What can pack funds be spent on.

[Brewmeister]

Some things may be technically ok but you know in your heart they're wrong. This is one of those things. Just doesn't pass the smell test.

 

Why not do a potluck? When we have a committee meeting in the summer we have it at one of the committee member's houses. We grill out, everyone brings something.

 

I mean, the committee members are NOT incurring an expense they wouldn't have had anyway. They would have eaten with or without the committee meeting, right? It's not an extra expense.

 

Let's see, we could also:

 

-Bill the Pack for mileage

-Ask for a uniform reimbursement

-Turn in a pro-rated bill for my utilities for every time I send an email to the Pack

 

I'm sure I could think of a few more things too.

 

If it doesn't go directly into the program, I look pretty hard at the expense. If in doubt, put it on the budget and make sure the parents have the opportunity to see it by virtue of it being presented at an open parent/committee meeting.

[kari_cardi]

What is their argument for having the pack spend the money for dinner and childcare? If I had to guess, I would say that the pack has a lot of money and they feel that they can afford this luxury.

 

Our pack financial philosophy is to spend as much money on the kids as the budget allows and leave around $1500 in the account by the end of the year as a cushion for the following year (we have about 35 scouts). When you have a large bank balance, that's when trouble occurs: people get tempted to steal or someone decides to go after the deep pockets.

We made the choice to do extra fundraising to have enough in the bank for the pack to operate for one year. This gives the pack the resilience to survive a very poor popcorn fundraiser or inexperienced new pack leaders or a sudden increase in registration fees from National. This decision was made by the committee with parental input. Participation in fundraising was optional, as it always is in our pack. I don't think it hurt the scouts to do this and I think it benefits our scouts to be assured of a stable program without financial worry.

[Jeffrey H]

How your Pack spends it's money is up to the Pack Committee and/or your Charter Org. Our Pack's budget focuses on the cub scouts. The only part of our budget that involves spending on adults is our annual end of year picnic for our pack families and a small amount on leader appreciation gifts. There is nothing wrong spending a little money on appreciation gifts or even a meal or two for your tireless adult volunteers, but be careful. Too much spending on "non-scouts" can have a negative perception among the parents and the possibly your local community.

[fred johnson]

The Pack - that's the short answer. Now, the committee is part of the pack. Make the pack funds visible - both incoming and outgoing. I know that if the pack committee I was associated with had gone this route I would be lobbying for new committee members.

Ya I must admit ... my first reaction would be a red flag to watch out for that volunteer.