number and the charity certificate (again NZ / US will be different, just saying) Now I was not treasurer so I can not say this for sure and will check, but as the Scout Group does not pay taxes it doesnt matter, if you get builders quotes the grant will only cover cost without tax as the Scout Group gets any paid taxes back at the end of the year anyway. (hope it makes sense, someone help me with the translation of Brutto Netto LOL)

companies, foundations and grants is 3 different things. - you can directly ASK companies: my scout group in NZ got 1,500$ Gear Voucher from an Outdoor Store. What camping gear retailers are in your area? Army shops? Big Auto Company/Garage? - I found several websites for Grants in NZ but have no particuler ones for the states (because I didnt look) In NZ for 20$ you can buy a Grant Guide, the Goverments Council holds info evenings once a year or so. - Grants are often given by churches, schools, goverment etc. Foundations tend to specalize more. There is also 2 types of Grants: - most Grants are on-off payments but for planing reasons some Grants prefer -multi-year projects with yearly payments or so. Foundations are, for example but not limited to, financing one project or objective over a very long period of time with larger sums. Best bet is to do a web search (different seach engines = different results) with the words *grant* and *your city/state/country* I did find a UK Grant for Scouts that was only for travel to camp etc. As stated above I started this thread to create a refence for Grants etc as so far I have not found one. Thanks for your input.

come on guys - scouts should know how to adapt to local rules, regulations, vegetation and foods ;-) I dont think I have seen an eel in Berlin, but around where the army "base"/cub camp and scout hut where there is wild mufflons/sheep. In Berlin we built Igloos but we get snow every year, in Wellington they had about 5 cm of snow in the past 30 years so no Klondike Derby there ...

What are patches? Uniform inspection? Wait - who said something about 2-deep leadership? ;-)

I disagree a bit: I was self employed, spending my days in front of a computer screen when I went back to BSA and became an ASM to get away from electronics. I agree we need to incoropate modern technoligies a bit more as it is not the 80s or 90s anymore (but we are with GPS/geocaching and all) but I think they still should not take MP3s to camp. We only got to take our gameboys and walkmen if we spent 12 hours on the bus going to camp, and for the ride only. At Merit Badge University we had the SPL/PLs take their cell phones as the troop was split and under supervision of other BSA adults, so that was very good to organize (some of the merit badge classes where over early so we knew we had to go pick them up). And yes sadly a lot of us SM/ASMs are not a good role model looking at the XL shirts and all ;-) Due to the military most of the TAC troops are a bit different. Civilian troop = high diabetes level in leadership o_O

Add passworded Websites to my list of why Scouts is uncool. In sports, a boy's first AND last name are published in both the analog newspaper and the online edition to announce his accomplishments. In Scouts we hide in secret vaults what is cool about Scouts (the one thing that has proven to recruit Boy Scouts to our Troop), so as to protect young men against imaginary monsters lurking in the parking lot. I agree, but what am I/we going to do? Best to offer a closed and an open site than none at all. We are not allowed to post pictures of scouts faces publicly - so you need good pics to advertise your activities without showing faces. Difficult but doable. PITA. Eventhough when the parents sign the kid up they actually have this part about pictures now that is signed, but oh well ... Now some of those monsters are not imaginary sadly. But its a bit overdone. Like telling overseas BSA not to wear uniforms off base because that could make you a target for terrorists o_O no kidding. Troops here get terror warnings from the embassy. Uncool. But we try to work around every obstacle and find our way - right? ;-)

I have made/been involved with homepage and 2 Facebook pages for Scouts - one public and one a private group. Public one is great for recruting, advertising fundraisers, thanking your sponosor/charter etc. The private group is great for the kids to share camp pictures etc. I knew a 8 year old who's mom (Pack Leader/Akeela) made an account for the scout ... who am I to say something? Ok, a joke I slightly altered (original: Magic the gathering), hope you guys think its funny: a) Boy scout aye? Wow you're really letting your nerd flag fly. b) Actually its a GEEK flag. Nerds are more academically inclined, while we geeks are just super-passionate about our hobbies. a) I see. And the people who know and care about this difference are called ...? b) I believe "dork" is the prefered nomenclature.

ah - you speak my language. I agree somewhat: I grew up with the entire troop wearing OD BDU pants, and most of them army boots, with the old style pre-centenial shirts. I am used to the class a/class b thing so the scout shirt is only worn to flags at camp, rest of the time is class b's with necker. I think the most ridiculous thing is that we are supposed to teach the kids not to lug around so many electronics, but the new BSA shirts, even the kids, have a special hole for earphone cable .... "No you may not take your MP3 or phone to camp, but your scout uniform shirt got this neat thingo for your earphones ..."

I am not a citizen or resident but probably more 'merican than a lot of others as a "3rd culture kid": When I joined BSA (together with boys from 3-4 different countries) we all said the Pledge of Allegiance; thats the flag on the shoulder, right? When I became ASM I think I had 5-6-7 nationalities in my Troop but Pledfe of Allegiance was the opening, being BSA and all. So we always had more Interpreter Strips than any of the other Troops. BSA-TAC is special ;-) In NZ I learned the new Promise & all, but still wear my BSA Smokey Bear. Some things dont change.

coffee-on-the-screen moment ...

