Troop Finances

[hsscouts]

I apologize if this is not the place to post this but I am not really sure where else it would fit in

 

We currently have scout accounts and a troop general fund however we are currently discussing the possibility of changing it to just having scout accounts and requireing the boys to pay for things such as new tents, new cookwear, or troop software.

 

Now the reason is that we just started this troop in March of this year and every boy came from the pack we are associated with, they all brought with them seed money from a fundraiser done with the pack, they got 50% of the money to bring with them. Now the problem is that each of the parents (we have 8 boys) put about 50.00 in the general fund to start us out. However troop related espenses have gone farther than expected and we have not had time to do a fundraiser. We just started one but it is not doing well at all and will be doing popcorn sales in a few weeks, so that will help if we keep it set up the same way.

 

But our dilemma is that we as a troop have been told by the CC and the treasurer that we have as a troop have been "borrowing" from the boys seed accounts and now have almost depleted them. In my and some other adults opinions we believe some of these expenses should have been covered by the boys or the parents anyway. For example we had an issue at our first week of summer camp and a leader spent 152.00 on extra ice and water for the boys, this should be split between the boys there I think to pay the leader back. We need to purchase software for the troop record keeping (well we really want to to mae it all easier) but were told that the troop needed to pay for that which is the parents splitting the cost of it equally. I think again this is somehting the boys should be paying for.

 

We have boys who blatenly refuse to participate in fundraisers, I believe we should then require mom and dad to pay the share for these things, we also require a 25.00 balance to remain in a scouts account at all times, so if they pay 25.00 in may for dues but do ot use it for anything, no camping, no acctivities, and no troop expenses it would roll over of course to June and then the boy would not have to pay in June another 25.00. This was done because parents complained about the 25.00 dues, but campout food costs alone are running 10.00 per boy then any other fees to do things like low cope is 5.00 or canoe rental is 12.00, so if they aren't fundraising they can easily rack up costs participating in things. A merit badge double class coming up soon is going to run about 10.00 per boy to cover expenses and materials if they don't have the 25.00 to pay the 10.00 for this campout and the 5.00 for low cope and then the 10.00 for the class they would be in the negative.

 

Right now boys are borrowing from boys and the troop is borrowing from everyone, so we want to change it for now at least to one method and have scout accounts only and just require boys to pay for everything equally whether they participated in a fundraiser or not. So mom and dad would have to pay eventually on that one, that way no other scouts are covering a portion for another boy who doesn't particpate.

 

Does this all make sense? I sure hope so I am looking for advice or guidence as to if anyone thinks this is a good thing or a bad thing based on our cuurent circumstances.

 

Thanks so much for any advice or help.

 

Psycho Eagle

SR-906

[shortridge]

Welcome to the forums!

 

You'll get different opinions on this, but IMHO, there's a MUCH, much simpler solution: Don't have "scout accounts." All money raised for unit fundraisers goes to the troop, and the PLC decides what to use it for in furtherance of their program. If there's a per-Scout fee for a special event or program, the Scout pays it from his pocket. Period.(This message has been edited by shortridge)

[Eagle92]

Welcome to the Forums!

 

You'll hear a variety of opinions, but you must work with both the PLC and the committee to come up with a solution. Yep I'd include the youth on this as it is their troop and they are doing the fundraisers.

 

Now I have a different opinion abut scout account b/c I love them. Growing up I busted butt at every fundraiser b/c that is how I paid my monthly dues to the troop as well as all the trips I went on.

 

Now this is how my troop did things. We had monthly dues, at the time started at $2/month and by the time I became an adult it was $3/month. That covered advancement, recharter, Boy's Life, and whatever else the troop needed. It basically went into the Troop expenses, and was the responsibility of each scout to pay.

 

Now when we did our annual fundraiser, it was divided into two functions. The youth did the cleanup of the fair grounds. The money that the fair paid us for the cleaning was divided by the total manhours. So if you had $1000 and 100 total manhours for 7 youth, then the youth would be paid $10/hour. So if Tommy Tenderfoot worked 16 hours, he got $160 in his account, and if Sammy Secondclass worked 4 hours he only got $40 dollars in the account. And the money in the account could be used to pay for dues, trips, or uniform items in the troop stock.

