Real Life Scenario (What would you do?)

[dsteele]

I like these forums very much. It's a great way to get good advice and opinions from a large group of good people who care about the BSA (meaning all of us as a whole.)

 

I encountered a situation this morning and it's a new one for me. I thought I would share it with you folks and see what you would do if . . .

 

You're the Assistant Scout Executive. It's Friday morning and as you take your first sip of coffee, you see on the fund-raising secretary's desk, an FOS statement with a post it note on it from the donor.

 

The post it note says, "I'm a bit confused. A man came to my door in full uniform asking for money and I gave him my FOS payment of $100."

 

The District Executive (DE) sees you looking at the note and says, "I don't know what to do about that. I don't know of anyone who would have gone to his door and asked for money. No one in my district would have done that."

 

The Scout Executive hears the exchange and makes eye contact with you. He gives you a grin because he knows you'll handle it and goes back into his office.

 

So what do you do?

 

Anyone can play . . . for clarification if you don't know, an assistant scout executive is the guy who does/handles everything the Scout Executive doesn't want to. This falls into that category. When this plays out, I'll let you know what actually happens.

 

Think of this (for your part) as playing SimCity, or SimCouncil if you will.

 

You'll also be helping me out with a little insight.

 

For you this is a little hypothetical situation.

 

For me it's another day.

 

DS(This message has been edited by dsteele)

[Twocubdad]

More data please, Hal.

 

So is the thought here that someone is running a con using a Scout uniform? Or is the guy a FOS Chairman From Hell (or maybe Heaven, depending on the outcome.) What happened to the $100? Did the check ever make to the council? Does the man know who the "Scouter" was?

 

I suppose if I were only given the information on the note, I would call donor and ask some of these questions.

[dsteele]

Twocubdad . . .this is Hal (or at least the Hal of this situation.)

 

Yes, it is possible that someone is running a con on the BSA and this donor. In our area recently a woman was convicted of embezzlement of over $50,000 for fund-raising for MS when she had no part in the organization that was supposedly getting the funds. It was a high profile case and made the papers.

 

It is improbable that the FOS chairman from heaven or any other place solicited the money -- it's not his M.O., but we don't know that for sure.

 

Now you know everything I know about the situation. The question of "what would you do?" remains open to all.

 

Twocubdad suggests I contact the donor. I have placed a call to him and only gotten his teenage daughter. Don't know if he's received the message.

 

Please feel free to use conjecture at will and use some "what if's."

 

I don't know how this story is going to end and don't have any information that I haven't already placed in the previous post.

 

Feel free to take some guesses. It's SimCouncil . . .

 

It's possible that what we have here is a unit FOS chairman who feels it is his duty to collect the payments of his family FOS givers and pass them along to the council -- although we don't have anyone who has agreed (to us in the office including the DE) to do that. It's also possible that someone is ripping off the donors and muddying up the name of the BSA.

 

We don't know. Part of this scenario is figuring out what's going on.

 

So how would you handle it? What resources would you use? What would you do if you did suspect it's a scam? How does the Scout Oath and Law come into play? When do you decide to turn it over to law enforcement authorities, if ever? Do you do it yourself, or turn it over to a DE to do? What role to volunteers play, or should they play? Play is probably a poor choice of words, but I can't think of a better one at the moment . .. perhaps, be involved is a better term for the word I've used.

 

DS

 

[dsteele]

Oh yeah -- TwoCubDad, I forgot a detail. Sorry.

 

A check for $100 made it with the man's note. To the council, the $100 covered his FOS pledge. As implied by the note, however, to the donor, it was a second $100. Things in real life, as you've probably noticed, are rarely black and white or cut and dry.

 

It's possible the donor is lying about the $100 and the man at the door, but why would he? Looking for a $200 tax deduction for $100. Possible, but hardly probable.

 

I'd like to think that it's improbable. It's also possible but improbable that someone would show up at his door asking for money in full uniform.

 

I can tell you that something is wrong here and determining what is wrong is as much a part of what should be done as the actions taken afterward. So what would you do?

 

Sherlock Holmes said, "when you eliminate the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, is what happened."

 

I'm no more a trained investigator than you are, possible less so, but that's life. What would you do?

 

DS

[Bob White]

First I would thank the man for his $200 donation to the local Scouting program (and make a note that this is a $200 donor for next year). Don't tell him he may have been duped (you may suspect it but we don't know for sure).