Ey mate, at least ya found your way here :-D Sadly its probably not vandalism or a hacker trying to just test his skills or what not: a lot of people use the same names and passwords on different sites, so if a "softer site" is hacked then it could be possible to access accounts on other sites by users having same names/passwords. Anyway. Hope you guys back up soon. And until then you can pull up your virtual camping chair to this fire circle ;-)

Thank you very much for your input 5yearscouter. I like the idea, very patriotic. Difficult for Troops overseas unless they are on base, but a great idea. The one thing our Charter asked of our Troop was a flag ceremony at the George Washington Masons Ball (before that I got a friend from the USAF to come by, made the boys look sharp ;-) ) So any more ideas for fundraising, grants and the like? In New Zealand some scout troops sell coupon/voucher books, or "scout choclate" in front of the super market, schools ... Having stands at community/school/sport events with bake sale/sausages what not is not just a great fundraiser but good recruiting as well.

Welcome to the Forum Bob. I have only been here a few weeks but the FOS debate came up in a couple of threads, just read around a bit. A fixed percentage? Unknown. "Friends of Scouters" was suggested as most seems to end up with National for paying the professional bureaucrats. Now shakedown does sound a bit harsh, but I hear ya ...

I had posted this in another thread but didnt want it to get lost on page 4. Looking for everyone elses ideas & input to make the list longer. "My first SM as ASM told me the average BSA SM spends about 2,500$ a year ... The kids should not spend their time only fundraising, yet sometimes you need larger sums for different things. There is grants for nearly anything; some exclude membership fees but if you looked hard enough; I heard of troop that got grants for uniforms… I did a lot of reading and tought myself a lot about grants and am working on piecing together a "tutorial" I want to put on youtube or something to pass on the knowledge (so any additions, comments, hints, ideas welcome :-) I already added a couple things from this thread). Fundraising 101 -Bake Sale -Cookies/Choclate/Candy Bars/Popcorn/Lemonade/Wine -Pens with troop details -Giftwrap -Mulch -Emergency/Rescue/Space Blankets -Meal event: Pancake Breakfast, Spaghetti Dinner, BBQ, Sausage Sizzle, Invite Rotary, Masons, Lions, local sports team … -Scout Shop (at events, online on troop page, FB etc) -Uniform Exchange -Auction -Scout Disco -Game/Quiz night, Pub Crawl/Party, ... Grants 202 Transportation/Fuel Grants (Overseas?!) Membership fee Grants Grants for repairs of existing structures Special note: if you need money for anything having to do with water or hygiene there is a Foundation from Eagle Scout Bill Gates & his wife that specializes in just that. There is heaps of places to apply for grants, but sometimes you have to look at national or even international level. Grants seem more complicated and complex than they actually are: don't fear the paperwork or having to apply for more than 1 grant. You need to turn in 20 or 30 pages? 95% is going to be photocopies of registration, tax number etc. Not much you have to write yourself except fill out the forms, a letter from your committee. Simple really. When I arrived the Scout Group in New Zealand was "scared" of the "large sum" of 12,000$ for a roof, but also needed walls and replace water damage in the floors and redo the bathrooms... There had been big ideas and great plans to add the scout hut to civil resilience as an emergency community center with water tanks and … I picked up the ball and started pushing the locals a bit LOL After a couple of builders quotes I estimated the Group needed 50-55,000$. They thought I was nuts. I was "active" Grant Admin for about 6 months, and about a year after I started had raised or helped raise about 16,000$ and repairs have started. Depending on how you see it I was bringing in over 1,000$ to 2,000$ every month. My teachers always told me I don't work up to my abilities LOL. The Group Leader has now asked me for a 18,000$ transportation grant for jamboree … 16k of 70k … Still working on it ;-) " (You know its bad when you start to quote yourself LOL) So keep the various ideas, pros & cons coming :-D

I agree with the stuff said: overlap, waste of time at times; I took 3 YPT. Not that cubs, scouts and venturers are THAT different that it couldnt be rolled into one. But seeing the long history with the lawsuits I guess one has to understand that. Totally agree its not good we spend so much time on not being sued. If they let former scouts skip some basic training because it is assumed that they know, you'll get a scoutmaster lost on a ridgeline trail (good one!). I try to see it positive: thanks to the online training there is a bunch I can do on my own time, and going out to the adult trainings is more about networking with other leaders for me. Of course here and there we will learn something new like taking a boot sock and a condom to make a makeshift canteen, and having trained adults in a fire making competition as if they where tenderfoot can actually be funny ... But in general I enjoyed all of TACs trainings I went to: met lots of cool people and learned things as well (just sometimes things not on the curriculum LOL). The folks that do the training and their motivation make the difference. Now I probably shouldnt post this LOL but my IOLS was 3 days/2nights and requirment was only 1 night outside so the other night we spent sleeping on the couches inside the Green Beret bar. Now US Army Special Forces dont usually teach IOLS and there only is a spoof adult beverage drinking merit badge ... ;-) And I was told "We trained you just enough to make you dangerous" at BSALT ... ROFL One big dislike: when I was in BSA I was booked for Woodbadge, I had everything to go there but didnt make (400+miles to camp). Then with NZS I started all over again from the very beginning (and I gave them copies of all my training cards etc). Oh well - here we go again ...

I am currently in Berlin, Germany just repacking my stuff: spent the european summer in Geneva and London and about to head back to the southern hemisphere summer (6 months of NZ and OZ). Cool explantation of the scout sign aye :-D

Random religious fact: during a public census in the United Kingdom so many people (tens of thousands) noted their religion as being "Jedi" so that the British Goverment had no choice but to accept "Jedi" as an official religion. Now all I need is a light saber :-)