 

Now the second function was selling lemonade and hot dogs in the booth at the fair. Every parent needed to do at least 2 hours, with most staying longer, and that money went to the troop fund with the dues. And again that paid for registration, BL, etc.

 

So I guess I'm saying that yes the boys do need to pay for part of the troop expenses as it is their troop. Just make sure the committee and parents knwo what is goign on up front.

[ScoutNut]

I would say a combination of dues and scout accounts should work. You simply have to do a much better job of figuring your yearly budget.

 

Once you have all of your expenses totaled split it to determine the cost per Scout for their dues.

 

Fundraising can have a portion of the profit go to Scout accounts. Scout accounts can be used to pay dues, camp fees, special activity fees, etc. If the Scout does not have it in his acct, he pays out of pocket, or does not do the activity. The Troop should not cover things like merit badge class fees, extra charges for low-cope course, etc.

 

Make sure the boys realize that the more they fundraise the more both they and the Troop will have to work with, and the less they will have to pay out of their pocket in the end.

[mikecummings157]

I agree that a combination of dues and accounts will work. We have monthly dues and an annual spaghetti dinner that go to the troop. The profits from all other fundraisers go to the boys. The more they participate, the more they get. This allows boys to raise funds for some big trips (Jambo, Philmont. etc).

 

As mentioned in another post, no matter how you do it, they key is having a budget process and regular review of the finances.

[ghermanno]

hsscouts,

 

As others have stated, dues and personal accounts can work. You must seperate them though. In reading your post, you say $25 dues in May, if not used can be used in June. HUH? Dues is a weekly/monthly/quarterly/annual item. It does not change except when the PLC/Committee changes it. It is collected on the prescribed schedule and applied to the appropriate budget item (Troop or Patrol income).

 

Personal accounts are just that. Personal. A Scout may use it as he sees fit. If you require a minimum balance, be sure you have a set of "bylaws" to describe what happens when the Scout leaves the Troop (refunded, conveyed to the Troop, reimbursed if negative account,...)

 

Ensure you have a good set of books tracking ALL the money comming in and out. With the limited information provided, it appears that the parents could raise all kinds of questions about funding.

 

Remember, we are custodians/guidance for the boys and must sometimes educate the boys and parents on cost. We can not ask them to be "Thrifty" if we are willing to give thier money away without proper thought (budgeting).

 

Just my $0.02.

 

YiS,

 

Rick

 

(edited mainly for typos)(This message has been edited by ghermanno)

[hsscouts]

Well I guess I should have given more info. I am not questioning individual scout accounts we are all for that, we are questioning a troop seperate account, I and some others don't think we need a troop account right now.

 

Ok we started our troop again with seed money for the boys acounts from a council fundraiser, the troop account was started with individual deposits made by parents. These were and are seperate accounts today.

 

However our troop account is in the negative (virtually that is) and we currently owe money to the boys if we were to continue in this fashion. We had a spagetti dinner fundraiser boys were to sell tickets and then any people who paid at the door was to be split between the boys who actually showed up to work the dinner. My son is homeschooled and doesn't have a lot of people to sell tickets too so we sold about 5 tops outside the dinner, he worked the dinner there was about 200.00 taken in at the door and 5 boys worked the diner so per what we had talked about as a committee the money should have been split up and each boy should have gotten 40.00 that worked. however it was done that if a group of people came in and paid at the door and said that they were coming in because of Johnny thier money was paid to Johnny minus the troop cut. I was angry about this because then it was told to us that the actual take in not specified to any particular boy was 30.00 so I think my son made 7.00 for working 6 hours in a kitchen and serving people and he actually did a lot of the cooking, he is only 11 but is very good with cooking so he got stuck in the kitchen doing a bunch of that stuff.

 

Anyway supposedly this dinner cost us 300.00 even though we had 90% of the things donated to the dinner we only had to buy plates and cups and silverware. So after that the troop itself made about 100.00. This somehow made our troop account balance 200.00 total. We had troop expenses being a new troop we had to originally pay charter fees, it was taken out of boy accounts and out of the troop account for the leaders. There were a few other things that came up that the troop paid for I can't remember what they were right now but it basically dwindled the account down to nothing causing us to borrow from boys accounts to run the troop effectively we have expensises that need to be covered one way or the other.

