how does your pack handle this

[JeffD]

our pack has required that each scout sell enough candy to earn the pack $50. (this year we're switching to popcorn - so i dont know the effort required to earn this amount)

 

if a scout chooses to not sell candy, they can pay the pack $50 and 'buy out' of fundraising - or just 'pay-as-you-go' for everything. they buy beltloops and rank and any scout awards. the amount they pay is usually the actual price rounded up.. so a belt loop at the scout store that sells for $1.49 - sells to the scout for $2. granted those that dont sell or dont buy out are usually the ones who dont earn as many awards, but shouldnt there be a little more incentive to sell?

 

maybe its the business training to make money for the pack to be able to do a lot of activities - or subsidize some, but does anyone else think we should be charging more to create more incentive for scouts to participate in helping the pack go?

 

[John-in-KC]

We set dues at a certain level per year. When setting unit and per capital budgets, we look at costs: The dues support advancement, recognition, books, neckerchiefs, and day camp.

 

We do wreath sales, as those are popular at holiday times, and all the $$$ stay with the unit.

 

 

[PackCC]

JeffD, we've decided to put out 'opt out' fee higher than what the Pack would actually make off our minimum sales requirement in order to encourage people to sell instead of pay the opt out. We put out opt out fee at $50 and our minimum sales requirement at $75.

[ScoutNut]

We set a goal (not a requirement) of $350 in sales per Scout. At the base profit of 30%, that is $105 to the Pack.

 

Many boys just make the goal, some go WAY over, some go WAY under, some fall somewhere inbetween. It works out in the end.

 

 

[Lisabob]

We always did what ScoutNut describes. I am not a fan of the opt-out but I guess I understand why it is popular. I really, really, am not a fan of the pay-go method for cub scouting. It penalizes the boy for something that is generally out of their control. And, as you've described it, it is also (IMO) a bit dishonest to charge the family more than the various awards actually cost. This is cub scouts we're talking about here! Awards should NOT be a profit generator for the pack.

 

 

[JeffD]

im interested as to why you are not a fan of the pay/go for cubs? i understand for financial hardship - but i could argue my wife causes financial hardship with her shopping

 

our pack had about 65 scouts and about 30 or so scouts didnt sell anything. a handful of those 'bought out' with the remaining just in the pay/go group. to me , thats a pretty large percentage. agreed that some kids didnt have the support to go out and sell, but i dont think the pack would remain financially fit with about 30% selling the minimum to get by (earn the pack $50) and a handful selling more

[Lisabob]

I'm not in favor of paying for awards as your boy earns them because the message that this may send to some families is, hey, if your boy doesn't earn any awards then you don't have to pay anything! Sadly, I know adults who would most likely interpret it that way and then put no effort into helping their kid get what he should out of cub scouts.

 

I also think it can be a financial hardship for some. Those beltloops do add up. And while I agree that boys and families ought to have a financial stake in the pack (like paying a set dues level or expectation that everyone participates in fundraisers), I just can't see telling "Johnny" that everybody in the den except him earns and gets awarded the ___ beltloop, because his parent didn't want to pay for it.

 

 

[Lisabob]

Sorry for the double post - I hit "send" too quickly there.

 

What you're describing, Jeff, sounds like an underlying problem with getting people to participate in your fund raiser. While pay/go may make the problem go away, it doesn't resolve it. Maybe some parents don't understand where the popcorn money goes in terms of your budget?

 

Are those 30% or so of your scouts who are on the pay/go method very active with the pack? Or are these the marginal types who show up from time to time but don't seem to be all that involved?

[JeffD]

personally i think theres other issues. i joined the pack last year as a tiger leader. when my son earned his bobcat - i am still upset at how they were all awarded their rank (the pack would just call the scout up and hand them the award) because of that - i found a ceremony online so when my kids earned tiger - they remembered it. they love the magic color-changing water from the scout reservation... time to find something new for this year. after i did mine - everyone else used it also.

 

i still remember being held upside down when i got my bobcat at mcgaughey elementary's cafeteria - i know this isnt how its done anymore - but the scouts deserve more than a little clap.. im still proud of my participant pinewood derby ribbon for the 'blue flame' as i named it back then.. end of rant...

 

im way off topic now but i think theres other things that can and need to be done to help this out. i would love to sit back and enjoy scouts - but i dont mind working to make the program as memorable for my scouts as it has been for me.

