How to distribute popcorn funds?

[cubmom]

Our pack wants to devise a formula to place a portion of the popcorn money into each boys account (which we don't even have yet). How do the rest of you handle that? And what about the kids that raise 1 or 2 k - does it make sense to use a percentange if 5 kids are making most of the money???

[Scoutmaster Ron]

If I remember correctly it was about 5% of the total, the rest went into the boy's Scout Acct.

[OldGreyEagle]

Our troop uses a tiered system with those who sell more having a greater percentage placed in their personal accounts.

[Bob White]

As the CM when my son was in Cub Scouts we worked it like this. First we determined what the pack needed to raise per boy to do the things with and for the cubs during the year. That determined our dues for the year. We then figured out how much popcorn each scout needed to sell to pay those dues. Any profit over that amount was split 50-50 with the pack and the cub in the form of a Cub Cash account. as scout who did not generate enough sales to cover the dues had to pay the difference to the treasury.

 

Bob

[ScoutNut]

How about using a percentage of the actual profit each boy earned? You will have to keep track of each boys popcorn sales, but then how much they earn is entirely up to them. If they do not sell any popcorn they get $0, if they sell $1,000 @ 30% profit and you allocate 5% for their Scout Account, then they get $15.

 

Simple and fair.

[OldGreyEagle]

In our area, the Council gets 33% of the profit, the troop takes 33% and the scout gets 33% in his account. Last year we used the tiered system I spoke about if you sold over 300 I think you got 40% and the troop less, if they went to 1000 (we have about 5-6 in this range)they got 50% of the profit.

 

 

(This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)

[ScouterPaul]

We collect annual dues from each boy, at both the Pack and Troop level. We allocate 50% of all profits, regardless of the fundraiser, for the Scouts account. I don't think that allocating $15 on $1,000 in sales does much to reward a Scout.

[yaworski]

In an effort to encourage the boys in my Pack to sell more popcorn, a couple years ago, we decided to give the boys 5% of their gross sales. That worked out to a bit more than 16% of the profit. Alas, the same four boys still sold 75% of the popcorn.

 

Last year, the decision was made to give the boys 10% of the gross if they sold more than $100. Why the bottom limit? The treasurer didn't want to have to keep track of 40 accounts with $4 in them.

 

What happened with the 10% incentive? Once again, four boys sold 75% of the popcorn.

 

Interestingly, the top sellers did most of their selling door to door with most of the rest being from booth sales. Their parents only sold a couple hundred dollars at their workplaces. The moral here is that it can be done.

 

If you look at the amount my son got back in his Scout account (he sold $3,000 of popcorn) and the prizes that he took (Wal-Mart gift cards) and divide by the hours that he and I worked, he made about $5/hour and I wore out some shoe leather walking around town with him.

 

However, some are not motivated by money or by the idea of helping the pack keep costs low. We could have probably raised the Scouts percentage to 30% of the gross and the same boys would be selling the lion's share of the product.

 

 

[Tiny1pj]

In my troop and pack we use differant methods. First you need to know that we are in a sparsely populated county, the poorest in the state. The council takes 40% of sale, units getting 30% IF they make all the conditions set by council.

 

In the pack, we typically sell $13,000-17,000 each year, with each boy averaging around $400 in sales. The pack budget is about $3,500 annually, and we usually have no problem making it.

The boys are given a commission of 10% of their sales (1/3 of unit commission) in cash.

 

In our troop, the boys commission is 6% of sales (20% of unit commission).

The commission is placed in an account for their use to purchase scout or camping related items.

 

In both cases the boys that sell the most recieve the most. Since my sons have averaged almost $1,000 each year they were in the pack, they recieved about $100 each year. We controlled how they spent it, making sure the purchases were appropriate.

 

I know of some units that do not sell popcorn because they think the commission is too small. They may have a point. However, if our pack continues as it has, we will not have a problem making budget.

 

As for the troop, they need to average about $750 in order to do what they want.