 

Our next fundraiser was voted on and chosen by the boys it cost us 360.00 to get the things so basically the first 4 cards sold at 10.00 each go right back to the troop funds to pay for the cards, then of course that money gets paid back to whomever we borrowed from to square them away. Basically leaving the troop with nothing again.

 

We think (some of us anyway) it should change to just having boy accounts for right now until we make more money this way they are paying for the troop's things. Like I said we need some type of software we had originally voted in the begining to buy troopmaster and troop ledger we feel the boys should pay for this, it's for them it is to help them keep track of thier advancements and keep track of thier expenses as well. Also at summer camp the cost of extra items for the whole troop the 152.00 we believe this should be split up again amongst the boys who attended to defray the cost, the troop should not have to pay for this.

 

Being a newer troop only having 8 boys it has been really hard financially for the troop itself. Also not having the opportunity to do many fundraisers yet has put a damper on all this as well.

 

I appreciate all your advice I really do and I guess we will just leave it the way it is with scout accounts and a troop account, well I should say I will advise to leave it this way.

 

See being a small troop we don't have a PLC, we currently only have 2 patrols so we have 2 patrol leaders, and an SPL we are going to start PLC meetings next month but with summer camp and everything else and no older scouts available we were thrown into it and needed time to teach them how to run it properly, or at least try to Our other leadership positions consist of patrol quatermasters, a webmaster, and a historian that would be it for right now, if we were to have more positions people would be doing more than one job and that isn't good with 11 year old boys.

 

I am not a Scoutmaster I am a mother who is the advancement chair, I hate financial stuff it creates such problems with everyone, unless there is just too much money but that rarely ever happens

 

I asked because we have to fight to get payment for things, it cost 206.00 for advancements from over the summer, this would be merit badges and some merit badges I bought for the class we are teaching so I can give them out at the end of the class. I got the third degree as to why it all cost so much even with the reciept being submitted to them. Then last night we asked for a check for a campout because we needed to pay for low cope, it's 5.00 per boy they wnated to just write the check for the total but we were concerned that some boys would drop out at the last minute and we don't and cannot get a refund from our camp, so we would have been out the money. We just wanted them to write the check to the council and leave it blank, we can't spend money on anything else there wasn't anything to spend money on, we needed to be trusted, so the check was left blank at the end but was given to someone I guess they felt they could trust to write it only for that activity and to not pay for any adults to participate either.

 

It's stupid but apparently it was such a big deal. This all stemmed from my check of 206.00 I know it did, it's a pain in the butt to be questioned on everything, I bought things that we needed I bought patches and I bought the pocket cards and I bought a 3.99 booklet for the scoutmasters that has the new requirements in it so they know and have it on hand. I did not spend money on anything else for anyone else it was stupid.

 

I now must have an acurate total to buy advancements, if not I will not be given a check, if I go over I must submit the reciept for reimbursement of the difference. I can understand this I guess but in the past we have to deposit the money into our escrow account in order to not pay tax on the items, so I woud take a blank check have them add it all up walk across the courtyard and deposit the check for that exact amount. No issues I am not buying things for me. heck we just spent 30.00 on a boy scout 100 year monopoly game out of our own pocket.

 

We spend money out of our own pockets all the time to buy neat stuff for the boys, my husband is the scoutmsater and spent about 50.00 on items to put in a treasure chest for patrol competitions so that the winning members could choose one thing each, little things like whistles, and small pocket knives, collapsable cups, space blankets, etc. things they may need or use in scouting. We never asked for the money back. We also spent the 152.00 at summer camp not expecting to get paid back either, it was later voted on that they would pay us back. We purchased position patches (SPL, PL etc.) on our own dime for the troop as well because we knew there was no money.

 

So we figured if we had one account and all boys paid equally for everything no matter what it was since they will eventually use it or it will benefit them it would stop this "your taking money from my kid" junk, they would get 100% of thier work efforts and then be charged accordingly, if they did not have any money then thier parent would be responsible for thier share period.

