What can pack funds be spent on.

[lchandler]

Am new here to the forum.

 

Right now our committee has a few members that want to buy meals for all committee meetings for all members and they want to pay with pack funds. They also want the pack to pay for child care for their kids during committee meetings. Have your packs come up against this and how did you handle it????

[Stosh]

Pack funds are for the boys. PERIOD. If meals are to be at an event for adults, then they pick up the tab. Same for child care. People do not contribute funds to a pack or troop to be spent on the on the adults.

 

Stosh

[Basementdweller]

I wonder what the pack families would think if they found out that the committee is spending the boys money on food for meetings and babysitting.

 

 

We do not provide food or beverages at the meetings......our meetings are less than an hour long.

 

[lchandler]

Half of our committee members including myself, think like you. The other half of committee thinks the other way. Is there any place in any council where this is written. That way we can shut it down before a vote because I am worried they may have a majority. I need all the help I can get to overcome this.

[King Ding Dong]

Half of our committee members including myself, think like you. The other half of committee thinks the other way. Is there any place in any council where this is written. That way we can shut it down before a vote because I am worried they may have a majority. I need all the help I can get to overcome this.

I could see some cookies and coffee maybe, but dinner ? That's nuts. Two ways to head this off. The COR can squash this fast and so can the parents.

 

Child care can be a problem. We have been lucky to always have a older sibling willing to watch the little ones. Never paid, they do it because its the right thing to do. Let them have their electronics and they will keep quite for an hour.

[Austinole]

That's a new one on me. We usually have kids running around during the meeting but it's never been too much of a problem. If they vote to pay for dinner and child care add it to the budget and let them know up front how much dues will have to be raised.

[walk in the woods]

Half of our committee members including myself, think like you. The other half of committee thinks the other way. Is there any place in any council where this is written. That way we can shut it down before a vote because I am worried they may have a majority. I need all the help I can get to overcome this.

I doubt you'll find anything written from the BSA because pack funds aren't the BSA's money. Those funds belong to your Charter Organization. How they get spent is up to the committee and the Charter Org. I personally wouldn't want to be the one explaining to the parents why little johnny had to pony up $20 for the blue and gold banquet when the committee is eating dinner once a month on the pack.

[Papadaddy]

That's nuts. As a parent, I would vehemently object. Ask for volunteers to do child care (any local Girl Scouts or a Den Chief?). Adults can each chip in 5 bucks for pizza, or do pot luck.

[Nike]

Many high schools now require students to do community service hours for graduation. Maybe you can advertise at the local high school. And, bring a sack dinner for heaven's sake.

[Basementdweller]

Half of our committee members including myself, think like you. The other half of committee thinks the other way. Is there any place in any council where this is written. That way we can shut it down before a vote because I am worried they may have a majority. I need all the help I can get to overcome this.

Some things are just wrong, I am constantly amazed by the greet and selfishness of some folks.

[Stosh]

That's nuts. As a parent, I would vehemently object. Ask for volunteers to do child care (any local Girl Scouts or a Den Chief?). Adults can each chip in 5 bucks for pizza, or do pot luck.

It doesn't need to be GS or DC, any scout would gladly watch the kids as a good turn.

 

Good thing you threw in the DC thingy, or I'd have to slap you down for being chauvinistic.

 

Stosh

[NJCubScouter]

I agree with all of the above. I don't think the BSA has any rules on this, but it seems like common sense. If the committee really wants to dine together during meetings, chip in yourselves. At times I have attended committee meetings in someone's home, and whatever refreshments were there were provided by the host. I don't think I was ever asked to pay because I ate some pretzels or a little club sandwich (if the person was being really fancy, I think that only happened once.) As for child care, I could see that being a different story IF all other avenues have been exhausted. (I think Moosetracker recently posted about a situation exactly like that, somewhere in the forum.) But you can almost always find someone willing to do it, if not a sibling then someone else. And if you want to offer the teenage "watcher" (sibling or just a "volunteer") a few bucks after he/she has spent 90 minutes making sure five little kids do not damage themselves or each other, again, those whose children are being watched can fork over a couple of dollars each.

[Pack18Alex]

We haven't done either, but if there was a request to get dinner in for a committee meeting, I'd probably do it. I normally host them at my house late at night (my wife and I are the only couple with both spouses involved, so this avoids our needing a sitter). However, if we wanted an earlier time, I'd have ZERO problem with using Unit funds for dinner and childcare.

 

Here is my reasoning, EVERYONE that is active and involved on the committee are also the people that are out there selling Camp Cards, selling popcorn, volunteering in the Unit, etc. We all pay the same dues, but the committee is the people that put in the extra time to make it a good program. So "People do not contribute funds to a pack or troop to be spent on the on the adults." -- no, they contribute funds because it's a dirt cheap activity because of the volunteers, the people on the committee, make the program go.

 

So are you redirecting money from those scouters to themselves, if so, who cares. Are you redirecting it from the non-active parents to the active-parents? I guess, theoretically, but the active parents are the ones that are fundraising.

 

Again, we don't do it, but I don't have an issue with it. I paid for a babysitter once to attend Roundtable when my wife was out of town... I didn't bill it to the Pack, the money didn't matter to me at that time (other months it would), but if I did, I wouldn't have had any qualms about the Pack paying for the babysitter. I mean, I'm the volunteer that goes to Roundtable, if nobody else steps up, why is it so horrible that I might "tax" them all the $2/each it would cost the sitter instead of my contributing time AND cash?

[Hueymungus]

Half of our committee members including myself, think like you. The other half of committee thinks the other way. Is there any place in any council where this is written. That way we can shut it down before a vote because I am worried they may have a majority. I need all the help I can get to overcome this.

So very wrong. If the Committee is going ahead with this, go to the COR and explain. If the COR is in on it, time to jump ship (if you can) and find another Pack. Alert the Parents.

 

Have the Committee Meetings at someone's house and do potluck. Lame...

[Twocubdad]

I'm not as black and white on the subject as the others. The volunteers put a lot into making the unit run and if the pack spends a little here and there to show it's appreciation for their time and effort, there's nothing wrong with that, in my book. I think part of a CM, SM or CC's job is building morale among the adults and doing something nice occasionally is a good way to do that. We started having quarterly meetings with the ASM a couple years ago. The first meeting I made dinner for everyone and charged it to the troop. Dinner for 12 guys was about $60, if I recall. Subsequent to that, we may meet out at a restaurant (Dutch treat) or maybe have pizza with everyone chipping in $5 or so. Sometime the kitty makes a profit; sometimes the troop picks up the few bucks difference.

 

That said, regularly paying for monthly dinners will add up to big bucks -- pretty quickly more than I would be comfortable spending for this purpose. Comfort level is going to depend on your unit's budget. Both our troop and pack have big budgets, and I can't see us doing this.