Fundraising Ideas Needed

[AdvanceOn]

Hello all:

 

Our troop has done very little fundraising but is hoping to increase this effort to reduce the out-of-pocket costs to families as we increase our high adventure activities.

 

My questions to you --

1)What kind of fundraising do your units do?

 

2)How do you successfully work around all the other fundraising?

 

3) How do you split the money between troop fund and scout fund?

 

4) Does your troop fundraise for all troop activities or is it only for the high adventure fees (i.e., do the scouts continue to pay the food and patch costs for camporees and regular campouts or is that covered too?)?

 

Thanks for your ideas. We're having a committee meeting and the boys are having a PLC meeting next week where this will be discussed. I'd love to go in with your ideas to spur the discussion forward (rather than into the rut of "I hate fundraising.").

 

Melodee

 

 

[sctmom]

The troop my son is about to join has 2 fundraisers. The first is popcorn in the fall. All the money earned from this goes into the boy's account. Part of the reasoning behind this is that the troop is very well-funded, seem to have more money than they know what to do with.

 

The second fundraiser is in the spring. All year the troop collects items from people for a yard sale. Then one weekend in the spring, they carry the stuff (I think 2 tractor-trailer loads) to a huge parking lot on a busy street (the business in charge of the lot loves this and allows them to do it). They just sort of dump it out there and have a yard sale. They said this takes a lot of work. They have made contacts over the years and certain neighborhoods let them know when they are having the neighborhood yard sale, the scouts get the "leftovers". Also, the church that is the CO gets the word out. And some one has donated the trailers and a place to keep them for the stuff to be stored in all year. They make about $4,000 to $5,000 each year! They said they've had people stop and donate stuff during the sale! Said they have sold everything you can imagine including air conditioners, large appliances, lawn mowers, toys, clothes, etc.

 

We live in a metro area that is fast growing. The location of the yard sale is very key, it is on the busiest street in the area.

 

 

[jmcquillan]

There's a whole lot of different ways to raise money. Three methods that I can think of are:

 

BSA sponsored methods...like Popcorn. No up-front cost, need everyone to participate to make it profitable, only part of the profits come back to the troop.

 

Selling non-BSA things...like candy, Christmas Trees and/or wreaths, etc. These can have substantial up-front cost as you have to buy the product, and then sell a certain amount to cover costs. They need substantial participation. All the money, after covering costs, goes to the troop.

 

Services...which require little or no up-front cost, and depend entirely on participation and donation. Some of these I've seen:

 

Car-washes: water and location donated...small fee...a lot of man(boy)power...good weather.

 

Christmas Tree Collection: after holiday collection and disposal of trees...small feee...donated vehicles and trailers for collection...coordination with town disposal facility.

 

Fall Yard Clean-up: raking leaves and disposing of them for small fee...many hands make for quick work.

 

Bottle Redemption: I've seen troops that actually run redemption centers with Chartered Organization assistance daily or weekly, and troops that do it a couple of times a year. Requires man(boy)power, vehicles, location, appropriate plastic bags, gloves, etc.

 

The key to the succes of these things around here is that nobody else does these things. Working around other fund raisers of other organizations is easier.

 

Most of the troops in this area do not go in for the Scout Fund thing. All the money is put in the general troop fund. Out of that fund, most everything for the year is paid for or partially funded. The key is having a good treasurer who can keep track of incoming and outgoing, and knowing what money can be used for what purpose without breaking the bank. Partial funding of things like camping trips helps to keep the cost down for the Scouting families. Oh, and every dollar earned in a given year is spent on the Scouts in the troop that year. in our troop, if we started with $100 in the account, we'd end the year with $100, even if we raised $5000. All of the $5000 would be spent on the kids. Sometimes that meant that part of that money went towards buying a new trailer for the troop. But that was seen as money going back to the kids also.

[sctmom]

A couple of things I forgot to mention. This troop that I'm talking about has a new trailer and lots of equipment. I have no idea how they got so rich and blessed, or how long it took.

 

They give the boys some dollars from the yard sale, something like $1.00 per hour worked for each boy and his parents.

 

When a boy leaves the troop he can ask for the money from his account. If he does not ask for it within a certain number of months it goes into the "needy Scout Fund". That fund is used for any scout who cannot afford the personal things like a uniform.

 

There are about 25 scouts in this troop. They've been around for about 12 years, I think. Obviously this took a lot of work and planning to get to the point of lots of extra money and equipment. They have tents and cooking gear for every patrol include the adult patrol and visiting Webelos.

 

[evmori]

My Troop usually has 2-3 fundraisers a year. We sell popcorn, hoagies & pizzas and will hold car washes in the spring. Normally, we try to gear the hoagie & pizza sale around an event like the Super Bowl to help boost sales. My Scouts do a good job. Most earn their way to summer camp.

 

If a Scout transfers to another Troop, his portion of the fundraisers can go with him if he asks for it. We will make a check payable to the Troop he is transfering to & deliver it (if it is local, registered mail if not) to his new Troop treasurer. The key is the Scout - not mom or dad - must ask for the transfer of funds. After all, it is his $$$ and his responsibility. If a Scout leaves Scouting, the $$$ he earned stays in the Troop treasury to be use like any other funnds in the Troop treasury.

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

[AdvanceOn]

Thanks for the ideas. Our troop already sells popcorn with half the proceeds going into the individual scout accounts.

 

What we're hoping to do though is come up with some significant fundraising to pay for all our troop campouts/activities and some of the high adventure trips that they're planning.