 

Contact your DE's and FOS chairs, remind everyone that we don't do door to door andd make sure the Districts are complying. If no one knows of anyone going door to door I would take the next step.

 

I would probaly go a few doors down from this fellow and ask some neighbors if they gave to BSA the same way. If they have I would call my contacts at the police dept. and let them take over.

 

Once I was convinced this was a fraud I would ask the local paper to warn residents and to give them a safe way to make their donation to the scout council.

 

(I really hate essay tets DS, make the next one True/false or multiple choice. Okay?)

 

Bob White

[dsteele]

Bob:

 

Thanks for the input. I can understand how you feel about essay tests, but if I made a true/false of a real life scenario, it wouldn't be real life. At least, not my life. I wish I had the luxury . . . the true/false and/or yes/no, rarely cross my desk. Well, maybe they do and I just don't realize how often because I usually don't have to think about those.

 

Anywho -- on with the essays (hopefully.)

 

DS

[Twocubdad]

I like Bob's tone for contacting the guy. But I don't think you have enough information to take any action until you get his story straight.

[scoutldr]

"I'm no more a trained investigator than you are, possible less so, but that's life. What would you do?"

 

I would turn the matter over to trained investigators. There are two possibilities...either a misguided but well meanining adult was soliciting door to door, or a crime was committed. If an e-mail to all Unit leaders and/or an announcement at roundtables does not turn up the perp, then let the authorities sort it out.

[FScouter]

Im not sure what an FOS statement is. Is that an invoice prepared and mailed by the council to the donor to get payment on the donors pledge? If that is the case, I can understand the mans confusion. He made a pledge, later someone showed up at his house to collect the pledge, and later still the council mailed him a bill. This could be nothing more than a simple bookkeeping oversight.

 

The first thing I would do is to look at the condition of the FOS bookkeeping. Is it possible that some Scouter collected on a pledge and the mans pledge has not yet been credited? Have other pledges been collected in person by Scouters? Id talk to the DE and the district volunteer in charge of FOS. Are they telling units to collect on pledges?

 

Next I would talk to the man. I would say that we appreciate his support of Scouting. And that we want to make sure we properly account for his donation. Id want to know:

 

Is he or a member of his family a registered member?

Is he affiliated with a unit in some manner?

Is he affiliated with a chartered organization involved in an FOS campaign?

When and how and for what amount did he make a pledge?

Does he know anyone else that made a pledge at the same time?

When did the man in uniform come to collect the pledge?

Does he know who, or from what unit?

Did the man have the pledge card with him?

Did he pay by check or cash?

Was he given a receipt?

When he received the invoice, was it his intention to make another donation?

 

I would ask these questions through a friendly conversation that would not make the man think you were doing an investigation. He should only understand that you are trying to determine how he was mistakenly sent a bill for his pledge after he had already paid it, so that it wont happen again.

 

I would then contact the FOS person in the unit he is most likely affiliated with and go from there.

 

[dsteele]

FScouter:

 

Are you secretly me and I don't know it?

 

I'll say no more and hope the thread continues.

 

I hope we all agree that doing nothing is not the answer to the question.

 

DS

[Eamonn]

Ok, I'm now you.

It's Friday and I haven't finished my coffee.

I would finish my coffee, and tell the DE,to try and find out what the heck was going on, and have a report on my desk by first thing Tuesday.

Then I would do whatever I was doing and wait for the report.

Until you get this report you can do nothing. It may be a storm in a teacup.

You might want to have a word with the Field Director, and keep him or her updated. If the DE is to report to him/her.

FScouter has a lot of good ideas, but most of that ought to be done by the DE - Not YOU !!

I don't know what the rule book has to say about about collecting FOS,donations in uniform - Or if it is even covered.

Some thoughts about how it is done in my district. This is not to say that we are doing it the right way.

There are 3 campaigns: District, Family and Community.

The District is easy. We pass out the cards at a district meeting and as a rule have them turned in that same night with the pledge and if we are lucky a check. If needed the donor will be billed by the Service Center.

Family is a bit more complicated.

It all starts in a local restaurant, with pizza and beverages. We then recognize the people who done well last year (Over $5,000 you get a shirt) and people sign up to be the presenter for certain units. They then contact the unit and make the arrangements for the FOS presentation. Most of these presenters are Commissioners and people well known to the unit.I try not to do any of the units, but will step in if something goes wrong. So far we have never had to ask the DE, to make a presentation. She is at this meeting and makes a record of who is doing what, as does the District Finance Chair and the FOS chair.

