Council and commission rates and money

[Tiny1pj]

I would like to ask how other councils deal with money from popcorn sales and the commission rates.

 

A few years ago our council changed its rate of commission to units for popcorn sales to 30%, they get 40%, from an even split - 35% each.

 

They also REQUIRE us to send ALL popcorn receipts to the council, and then ask for a check to put in our local account. The last 3 years we have not recieved out commission until February, in spite of turning in money before Thenksgiving.

 

Needless to say this upsets both the parents and the boys.

 

What do other units and councils do? How can we convince council that this policy is counter productive for inspiring the boys?

 

Paul Johnson

[ScoutNut]

Our Units receive a profit of 30% from popcorn sales. We collect the total retail cost of the popcorn from our families and at booth (show & sell) sales. This is deposited in the Unit checking account. At the end of the sale, the Unit returns any unsold popcorn to Council along with a Unit check for only the amount due to Council (70%). This way we can start using our popcorn profit right away!

 

In my area both BSA and GSUSA product sales are like this. The only difference being GSUSA encourages you to use the personal checks you receive for product to pay the Council portion and keep the cash as your profit. This way if a check bounces the GS Council is responsible for collection, not you. Our BSA Council wants only a Unit check. Units are stuck if any checks bounce.

 

I think I would really resist handing over all of my Unit profit to the Council. The only point I can see in this (other than waiting for the Unit check to clear) is that the Council earns 2-3 months of interest on the money before giving it back to the Unit. Personally I would be HIGHLY tempted to sell minimal popcorn and then do our own fundraiser where we could keep ALL of the money we earn, including interest!! A Unit donation could then be given to FOS at the end of the year.(This message has been edited by ScoutNut)

[scomman]

We sold popcorn up until last year. Now we refuse to the reason why is we have never seen our share of the profit. It has become to much of a hassle to sell then collect the money afterwards.

We just refuse to sell it. We have enough of other fund raisers that we don't miss the little portion that we are supposed to get.

[k9gold-scout]

Our troop will not sell popcorn. Several years ago we looked at all the different fundraisers we do and popcorn was the least profitable for our troop. We have not sold popcorn for the last 3 years. We have not had any pressure from council as yet.

[NJCubScouter]

Our pack basically does all its fund-raising (other than dues) through the popcorn sale. Our net last year was probably in the $1,700-1,800 range. It is a big, big deal in our council especially on the Cub side of things.

 

Our council has a variable rate structure for popcorn. The max to the unit is 37 percent, which you get IF you do a show-and-sell (probably at a certain minimum level of committment, last year our pack bought $2,000 worth (price to the customer) and is doing the same this year.) AND your unit representative (the "popcorn kernel", ha ha) must attend all the mandatory orientation/planning/whatever meetings, I believe there are 2. AND I believe you must get everything in (and out) on time. You do all that, you get the 37 percent.

 

I am not sure what the lower rates are, because during my time as a leader, we have never been interested in getting anything but the highest rate and will do what we have to do to get it (which this year almost included me going to the first popcorn meeting to sub for our "kernel", who was on vacation. Fortunately, 2 days before the meeting she was able to get someone else to go instead.) (And also included standing outside stores on Sept. 15, 2001 (a date planned long in advance), about 40 miles from the World Trade Center, and trying to sell popcorn with swarms of volunteers from other organizations hovering around us collecting money for Sept. 11 relief at the same time. That was not a pleasant or comfortable experience, let me tell you. We also donated a percentage of our profits that day to the council's Sept. 11 relief fund along with any "extra" money that had been donated to us over and above the popcorn price. I think we donated almost $500 altogether, almost half of which was from one person, with no connection with the pack. He was just some guy walking into a sporting goods store, saw we were also collecting for Sept. 11, bought some popcorn -- and handed one of the Scouts $200 extra in cash.)

[nldscout]

Our council the year after our merger tried to idea of having everyone send in 100% of the money and return to us the profit. It caused such an uproar that they quit it after that year.

 

I realize that all units don't like to sell popcorn because they think they can do better with something else, and probably can for the unit. However most council depend on the profit that they recieve from popcorn to finance a portion of programs. So in essence those that choose not to sell popcorn and do not make an equal contibution to the council are getting a free ride on the backs of all the scouts that are doing thier best to support the troop and council. Remember folks all those programs we enjoy are not free and popcorn profit at council level supports then greatly