 

We did a budget and the 25.00 came out as dues to pay for campouts and associated costs of activities, since we do not have any fundrasing money this is how they would need to pay. Normally to camp it costs 9.00 per boy, plus 10.00 for thier food, plus we are going to add on a trip charge for gas since it's always the same 3 people driving everytime and pulling a trailer is costing each of us a fourtune (we alone pulled it to one week of camp it cost us 60.00 in gas each way, we went back 2 weeks later for something else with no trailer and it cost us 20.00 each way) so just for camping and food it's 19.00 plus another say 2.00 for gas, now your looking at 21.00 leaving only 4.00 to participate in an activity, the cheapes activity at camp is 5.00. So see shere we got the 25.00 from, we don't live in a small community it is very expensive to use our camps we can camp for free at our charter (they have 10 acres) but they still have to pay for food and any other things we buy for them to do.

 

A lot of parents complained about the 25.00 thinking it should be like cubbies and be 5.00 a month, but when it was explained that that would be fine if the parents are willing to pay also for all camping fees and activity fees, they finally understood. We pay for charter and boys life once a year and that is a lump sum for all familes, it is 25.00 each to charter as well for the boys and 10 for the adults. We could have split that up for 12 months but we voted not to it was easier to just do it all at once.

 

Scouts isn't cheap and we all know that, we just don't want one riding on others because they refuse to help out or work.

 

And we do keep excellent books, at this next meeting though I am going to be bringing up the bylaws issue because I think it would solve 90% of the problems we have

 

Again thanks for all the advice and I look forward to any more given

 

April

Psycho Eagle

SR-906

[John-in-KC]

What has your COR said? The Chartered Partner is the licensee of record for the Troop to the Council and BSA. Whatever your system is, it must pass their muster. I strongly recommend a business meeting of the CC, the Treasurer, the COR, and the Treasurer of the Chartered Partner. If I were your COR, the tough question I'd ask you is to show me the stewardship advantages and disadvantages of each accounting method you propose.

 

Why have a Troop Treasury at all if you're not going to have a general fund? Simply levy the youth for each and every nit-noid bill on a pro-rated basis? If the software costs $200, and your Troop has 40 kids, each one brings $5 to the next Troop meeting. OBTW, what are you going to do about Bobby, who is mowing the grass to buy food for his family, because Mom/Dad ran out of unemployment?

 

Sorry to be so blunt, but the organization of financial support to the Troop is an important matter.

[nolesrule]

Fundraising, and filling the general fund in particular, should be the priority.

 

It seems you are over-thinking this. Equipment expenditures, such as tents, cooking gear, trailers, etc. are troop expenditures, and practically should be paid for with troop funds. These things are supposed to outlast the current crop of scouts, so it shouldn't be perceived as them having to pay for it. I guarantee you will start losing families over things like this. Just take a look at HOA and condo association assessments. Scouting is not a co-op.

 

There will also be the perception of nickle and diming the families anytime an expense occurs, as well as arguments over how to divvy up the assessments (everyone vs. participation based).

 

As for the revenue share, perhaps you need to rethink how much is going into the scout accounts. It seems to me you need to make the general fund a priority of the fundraisers so that you can ensure the unit is able to pay its operating expenses and maintain long-term viability without relying on assessments to the youth.

 

Scout accounts, should you have them, should be used, on a scout's direction, to cover their individual expenses, such as dues, camping fees, summer camp, annual recharter fees, etc. Some units also charge individual's advancement expenses (requiring more finance tracking), but that sort of thing is a unit decision. Having a balance in the accounts should be optional, so long as everyone is paid in full on their individual expenses.

 

And don't extend credit. In one case I saw, there were two boys that wanted to go to summer camp, but due to little league they might not be able to go and wouldn't know till after the camp's refund deadline. The parents were notified of this and said to put the kids on the list anyway, but they never paid, the boys didn't go to camp and the troop got stuck with the bill. They learned their lesson.(This message has been edited by nolesrule)

[hsscouts]

First off I want to say thank you to all of you for such great info I really have learned alot.

 

I can say it was the scoutmaster, the treasurer and myself who were thinking of changing things. Now I think I have learned that things need to change but in a different way.

