Parent participation - credit to Scout?

[Mike F]

We recently held a car wash to raise money for a high adventure trip. We had some adults who are going on the trip show up to work and earn money for the trip. (Seems reasonable.) We also had some parents show up and work, then expected their "fair share" of the proceeds would go to their son - essentially giving that boy double what the others earned.

(We obviously fouled up by not deciding on the method of sharing proceeds ahead of time. Won't make that mistake again!)

 

How do others handle the sharing of funds in a case like this?

 

Thanks in advance! Mike

[Eamonn]

The troop that OJ, is in seems to have mixed feelings on this.

They do two car washes a year, the boys sign up for a time slot, parents and leaders are welcome to come but all the money is divided to the boys.

But then they also have two spaghetti dinners, where the boys and parents are expected to come. Again everyone signs up for a two hour stint, and this money is divvied up by the total number of people who work. If only the Scout turns up he gets one share. A Scout and two parents gets three shares.

In this day and age of single parents, that can make it rough on a parent who may be having a tough time to start with.

Still we never think of that when it comes to selling stuff. A Scout with two parents has more contacts then a Scout with only one.

I think that I would go with the total number of people and have equal shares. It seems like the only fair way.

Of course you could take a percentage for the Troop Fund, and if the Committee thought that a Leader needed finical aid, they could help out. I'm not sure how that might work.

On another note. Being in a small town, the Troop that OJ, is in has all sorts of people in it. They range from our local bank president, Doctors, to the not so well off. When it comes to these car washes and dinners, I always see the banker and the Docs. But some of the less well off parents are not there.

It could be that they are busy working- But it does make you wonder.

[evmori]

Ditto to eamon except regardless of how many people are there, we divide the total made by the number of Scouts and don't include the parents. The parents can help but their son doesn't get an extra share because they did.

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[silver-shark]

First off... Parent participation is crucial to the success of many of our fundraisers, and their has been a problem getting it in the past. (We're still the Baby Sitters of America to many parents.)

 

We start with a signup sheet to see who we can get first. If too many parents sign up, which I can only remember happening once, we limit them first to those that need the extra money the most, along with those that actually know how to run the event, then in a rotating manner to make it as even as possible.

 

We don't care if it's a scout, a parent, or a qualified sibling, everyone gets a share of the 80% of profit that the boys get for their Troop Buck Accounts. (20% of all fundraisers go to the troop.)

 

And for those of you wondering about the qualified siblings, they usually seem to be sisters that are in the GSUSA, and these girls repeatedly out work our boys by a huge margin.

[SM406]

For our Troop the money earned goes to the boys split evenly by the number of boys present, no matter how many parents are present. It seems like the same parents show up anyway time after time. If the troop is planning a major trip then the adults have a separate fund raiser.

 

SM406

[evmori]

Gotta remember fundraiser are for the benefit of the Scout and Troop, NOT THE PARENTS. This isn't a personal savings accout so the parents don't have to pay for anything! It is an account for the Scout to help pay his way in Scouting. Me thinks THRIFTY applies here. Besides, crediting the Scouts account with a parent share is unfair to the Scouts who only have one parent.

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[silver-shark]

Ed,

 

I may have given you the wrong impression.

 

All of the Troop Buck Account money goes into the boy's/son's/brother's account. I'm still paying my own way for everything, as it should be.

 

The problem we have is in getting the correct amount of parent involvement. For instance this Friday (July 4th) is our biggest fundraiser of the year. We run the concessions for our town's celebration. At this event we have 2 main boothes (a minimum of 12 people each) set up for soft drinks, popcorn, burgers and dogs, soft pretzels, cotton candy, you know, the works... We also have 6 smaller boothes (minimum of 3 people each) set up for just soft drinks and bottled water. Then there are the mobile wagons (unlimited number) for the boys (minimum of 2 boys each) to make the rounds to those that don't want to lose their spot in the grass for the show. Then we have our set up crews and our tear down crews. Then some people will need breaks at various times so we have to have extra people for that too...

 

You probably see where I'm going with this, our only limit to how much the troop will make is based on the amount of participation that we have.

 

Last year was the first time that we ran this event and we cleared over $3000.00 that day, and we're in a smallish town about 15 miles from downtown Indy which is where many people in town go to see fireworks. We used all of the money from that event for a new troop trailer. We knew that we were increasing the size of the troop this year from 28 to 48 scouts. Had this been divided out per person working, my son would have recieved about $450.00 since he, my wife and myself all worked the event.

 

With additional people this year (we're doubling the size of the operation this year) we expect for this total cleared to exceed $8000.00 !

 

This is sorely needed by many of the boys, since we are going to Sea Base next year. The 24 boys going there will have an operating budget of around $1200 to $1400 next year that they SHOULD be trying to earn. Many aren't. The remainder of boys are at about $400 for the year if they want to go to everything they are eligible for.

 

In the past, nobody can think of a time when a boy that really NEEDED the money didn't have at least 1 parent present, but if they did, I would suggest that since we have a SM and an ASM with no children in the troop, that we break them out a share to go to needy boys in the troop. I'm sure they would be thrilled to do it. Even the families that have 2 boys in the troop show up with 2 parents and a qualified sibling to work. They know that the harder their family works, the easier it will be on their family.

 

As far as the slacker boys that don't show up, or without their parents because the parents are willing to fund their son's scouting program, why should they get the same as the family that worked their tail off for the troop?