Our community campaign, kicks off with a luncheon at the Country club, all the Community Captains are there, along with a good many of the workers. Each worker is expected to "Work" five cards. And each community has its own goal.

None of these guys are uniformed scouters.

So back to the problem.

We only have the pizza eaters who are uniformed they work the cards for a unit and it is a one time deal.

Of course this is when everything goes to plan. I was at a meeting the other week, when the waitress (I know it seems that all all I do is eat - Ilove this job)came up to me and said that she had FOS money and then gave me a check for $25.00. Needless to say I didn't have any way of giving her a receipt, but mailed her one that same day. I also had a word with the DE, who worked backwards, to the Community Capt, who knew who the worker was, and why this money or pledge wasn't managed the right way.

Yes I know the best thing would have been to have her mail it in, but I was half way through a bowl of Italian Wedding Soup - Sometimes we have to put first things First.

[matuawarrior]

Ohhh, Goooddiee, were playing Clue . . .

 

It was the butler, in the kitchen, with the candle stick.

 

My bad, you were asking how to go about it and not the answer.

 

Okay let me put on my pink panther hat...

 

Uuhhhmmmmm . . .

 

I would finish my cup of Joe, like Eamonn, I hope it was a Mocha.

 

Then I would talk more with the DE and get more details. Have him put the word out to his Scouters about the FOS situation and see if anyone picked it up. It could have been an overzealous Scouter trying to do a good turn.

 

I would go the way of FScouter and get a hold of the FOS Chairman and also take a look at the books.

 

I would heed BW's suggestion and call the donor and thank him for his $200 dollar donation and I would see if he can give me a name of the person who picked up the check or cash. So that I can follow up on the paper trail to insure that he, the donor, gets proper credit. Who knows the donor maybe trying to pull a fast one.

 

I would check last years FOS contribution to see if there are any discrepancies with the donor's past contributions, probably go back 2 or 3 years.

 

IF there is no accountability and the donor is clear, I would call the Eagle Scout Prosecutor (We have one here for the U.S. District Court)and let him know that fraud is being committed by someone wearing a Scout uniform.

 

- - - - - - -

 

Anyway, we had something similar that happened here a couple of years ago, It was 1997. I was still a new Scoutmaster at the time. I went to this big Wholesaler membership store asking if my scouts can do a car wash there. I was talking to the manager and somehow the conversation turned to FOS contributions. This Wholesale store was donating anywhere from $500 to $1,000 to a troop in a Southern village annually, for the past five years. I asked the manager twice if he was sure that the money was going to this unit and not the district. He said he was sure that the checks were mailed to the unit's address. After my conversation with the manager, I went down to the District office and reported to the DE what had transpired. The last time that unit was chartered was in the late '80's. Anyway, they caught the person but that's about all I know.

 

- - - - - Back from commercial break - - -

 

Here's my guess . . It was the donor with the check at the council office. . .

 

DS, Let me know how I did.

 

Have Fun . . .

 

Matua

[matuawarrior]

DS,

 

What's the update? Were you able to account for the funds?

 

 

Matua

[dsteele]

Still working on this one. Here's what I know so far in addition to previously posted.

 

The donor filled out a pledge card at a pack presentation for $100. The pledge card triggered the accounting department at the council office to send out a billing notice.

 

His billing notice came back with a check for $100. No other payment has been made and credited to him. No, he's not registered to the unit.

 

I called and spoke to him briefly. He confirmed that someone had come to his door and that he gave him $100. I asked if he knew the person. He said he didn't. Then he asked me to call him back later in the afternoon because he was on a conference call on the other line and didn't have time to talk.

 

I haven't been able to reach him since. It's time to try a little harder.

 

My Scout Executive thinks I should ask the donor if I can give his information to the District Attorney when I call. He thinks bad thoughts on occasion.

 

I do, too, but I don't see any advantage this particular donor would have to lie about it. He's only getting one receipt from the council in the amount of $100. He's not even asking for a receipt from us for the "other" $100.

 

DS

[FScouter]

You might consider asking some of the other individuals present at the pack presentation if they have been approached by someone to collect on their pledge.