 

I am going to meet with them and propose we keep the accounts the way they are with individual scout accounts and the seperate troop fund account.

 

I am planning on proposing that we change our strategy though, I think someone on here had a great idea to make certain fundraisers troop fund only fundrasiers. I think that's a good idea for now anyway when the troop needs the extra money badly. So for now I am going to say if we do something like a spagetti dinner or a pancake breakfast that money should all go to the troop fund and if we do say popcorn or pizza cards or our local council scout show tickets those things should go to each boy individually.

 

Right now currently our split is 50% to the scout 50% to the troop but maybe if we aren't doing the troop fundraisers as much we need to change it 75% troop 25% scout or something similar. The only thing is 100% of our families cannot afford to pay for summer camp out of pocket even locally it is 265.00 to go to camp, our troop has a rule that all extra fees for scoutmasters and ASM's are to be split between familes going so the adult going already taking time off work and whatnot doesn't have to pay the full fee, he will end up paying a portion since his son will be going anyway. My point was I think 50/50 is a good split for fundraising tht way my boys still make enough for thier camp dreams 95% want to go 2 weeks next year and at least 1 has the aspiration of going for all 7 weeks so I told him if he could get the money he could totally go provisionally (he is my son).

 

One huge thing I learned from all of you (thanks so much) is to get together with the boys and adults and come up with bylaws to live by. We have a few issues tht bylaws would certianly solve, if it's in there then they have to abide by what it says in writing. For instance we have an issue with a few moms not getting that they shouldn't be camping with the troop so they take it personally when told no women can go, I understand it because the boys will act differently when we are there. This happened at our second week of summer camp to me, I got duped by a boy who was already having issues and we hd to come up there to the camp and stay because he would not go to sleep unless his mom or dad was there, since dad had to work I took mom and my 3 other kids, her other son came as well and we stayed the whole week. I tried to stay out of troop things but this boy approached me at lunch and told me he wanted to quit scouts and he never wanted to come back to camp again he was having a horrible time, well I took it to heart I realy would hate to see a boy quit just because he was not having a good time at camp, I also didn't want him to have a bad time. So later the troop we were sharing a site with had a campfire with marshmellows and invited us to join in since they had 4 boys and we had 4 boys. Well this boy came in saying he couldn't find a seat he forgot to pack a chair and was really upset, I asked him did he look around or ask around if anyone had a chair he could borrow he said yes, I now didn't want him to have an even worse time so I just said to him let's go outside and I will walk around with you while you look for a chair or a log or a rock something to sit on. OMG my husband the scoutmaster had a fit and basically told me to stay away from the troop to mind my own business. Now I didn't see anything wrong with what I had done, I wasn't doing it for him I wasn't even helping him I was just offering to walk with him since I know he is afraid of the dark. I also didn't want him to have any more bad experiences at camp. My hubby the SM said I was doing it worng I should be helping boys do anything we are teaching them to be independant not to need us to do it for them. But in that I was just going to walk with him I felt I was right, but we just left as a misunderstanding.

 

Anyway to solve this issue bylaws would state family could come at the discretion of the scoutmaster and could not interfere with troop going's on period they could only be on the outside of all of it.

 

So I am going to research bylaws to help us come up with something to fit our troops needs.

 

Again thanks so much for all your help I love scouting for this reason there are so many great people out there who are so willing to help when we truely need it

 

April

Psycho Eagle

SR-906

[scoutldr]

I assume "SR906" means you are Wood Badge trained?

 

Some things about your statements are puzzling to me. Walking outside alone with a scout is a violation of Youth Protection guidelines. NEVER be one:one with a scout. I'm hoping I misread that.

 

As was stated earlier, your unit committee needs to get a handle on the budgeting process. Using the PLC and SM's planning input, the committee should develop a budget for carrying out the annual plan. Estimate expenses, including registration, insurance, activities, awards, software,...everything. Then develop a plan for raising the funds within BSA guidelines for fundraising. In our unit, the "scout accounts" are for the individual scout's use...never for general expenses such as awards and equipment. Those who do not participate simply do not have an account to draw from, but unit awards and equipment should be covered by the annual dues. Some units are so successful with fundraising that the scout NEVER has to pay for anything, including uniforms. My units have not been that lucky. The PLC needs to also understand that, if fundraising is not as successful as necessary, then the plan may have to be adjusted as the year goes on. One thing I would NEVER do is dip into the scout accounts to cover operating expenses, because the adults failed to plan properly.