 

I'll definitely share your ideas with our PLC and committee.

 

Thanks again.

 

Melodee

[peekaswine]

Hi there!

 

You want a good fundraiser with a great profit margin that also involves the parents? Do a cookbook. I am a girl scout leader and was very nervous about doing this but took the chance and it is working to our advantage. Have all of your parents contribute enough recipes for at least 250. The company I used is Cookbook Publishers (you can find them on the internet) and they have been really great. I know you have boyscouts but you would be surprised how well it works out. My troop has recently put together and had a cookbook published! It has over 250 recipes and is really great! If anyone is interested in purchasing one please e-mail us at troop734@aol.com. The cost is $7.00 plus $2.00 for shipping. It's really great so don't miss out! As I said, give it a try! If you'd like to contact me about it please feel free to e-mail me. Thanks!

 

[justmomof3boys]

Hi! I have 2 ideas for you....One is the 2 for 1 community discount cards. It looks like a credit card and on the back there are discounts, for example 2 for 1 Little Ceasars pizza, buy 1 get 1 free burrito form Taco Bell, $7 of an oil change, etc. They sell for $10, we get $5. We did have to order a minimum of 250 cards to start. We got to design our card also. We live in California, but you may be able to find one of these companies in any state. Also what we did at Christmas is sit in front of Toys R US for the two weekends before Christmas and offer gift wrapping. It's donation only. We get all of the wrap, tape, and bows donated. Our troop made $1700 this year. People we so generous. We had one lady come to us twice at $100 each time to wrap a couple baskets of gifts. We took the total numbers of hours worked and divided it into the amount made and this gave the boys an hourly wage. They made about $10.50 per hour. This money goes into their individual accounts. Hope this helps.

[k9gold-scout]

Our troop has tried many fundraisers all but a few have worked fine. Over the last 10 years we have done an annual garage sale making a low of $450 to a high of $3500. A local supermarket would provide the fixings for a pancake breakfast; we would make about $1800 (this chain is now closed). One of the best has been See's Candy, if your troop has the innitial order of $500 per year. Our troop sells between $3000-$5000 per year (50% profit). Most of the scouts and many of the parents are happy to help so we have never had any scout accounts. We use the extra money of troop camperships for any scout who could not afford summer camp.

[Bob White]

you've gotten some very good ideas for your fundraisers in this string Advance On. But beware of the ones that recommend selling Brand name products such as See candy or Little Ceasars pizza. If you choose to sell branded products, other than those that carry the sscouting name, you will not be able to wear the scout uniform or mention scouting at any point of the sale before during or at delivery. The Scouting name and uniform are licensed trademarks of the BSA and a unit does not have the legal authority to lend that name to a branded product without explicit permission from the BSA (see the Unit Money Earning form). There would be severe personal financial losses that could be incurred by members of the unit should a lawsuit develop from the sale.

[AdvanceOn]

Bob White -- thanks for the reminder regarding the uniform and sales. Actually, I'm hoping to avoid those kinds of fundraisers for a number of reasons, #1 being that our community is inundated with those kinds of fundraisers from cheerleaders, band, chorus, wrestling, etc., etc.

 

Our PLC has done some brainstorming on fundraising ideas. They have come up with spaghetti dinner, hoagie sale, car wash, etc. All these are good ideas except for the competition from all the other organizations doing the same thing. We'll just have to be creative in our presentation.

 

Again, thanks for the feeback.

 

 

[eagle90]

we have two fundraiser per year - A Pancake Breakfast in fall and a Rummage Sale in Spring. The proceeds from the Pancake breakfast go to the scouts to pay for summer camp, High Adventure, and/or weekend outings. The troop runs on the moneymade from the Rummage Sale. You'd be surprised the amount of rummage a troop of 25 families can generate year after year!

 

We have also done the cookbook idea, with great fun and success. With all the desktop publishing and computer expertise out there now, it is easy to do it yourself and just get a local printer to print and bind it. GOOD LUCK!

[justmomof3boys]

Just to clarify....we are NOT selling Little Ceasars Pizza. This is one of the offers on the discout card. Plus my boys will not be wearing uniforms. We did get our unit profit earning form approved for this. It was not a problem. We have 78 boys in our Pack, we only ordered the minimum number of 250 cards. This means each boy will only have to sell about 4 cards. Most are selling to parents, relatives, and close neighbors. No standing in front of stores etc. We will make $1250 when we sell all 250 cards and we plan on using this $ to pay for all families camping fees for our end of year Grad Camp. Plus food and any special crafts and activities we will have there. A lot of our fundraising is done within the pack. for instance when we held our Raingutter regatta/ swim party, we sold sodas and some snacks. It was a hot day and a drive to the nearest 7-11. Parents thought it was great and the profit went back to the pack. We made about $210 just from our parents. Oh and I got permission from our DE for that too. We weren't soliciting to the public - it was no problem. anyone have any suggestions on holding a pancake breakfast? With 78 families I'm scared there will be total chaos. Help?

[John Schmidt]

Hello Scouters:

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Simply by transfering money budgeted to the local store to Watkins products that you use every day you will get a commission check based on your units purchases each month from 19% to 33%. No door to door needed. No handling of products. Everybody orders direct from Watkins. Based on your own family's use. Simple! Powerful! Risk-Free!

 

[ScouterPaul]

Has anyone had success with selling mulch as a fundraiser. If so, could you give me some details. I think this would be a profitable activity.