vtcchokie92

True, and I don't know what their staffing levels are, but if they were told to come up with a plan, don't act like you weren't told. Our Council has sponsored inner city Troops before as the CO

According to a reliable source, the Councils were warned to prepare for this eventuality and to make plans to serve as a CO, even if temporarily, to cover down on all units that may be displaced. Our Council did no such thing or they elected not to inform our District, so the potential now is very valid that we may lose units. Ridiculous!

If a UMC is switching to a Facilities Use Agreement only relationship, then the unit will need a new Chartering Organization, such as a VFW or your Local Council.

We are and we are not supported by a UMC. We are in conversations with a couple of UMC churches locally, but we are limiting our discussions to facilities use agreements only until we see how this pans out. What concerns me is that our Council is unaware of the means to serve as a CO or unwilling - either way, if this does become more of an issue (and it probably will), they will be seriously behind the power curve and the Scouts will suffer. That is unacceptable

Thanks. Good point on the title - whomever started the thread could change that. Unfortunately, our Council does not plan to serve as a CO for any Troops/Packs/Crews. From my understanding though, the tax exempt status is extended from National to the Councils and their Trust Funds, but does not extend to the individual units no matter who their CO is, including Council. Don't have that in writing from National, only saw it on another forum and another Council's page.

Another issue that came up, other than the liability, is the tax implications. A Scout Troop and Pack will lose it tax exempt status if they are not Chartered by a Church or other non-profit community organization. Probably won't have a big impact for the most part except for donations, possibly popcorn sales/other fundraisers.

I had the same questions when I saw this on ScoutBook forums. The exact words our SE used was that they do not plan to directly charter any units at this time. The implication is that they have no contingency plan either when, not if, this becomes a reality for more Troops/Packs than ours.

Our council has no plan to do that nor do they have a mechanism according to our Executive

And the sad part is that the Council, at least ours, is pretending as though they do not have any contingency plans. If the denominations pull the rug out soon, which is likely, the Councils need to have a plan. Ours has its head in the sand (or somewhere else).

Not the Methodists, but our current CO let the Pack and Troop know two weeks ago that they would not recharter our two units. As we started to look at other churches to support us, we were rejected by the Presbyterian Church and they were getting their marching orders from the PCA at National level. There are rumors that other denominations are considering the same thing. We do have one of our Girl Troops that just received their notice from the United Methodist Church that sponsors them and told them they would no longer charter the Troop.

Thanks for the well laid out discussion. Let me be clear - we do not have separate accounts for each Scout - it is tracked on a Spreadsheet, and includes our Fair Share payments (annual dues), Recharter fees, summer camp, etc. This helps us track which Scouts have paid, which ones may need some assistance from a Benevolence fund within our Troop budget, etc. As I said, it is in our Charter from 2012 that all new Scouts (and parents) have to read and sign when joining, so they understand the rules. Also, our Fair Share is determined using a budget based on historical expenditures for advancements, fees for Camping, Swim tests, etc. and does not take into account fundraising projections. That would be wishful thinking not a budget and with our Troop's low fundraising ceiling, it would hurt the program overall. We want to make sure we are obeying the rules while making sure that we keep the Troop running. With the COVID craziness this year, our annual dues have been harder to collect (timing and availability of funds for some parents), so we need to pay attention to where our funds are going down to the penny. Having a Philmont trip on the horizon for next year has raised questions on what the ISA funds can and cannot be used for. As was stated above, everyone gives you their own interpretation of the rules and what the money can be used for. It is good to have this resource to ask questions of fellow Scouters - this is nothing like what my Scoutmaster had to deal with when I was in Boy Scouts as a Scout.

Thanks. Our Troop was formed before this guidance was put out so it is possible our Charter needs to be updated. We have had some Scouts sell hundreds or even a thousand or more $$s in popcorn, and we wanted to know what they can use the money for. It is a huge disincentive to take everything a Scout sells and provide it to the unit. We don't base what it costs to run our unit on any projections for fundraising, so if someone goes above and beyond, we wanted to know if that money can go to that Scout to use for their fair share dues for the year, summer camp payments, or even payments for Philmont/Sea Base/Northern Tier/Bechtel.

What is the latest guidance on Individual Scout Accounts and where can I find it? Everything I see in the forums disappears after about 2014, with little new discussions. This was part of our unit charter and as our relatively new Troop (5-10 years old) is preparing for our first forays into a High Adventure Camp next summer, we have had a lot of questions on the monies earned by high selling Scouts and what they can be used for with regards to a High Adventure trip. I know it can't go toward personal gear, but what other restrictions are there? Thanks

@Midwest Scouter, wow that seems a bit excessive. Up until this point, our Council has not charged an additional fee for individual Scouts. Our Troop has a Fair Share Payment due each year that covers the costs of running the Troop (camping fees, advancements, etc.) and for any Scouts that have financial hardships we always have volunteers willing to help them with their yearly dues. $180 or so is what the FOS usually quotes (or close to that) as the average cost to support one Scout throughout the year.

@Eagledad, at least in our District, recharter for all the Packs and Troops occurs in the November timeframe and we usually finish out the payment and paperwork around the Thanksgiving weekend - just before or just after. I just assumed (bad thing to do, I know) that was the standard across the US.