 

Paul Johnson

[cubmom]

Not sure I understand - you say that the Pack boys get 10% and the Troop boys get 6%...isnt't the Pack part of the Troop? Do you mean Cub Scouts vs. Boy Scouts? Sorry - probably my ignorance at work here. Since we just created our Troop, we only have about 6 or seven Boy Scouts. So are you saying that the Boy Scouts get a smaller commission than the Cub Scouts?

 

We don't give cash prizes, we actually create a tiered level of prizes (tents, lanterns, boom boxes, etc.) and let the boys see samples of them at out "kickoff". Then at the end, they can choose among the levels of prizes based on their total sales. It's a lot of work though....cash would be easier, but I don't know if it would be as much incentive --- they like to work towards those prizes.

 

[ScoutNut]

Cubmom - No, the Pack is not part of the Troop. A Cub Scout Pack and a Boy Scout Troop are 2 entirely different programs. A Cub Scout Pack can graduate their Webelos into a Boy Scout Troop. Some Packs have 1 Troop that they regularly go to. Some Packs send their Webelos to many different Troops. Cub Scout Packs are for boys in the 1st-5th grades (7-10 years old). Boy Scout Troops are for boys 11-17 years old. The 2 programs (CS Packs & BS Troops), even if chartered by the same organization have different leaders, different Committees, different bank accounts. They MIGHT (not necessarily) share a Charter Organization Rep and a Unit Commissioner but that is it!

 

So yes, it is very possible (even probable) that the 2 different Committees would decide on 2 different ways to use the popcorn profit.

 

Why does your Pack create their own prize levels? Trail's End has a very nice prize program that is tiered based on sales. They even offer scholarship opportunities to boys selling $2,000+. If your council does not participate in the prize incentives maybe you could talk to the person in charge of their popcorn program and get them to participate next year.

 

 

(This message has been edited by ScoutNut)

[yaworski]

Cubmom,

 

Pack and Troops are separate units.

 

Cub Scouts are oganized in Pack which consist of a number of Dens.

 

Boy Scouts are organized in Troops which consist of a number of patrols.

 

I don't know how Varsity Scouts or Venturers are organized.

 

I'm a bit confused by your "prizes." Do you as a unit provide these prizes or are they the prizes provided by "Trails End" and your council?

 

In addition to the prizes that boys earn, which usually include Wal-Mart gift cards (my son's favorite prize), many units give part of the unit's profit back to the boy that does the selling to be spent on Scouting. Usually, the money is kept in a "scout account" and is paid out directly for dues, camp, etc.

 

I don't know if these numbers are universal but in my Council, the unit gets 30% of the gross sales, plus an extra 2% if they get their paperwork in on time, etc. Council and District split up 40% of the gross and 30% pays for the product.

 

How much goes to the boy is up to the unit. At one time my old Cub Scout pack gave none of the money to the Cub and four or five boys sold the lion's share of the popcorn. We decided to give 5% of the gross to the boys who sold and found that they same four or five boys were selling most of the popcorn. We upped it to 10% of the gross and the result was the same. This year in Boy Scouts, we're trying 15% of the gross which is 50% of the profits but I think that four or five boys will do all of the selling.

 

FWIW: My son is one of the top five sellers every year (nearly all is door-to-door) and I haven't had to shell out a cent for Scouting for three years now. Camp, uniforms and dues have all been paid for out of popcorn money.

 

 

 

[drhannon]

In our Pack we put the profit from each boys' sales aside for use as payment for summer camp. Any left over profit after paying for summer camp goes back to the Pack.(This message has been edited by drhannon)

[Weekender]

In cubs all the money went to the pack. Our boy Scout troop divides the money. We figure it costs $100 a boy per year to be in scouts. The boys pay about $45 per in dues so the first $50 of popcorn money goes to the troop to pay for the rest of the program. The next $50 goes to the scout. After that all monies earned are split 50/50 troop and scout.

[evmori]

In my council, we get 39% of the total sale. The Scouts get 75% of that & the Troop gets 25%.

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

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