what are your cub scouts dues?

[Lisabob]

In another thread there's a discussion of whether or not parents of webelos II should be expected to pay the full dues when the pack recharters. I thought it might be worth taking a separate look at what packs charge for dues in general, and what those dues cover.

 

I've been in a pack that went back and forth about dues. Some years they were only about $25 (not incl. boys life), others they were as high as $60 (still not incl. boys life). This year they're $45, including boys life. For this year, given that $10 goes to national and $12 to boys life, this leaves the pack with $33/boy. Most packs around here are in the $30-$50 range but a few charge $10 and pay the entire thing to national and a few charge $60+ but tend to pay for day camp ($30/boy) with the extra money.

 

What does your pack charge (and how does that compare with other packs in your region) and what does that money pay for? This is separate from fundraising.

 

Lisa'bob

A good old bobwhite too!

[ScoutNut]

We do NOT charge Pack Dues.

 

Pack pays for :

 

Registration

Boys Life

Handbooks (Tiger thru Boy Scout)

Neckers(Tiger thru Webelos)

Slides (usually handmade)

Blue & Red Shoulder Tabs

Red Patch Vest w/Council Patch

Den Numbers

Webelos Patrol Patches

Year Pins

Webelos Vittle Kit & Compass

Webelos Colors

All Awards (patches, pins, segments, belt loops, etc - both earned & fun)

Pinewood Derby Car

Rockets for Cubs making their Popcorn Goal

Pack Campout

Special Speakers or Programs for Pack Meetings

Christmas Treat for Siblings

Scouts Entry Fees/Tickets on Pack Outings

Leader / Den Chief Training

Den Chief Cords

 

Our program is funded by our popcorn sale.

 

[andikeyes]

We charge $20 for Pack Fee -- we have to pay to use space at our local elem. school for Pack Meetings, we have a catered B&G, our PWD track has electronic gizmos on it, and we hold workshops with power tools (that the pack owns) for the boys to make their PWD cars, we also hold huge pack picnic and campout in May and have several Summertime Activities.

 

We provide neckerchiefs and tie slides and supplemental (75th Anniversary, QU, Commisioners, Summertime, etc.) patches. We are a Quality Unit so we get our badges of rank free. We also purchase a 'Proud Parent' ribbon pin for our Tiger Parents when their son's get their Tiger patches.

 

$10 - Goes to BSA

 

We offer Boy's Life but it is optional for the parent.

 

We also ask for a $15 donation to FOS from our families upfront. We do this so we don't have to take time out of our Pack Meetings to have our DE come in and ask for money. This also helps us get to Quality Unit (for free rank patches.)

 

So all in all, it's $45 to join our Pack. Day Camp and 3 day overnight camp are extra. Our council is really good about scholarships and also has a retired uniform program to help those families who can't afford uniforms. The Pack also has a scholarship fund for families who are struggling through hard financial times.

 

We also have two fundraisers over the year to cover the rest of the costs of our year long program.

 

Dens also charge Den Dues - anywhere to $1-$2 a meeting to cover the costs of crafts and "go see its" - but leaders are also aware that we have families who are struggling so our pack will cover those costs if the family can't afford the $1 -$2 a month.

 

We collect our recharter dues at the beginning of each school year, that way our Web II's only pay for half a year, since they cross over in March.

[resqman]

Pack dues are $45 a year including Boy's Life. $35 or $38 (I don't) remember without Boy's Life.

 

Pack payes for B&G, AOL, 2 camping trips with one catered meal, all badges and rank, leader training, and Pinewood Derby. Scouts get a new handbook at bridging.

 

Popcorn sales supply most of money. We have 45-60 boys in the pack and we spend about $5000-$7000 a year.

 

Den dues vary but usually about $1 per meeting.

[mbscoutmom]

We're trying out dues this year for the first time, because our families weren't participating in fund-raisers well enough, and our bank balance was too low to cover operating expenses.

 

Our committee just recently approved a dues policy. We're charging $10 per month Sept.-March, with Dec. dues going to the den and the rest to the pack. Boys won't have to pay dues in April if they bring a cake for the cake bake, or in May if they sell Scout Show tickets. They get $10 in their account for every $100 of popcorn they sell. In addition, the troop allows cub scout parents to work the booth they have at a Major League baseball stadium in the summer, and they get $15 per day to go in their account. So it's very possible for a scout and his parents to earn all his dues if they try.

 

The total of dues for the year is $90. That covers awards, food for two family campouts, leader training, rechartering, including Boy's Life, and den expenses. Fund-raisers cover the rest of the program expenses. I had hoped we would have extra to give everyone a t-shirt, or provide a catered B&G, but even with a lot of new enthusiastic scouts this year, we didn't get full participation in the popcorn fund-raiser.

[KurtB]

We do not charge Den dues. The den's are on a "pay as you need" basis. If we have an event to go to, craft project, etc. it is either covered by the leader, or they ask the parents to pay their share.

 

The Pack charges $35 for the year. Up from $35 last year. I say "up from" because we did cut Boy's Life out of the dues this year, but kept the dues the same. We did an informal poll of the parents, and most of them said Boy's Life really wasn't getting read, and they would rather have the $12 spent on the program instead. Those parents that would like to still have Boy's Life, are paying the additional $12.

 

The $35 dues & popcorn sales cover all pack activities and awards.

 

Kurt

 

[kittle]

We don't charge Dend dues or Pack dues. The local Ruritans let us take over their newspaper recycling (which we get about $300-$400 a year), a local business donates $100/year, we sell popcorn, and we sold Krispie Kreme donuts. Last year, all the parents had to pay for was their son's registration. We have a candle that is used at den meetings and then the Pack pays for the party. When an extra event comes up, the parents pay whatever their child's portion is. So far, none of the parents have complained about the process.

[my3sonz]

Not sure about the pack but we charge $6/mo dues for our den. This covers patches, pins, crafts, and other activities. I took this from the previous leader charging $2 per mtg and I just changed it to monthly collection to keep it easy.

[Jaime]

Our boys pay the $10 registration and the Boys life subscription(which is highly recommended but not required), upon enrollment. Our dues amount to $30/year or 50 cents a week. We are hoping to eventually be able to cover Boys Life for all the kids, but right now that's just not possible.

[Sniffles157]

Our pack was new last year and we did not charge dues. The only thing we paid was registration and the Boy's Life was up to the parents. We sat down before we started this year and decided to charge $.50 a week to cover the cost of supplies. We make enough from fundraisers to cover the awards and the refreshments for the pack meetings. Our chartered Organization has helped us out this year by purchasing pack t-shirtd so all the boys can be in some kind of uniform. A lot of our boys can not afford some of those things so we try to keep it as cheap as possible.

[SWScouter]

The pack I'm in charges $30 per year for dues. That inclues the $10 for registration and $1.20 for insurance. If the boy wants BL that's another $12. That gets the boy all the awards he earns and a pinewood derby car. The pack also has a fish fry the first Friday of lent for a fundraiser.

 

Den finances are completely separate from pack funds. I charge another $5 per month for den dues. Also, the boys sell Scout-O-Rama tickets. The commission goes straignt to the den's general fund. The past two years, boys in the den have sold popcorn. All commission a boy earned was put into an account to help pay for his summer camp fees. Last year, the den funded $75 per boy for camp, not bad considering that each boy paid $45 in dues.

 

SWScouter

 

SWScouter