 

Also, the issue of ice and water at camp. That has happened in my unit as well...what usually happens is that the leader who makes the decision to buy also pays for it...and more often than not the other leaders in attendance will chip in. We never ask the scouts or parents.

 

The issue of "no women on campouts" also bothers me. Boy Scouts is not like Cub Scouts in that camping is a unit activity rather than a family activity. The number of "leaders" who attend should be the minimum necessary, whether male or female. Minimum is two. Depending on the size of the unit, more may be necessary, but having everyone's mom and dad attend with Scout is not necessary nor encouraged. Nothing wrong with having a "family campout" once a year, but it should not be the norm.

 

Forgive me if I have misinterpreted anything.

 

 

[hsscouts]

scoutldr:

 

Yes I am Woodbadge trained however I feel I walked away still needing to learn more, I mean don't get me wrong it was an awesome training and I love what we did and I worked my tickets but our council is so leanent on what your tickets can be an example would be sign up to be a merit badge counsler, or join the district committee. Now don't get me wrong those are great things we totally need them but I don't feel they as tickets would teach us anything really.

 

No I was not going to be outside alone just me and him, sorry that sounded wrong there were about 10 people outside, and we at camp every now and then walked a boy alone to an activity or they walked with us I should say since I was going to the same area, but there were always people walking around all over the camp so we were never really "alone".

 

I had issues with that regarding the troop we shared with, the camp we were at had great private bathrooms, they were the most private I had ever seen, now knowing we had women in our groop these boys and men from that group would come up and shower next to us, and use the toilet next to us and talk to us at the same time it was a little wierd I didn't do it but some of the other people did.

 

Anyway we do have a budget and a yearly plan we came up with, we had a meeting with the SM and the ASM's and the boys to plan what and when they wanted to do things. For instance our SM and ASM's made a list of the dates they are available for campouts and activities since they all have jobs and work full time, then the boys planned accordingly. We know how much campouts cost at different camps and locally we also know how much certain activities cost. Plus charter fees, and boys life. So we came up with 25.00 a month based on all that.

 

Now we do charge the boys for their awards like rank and merit badges. We do this because we have very active boys, I have said it a bunch of times we have 8 boys period no more no less, that said I purchased 68 merit badges for over the summer, ou lowest earned 5 badges with our highest earning 15 I believe. It was costly believe me it cost me 206.00 for them our troop could not afford to pay for that, plus our cub scouts have always paid monthly dues for thier patches as well, paying more out of pocket each month if they were over thier max allowed. They were allowed 5.00 in advancements a month, now if a boy got crazy and did 20.00 worth or even 30.00 worth which some of these parents claim they do we made the mom or dad pay the cost over 5.00 this stopped our leaders (me in particular) from paying out of pocket for awards and never being reimbursed because the pack didn't have the money. So my point was they are used to paying for thier advancements themselves.

 

As for the water ice at camp thing, well we would not have minded paying for it however no one else that was there offered to help pay, we as a family are not rich and scrape from pay to pay and sometimes are in the red ourselves personally and taking 152.00 out of our pockets to ensure the saftey of our boys was not even a question we did not expect to be paid back but sure as heck appreciate that the parents voted to share the cost and pay us back. In all honesty the money will most likely go back into my sons scout account instead of coming to me anyway, that way he has money.

