Scout Accounts

[sredl]

My question is about scout accounts. I don't think you ever get 100% participation in fundraisers, some families, because they have the means would prefer to just write a check for all of the annual registration fees,outing fees, and big ticket high adventure activities that their son attends. Other scouts, either need to raise their own expense money because of family finances, or because the parents feel that doing so is the better lesson of hard work and it's rewards.

 

Here is where it gets sticky. There are some members of my troop committee that feel that a percentage of everything a scout fundraises needs to go to the troop, which is above and beyond the annual fee. (The annual fee covers all expenses for operating the troop, except outings and activities, but it does include a contingency fund that is maintained at $100 per scout in the troop. The amount for the contingency fund maybe a positive or negative number, depending on whether our roster has grown or shrunk.) Example, if a scout fundraises $1000, he gets a deduction of say $80 for his annual fee, and then 20% of the remaining $920 for another deduction of $184. That is $184 more dollars that goes to the troop, than every other scout was required to contribute. It is actually a tax on a scout, that in some cases, is the least able to compensate for it, other than to do more fundraising. When you look at the costs for high adventure programs and jamborees, in addition to the monthly outing fees, there are scouts that are targeting $5000 in fundraising for their "career". To me, it just doesn't seem fair that after determining the troops budget and operating expenses, dividing that into equal shares, that there is any justification for taking more money from the boys doing fundraising. Basically, the troop coffers continue to grow on the efforts of the scouts that do fundraising.

 

Let me also say this. Anything in the scout accounts can only be used for scout related expenses, as detailed in BSA literature. The troop also has a policy of transferring the account if the boy leaves to join another troop or venturing crew. If the boy quits scouting all together, the money is forfeited to the troop.

 

I apologize for the length of this post, but I was trying to give everyone a complete picture of how things are being run. I welcome your comments, and am curious how other troops are handling things?

 

Thank you in advance.

[insanescouter]

The way my Troop does is a 50% split. The Scout only gets it based on how much he participates in the fundraiser (although this is hard to determine and usually its just split equally between all unless there is an obvious issue). The Scout may also add money from other sources say parents, sponsor, etc to their account. The money in their account may only be used for Scouting purposes, paying for camp, a new uniform, a sleeping bag, summer camp, etc. Our treasurer and a ASM manage the tracking of these accounts and Scouts and patents may ask to see the accounts records at any meeting.

 

Scout Accounts work good for us, and we have yet to have any big problems.

 

Hope my wacky 2 cents was helpful.

 

Scott Robertson

http://insanescouter.org

Helping leaders one resource at a time....

[evmori]

With our fund raisers, the Scouts would get 90% & the Troop gets 10%. This is used for equipment & stuff like that. The annual registration fee covers Nationals fee, insurance, MB's, rank patches & other program materials.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[Trevorum]

Our troop does it the same way as Scott's. It works well.

[acco40]

Think of taxes. Some (very few) are like social security (FICA). After you reach a certain limit you stop being taxed. Most, the more you earn/make, the more you pay.

 

Fundraising can work either way. What our troop does is the following. We have one pre-planned fundraiser each year - popcorn sales. We have some, like you say, who are cash rich and time poor. Other just the opposite. We state that all Scouts should contribute a set amount - either by sales or by opening their wallets. All money raised above that floor goes into their Scout account. This fixes the non-100% participation problem.

 

Other fundraisers we make purely voluntary - such as a bottle drive to raise money for troop equipment. I let the boys decide how they want to parse the funds. Most do it 50/50 to scout accounts and to the troop. The key is to make the percentages public before the event. Sometimes they don't do percentages. Last spring we had a fundraiser where the first $500 dollars went to the troop and anything over went 100% to the Scouts who participated.

 

There is no right or wrong. The key is to make it palatable to all.

[Beavah]

Yah, sredl, welcome to da forums, eh?

 

I'd take a step back and have a conversation with your committee and CO about what your goals and values are as an organization. What does the CO feel the mission of fundraising is? Charity? Operations? Learning experience? Often times troops get into the nitty gritty of dollar allocations and it just becomes personal, political, or expedient, rather than actually being directed in ways that represent deeply held values.

 

I know CO's who view fundraising as a communal Christian act. Each person gives according to his ability and takes according to his need. All moneys fundraised go to the troop, and get allocated either to group gear/expenses or to support for needy families. That's their ethic. They can be very successful. Contrary to popular belief, most Scouting families don't need to be "getting something" personally in order to participate in supporting the unit.

 

I know some CO's and troops that feel very strongly about teaching youth hard work. So all fees are charged to kids no matter what, and they either pay their expenses or fundraise to pay their expenses. 100% of fundraised dollars gets allocated to Scout Accounts.

 

Many hybrid the two. I know a couple of church-run units that introduce "tithing" - an expectation of giving 10% on top of fees or revenues to the troop. Some units will designate fundraisers on an individual basis - this one goes 100% toward buying a new trailer, the next one goes 50% toward the trailer, 50% to individual accounts. I reckon this is sort of a "democratic" allocation by committee vote.

 

As acco mentions, all kinds of other things are possible too, eh?

 

The key is to make your money follow your values and mission, not vice versa. And to be up-front and clear with everybody both how money is allocated and why - before you raise so much as a dime.

 

 

Beavah

(This message has been edited by Beavah)