 

my den rocked. we had 19 tigers to start the year off. we ended up with about 15 rechartering... and 1 or 2 didnt yet because of family issues (divorce and dont know if they will live in the area this year). our group had the largest participation in the sales and those that were pay/go were the ones that didnt end up rechartering or were truly not interested in scouting.

 

"hey, if your boy doesn't earn any awards then you don't have to pay anything! "

this makes sense and i agree.

 

as for knowing where the money goes - i would also agree. i think sometimes the leaders dont know where the money goes and that if we earned more - we could subsidize more events. i would love to be able to get cool electronics for our derby track (or even a non-wood derby track that could be stored where you didnt worry about the florida humidity warping it)

 

of the current group of leaders - i am the only scouter who was once a scout. i truly care about scouting and hope my son stays as excited about learning as he is right now. (he bugs me almost daily to go over some of his wolf requirements - how do you curb that much enthusiasm? i say you dont.. but thats another thread). all of the leaders are trained - but it doesnt seem like theres the willingness to do things differently. i am trying to find out how to get the other parents as excited about the program as my parents are. if they are excited - then they work harder to make things better.

 

sorry for the dissertation - but i seem to have a lot of scouting stuff on my mind lately

[kb6jra]

JeffD, from the last post, sounds like you're doing the work of the Cubmaster. When I was cubmaster I took pride in the ceremonies and making each boy feel special and proud of what he had accomplished. That was my job month after month.

 

As for the fundraising, we had a budget for awards of about $300 a month (we loved patches of all kinds), so we set our fundraising goals accordingly. We sold popcorn, candy, wrapping paper...We had "drawings" at our blue and gold for donated items like movie tickets, dinners, gift certs from local stores...we had a Father Son cake bake every year and auctioned off the cakes at the end. That always made some coin. We never had an opt out, we just hyped the fundraisers so all the kids wanted to participate. If the kids wanted to participate, the parents wouldn't be able to "opt out".

 

 

[Beagle Scout]

Our pack sells Trail's End popcorn as our only fundraiser, and the last couple of years we have done very well. We have been able to achieve 100% participation without having a minimum sales level or an opt out fee. Instead, we focus on overcoming objections and rewarding participation. For example, if a parent does not want to help, we ask permission for one of the leaders to take the boy along with his or her own son when they go out. In addition, we have a sales blitz on the first day of the sale with a party afterwards, and every boy that participates gets a prize. Nobody wants to miss out on that!

 

[Pack212Scouter]

Because of the plethora of fundraisers about nowdays, our pack has decided to only have one fundraiser for the year, the popcorn sale.

 

Our annual dues are $60 which includes registration, Boys Life, and all awards for them for the year. The pack maintains a scholership fund for anyone that has a financial hardship with dues, camp, etc. For our fundraiser, Council get's their cut, we keep a small percentage, but most (over %50) goes into the scout's account. They can use this money to pay for next year's dues, for camps, Blue & Gold, anything scouting related for themselves. It really makes an incentive for them to fundraise.

[evmori]

so a belt loop at the scout store that sells for $1.49 - sells to the scout for $2.

 

Why does the Scout have to pay 34% more for an item through the Pack?

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[JeffD]

for those who didn't participate in any fund raising for the pack - they paid about 41 cents to the pack for the award (we didn't have a tax id number from the CO). those who participated (and helped to make the pack go...) didn't buy awards.

 

we probably could have done like pack212 does - and charge a much higher registration fee, but about $10/scout is what the pack gets after all other items are paid out.

[Mrw1]

Our pack, which I have not been with for several years now as my kids got older, is still run the way we experienced it.

 

They sell popcorn and run a kiddie carnival at a town festival as their two fundraisers.

 

We always strongly encouraged participation for each family in the carnival and had pretty good success with that.

 

For popcorn, we gave the boys about 10% of the total sales back in "popcorn points" that they could spend on scout stuff. If a boy only sold one small item and earned one point, he could still get a prize of a cub pencil or something in that price range. The items available out of the scout catalog included all the uniform pieces for Cubs and Boy Scouts and many of the craft and camping items.

 

We had boys who sold enough to earn their entire uniform or pay for the entire week of day camp. There are very few families who don't participate at all.

 

For sales at a store booth if the family only wants to participate that way, the total sales for the day was divided by how many boy hours were worked.