 

Also, as Eamonn said, when it come to popcorn, wreathes, and Christmas Trees sales, when the parent takes an order form to work, thus helping the scout to make more for homself and the troop (the same 20% goes into the troop for these as well) he's getting more $ in his TBA. Why should this be any different?

 

 

[evmori]

silver,

You were correct. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

Were the Scouts of these parents there? I would take the total amount made & divide by the number of Scouts present, NOT the parents. I sort look on non-registered parents like boosters. They are there to help th organization as a whole, not individual members.

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[jim_rogers]

Need some help. Our Troop traditionally has given 50% of some fundraising to boys accounts, and 50% to the Troop. Many other fundraisers, 100% goes to the troop. Our troop is a very active troop, and the costs to each boy are from $35 to $60 per month depending on the activity scheduled. Needless to say, we do not have very enthusiastic turnout for many of the fundraisers. Not much incentive for the boys. We also do not experience even 70% turnout on most of our activities. I have hear discussions of because of the costs involved.

I came from a Pack where we gave the boys 80% of all scout worked fundraisers, if Pack expenses were met, if not, then as much as we could give to the boys after expenses. All donations or grants that required no scout work were 100% to the Troop/Pack.

We, (the troop committee), just discussed changing the percentages from 50/50, at which point the Scout Master drafted an addendum to the Charter, and had the boys vote on the 50/50 split....at the end of a meeting, with no understanding of what they were voting on, and it passed.

Our question now is. Is there any official Scouting policy for Unit accounts, and/or percentages. I am betting there is not. Is there any guidelines of whose duty it is to setup or adjust percentages, (committee, charter organization, scoutmaster, or boys)?

We think that as a committee, we can over-rule the Scout Master on this issue, but would like some official backing.

 

The whole point of this political excercise is the same as I saw in the previous postings. You have a core group of families that work every fundraising event. And the rest of the pack or troop. In the case of the 50/50 split, the boys who work hard, get penalized, and the ones who don't work at all, still reap the benefits of troop assets and subsidies.

 

Let me know your thoughts and insights.

[Fat Old Guy]

We do a 50/50 split and the same boys that worked when they got 0% are the ones that busted their tails for the 50/50.

 

Our problem is that the families are too affluent and the idea of actually making their children work to earn something is anathema to them.

 

Recently we've kicked around the idea of giving the Scouts 100% and raising the dues from $50 a year to $100 a year. This way, the Scouts that raise funds wouldn't have to pay out of pocket and the others would be paying their fair share.

[Twocubdad]

There is another way of looking at this.

 

As has been pointed out, if shares are allocated to both boys and parents, two-parent families may have an advantage over single-parent families, who arguably need the money the most.

 

But on the other hand, allocating shares to both boys and parents gives families with limited budgets a way of earning extra money for their Scout account. Even single-parent families can recruit other friends and relatives to help out if they really want to. The flip side of that is the well-heeled parent who doesn't want to work a fund raiser, but is willing to just write a check for the difference.

 

One thing I would do would be to let the adults decide who their share benefits. You may be surprized at the adults who would be willing to let their share benefit a needy Scout instead of their son.

[kasane]

We always had the problem of who gets what share of the profits of a fundraiser (troop and/or boys), especially when the same boys/parents would come out everytime. These hard workers would then end up subsidizing the boys/parents who didn't show up (some may have had valid reasons).

 

In order to get around this problem and to make it fair to EVERYONE (parents, boys, troop, and anyone else who might have a vested interest), our troop decided to levy a user fee (troop fee, whatever) of $100/boy (payable in two installments) that could be taken out of the boy's scout account. This is not weekly dues - that still had to be paid

 

All fundraising money (the profit obviously) would be kept by the boys (we only did two a year) except that the troop would get $100/boy to go into the troop fund to offset the trailer, tents and other equipment. A boy could fundraise as little or a much as he wanted as long as he/parents could pay the $100 - the remainder of the funds the boys could keep in their scout accounts to pay for their scouting expenses.

 

Prior to doing this, we had very little participation in troop fundraisers. After this, every boy was able to meet the minimum $100 and most were able to raise much more than that and pay for jamboree, uniforms, summer camp, trips, etc.

 

The grousing amongst the parents stopped. If done right, the $100 didn't have to come out of their pocket - but if they helped sell chocolate bars or popcorn, that money went to the troop and the leftover to their son's troop account. We had boys who sold the minimum and others who banked $500 to $600 after a fundraiser.

 

We split the payments into two - one after the spring fundraiser, and one after the fall fundraiser. This made it easier on boys who couldn't participate in a fundraiser and for those just joining or leaving the troop we pro-rated.

 

In a troop of 20 to 30 boys, the troop was able to collect a minimum of $2000 per year which paid for maintenance on the trailer, new tents and other equipment. Some of the funds were set aside each year into a reserve fund (in anticipation of a new trailer), but most was spent out each year to maintain the equipment. The parents were given a financial report on the troop expenditures at least twice a year (the committee each month), and each boy received a report on their account balance each month.

 

If this is done right, the parents would not have to dip into their pockets (except for when the boy first joined) to pay for scout expenses. We had a lot of single-parent families and low-income families in our troop. This arrangement allowed them to keep their boys in scouting without undue financial hardship.

 

 

 

 

 

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