 

Also we didn't fail to plan properly as to taking money from the boys accounts, you have to understand I stated before we are a new troop we started in March of this year with nothing, no money except the 50.00 each mom and dad paid as a starter fund. So we started with 400.00 period. They had made the mistake in my opinion of telling the parents that the troop would pay for thier charter fees and transfer fees, I think they weren't thinking about all the dads that were not registered in scouts period. Then they supposedly spent 300.00 on spagetti dinner supplies when everything was donated except for the paper goods (cups, plates) and as a wole I think we made 600 dollars so the boys split 300 unevenly based on individual ticket sales and then the troop got the 300.00 dollars it had spent on stuff back, seemed like a waste of time to me. I honestly don't understand the high cost but haven't asked for reciepts to be shown to me either. The point was we are new with nothing which is why everything is like this not that we failed to plan properly. My husband and I came from a charter that had decided it did not want a troop or a pack anymore so we disbanded and everyone went thier seperate ways we came here to the pack without a troop knowing they were wanting to start one that they just needed a SM, and we are friends with some of them as well.

 

The women thing comes from like I said above before in one post, I am fully trained to be a SM however if I were to do it, and honestly I would love to I love working with the older boys it is so great to be teaching this stuff as opposed to the cubbie stuff, however there are other women who are not trained or are almost trained who do not work well with the boys frankly they baby them treat them differently want to do everything for them, don't want them learning knew things. Thier philosophy and is verbally expressed at all meetings that the boys are new scouts and everything should be baby steps not just throw them to the wolves and see what happens. they don't understand the let them make mistakes and them show help them figure out what they did wrong and help them figure out how to solve or fix it. No they think we should show it to them, do it for them, and then tell them the right answers. We have a big eleven year old boy who has issues sleeping anywhere without mom and dad, his mother babies him with this, same for another boy. they just don't seem to understand that they will never learn if we keep doing it for them. The best way to learn something is not to watch but to dive right in and figure it out, work together as a patrol and a troop and try to get it right and if they fall (we would never let them hurt themselves or endanger themselves though) let them try to figure out a way to do it the right way. 95% of the time they figure it out on thier own, there is that small amount of time we need to step in and ask appropriate leading questions to get them thinking in a different way, but still they can do more than thier mothers think they can that's for sure.

 

Now because of that attitude the men of the troop said for now they would prefer women not be involved on the SM and ASM level. I understand the reasons so I keep quiet and I spend my time teaching Merit Badges to them instead, I still get to work with them and get to teach them things so I get to see them learn and use thier skills so for now I am happy

 

Thanks again

April

[boomerscout]

We never made much money with spaghetti either -- too much work, and potential customers did not want to eat in a basement (charter org's lunchroom) for their night out.

First, stop spending money on patrol competition treasure chest rewards. It sends the wrong message anyway. Sell the remaining stuff to your Scouts against individual Scout accounts. Explain the facts of life to the boys. And, what possessed you to buy a Monopoly game? After you pay off the loans, money shld only go for needed camp gear & whatever is absolutely required right then. . Can you contact other troops for the donation of excess gear. Put the word out on Craigslist and Freecycle for the stuff you need.

Purchase of merit badges & most other patches can be delayed until the Fall Court of Honor. This will give the troop time to digest the summer camp fees. For other camps, each patrol supplies its own food. Do we understand you've applied for camperships for all that need them?

Limit your fund-raisers to those without (much) cost: have a soda pop can drive, contract to clean a park or fairgrounds, hold a bake sale in front of Wal-Mart, help people clean out their garages & then sell the stuff at a troop yard-sale, work at Pizza Hut & other restaurants for a percentage of the take, car wash in front of the Big Box. Google fundraiser ideas.

There are only 8 boys in the troop? Can you delay purchasing the software and continue with a manual system? I hope your restaurant cards do OK. Many have a 30 day refund guarantee. Take notes so that next year you can print up your own cards and keep most everything.

Inform the guys that unless a handle is gotten on troop finances, summer camp will be only one week. Tell them about Rent-a-Scout.

[shortridge]

What summer camp did you attend that did not provide ice and water?

[nolesrule]

Your troop just started and you need equipment. Your budget doesn't seem to account for unexpected expenses. In addition, unless your troop is planning to be a merit badge/Eagle mill, after summer camp will always be the single biggest time for advancement expenses, so that needs to also be taken into account.

 

Again, fundraising needs to be a major priority. You just can't expect the scouts or their parents to foot the bill for everything. Then Scouting becomes too expensive. That includes $25/month in dues. You really need to eliminate the activity expense portion from that figure, and then just charge individually for activities.