ASM162 Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Our troop sells popcorn, and we have done Camp Cards, and we have an annual FOS presentation. We also do fundraisers as the need arises. The unit Fundraising Form gets filled out and submitted to the Council office. I've always looked at it as the Troop informing council that we are doing a fundraiser. I've often wondered what we would do if it was rejected. I'd imagine that we would still do the fundraiser, since the Troop, as a whole, found it necessary. Just a personal gripe about the unit fundraising form - I feel that they ask for alot of information about unit finances, that really are of no concern to the council. Whether our treasury has a balance of $4.00 or $40,000.00 shouldn't matter. (Just so you know, if we had $40,000.00 in our treasury, we likely wouldn't need to do a fundraiser). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomerscout Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 Both our council and the next one over are in dire financial straights, and I think that the right thing to do is to consolidate them. I can see consolidating the purchasing departments to get better volume discounts on stuff they need to buy. However, it has been shown that decentralizing is a much better model than centralizing - more responsive to local needs instead of trying to fit the one size fits all decisions from Central City Michigan seems to have gone overboard on consolidating. Has it been nothing but good for them since then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonG172 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I really REALLY like camp cards. 50% and assist in paying or Resident Camp and Day camp !!! WIN WIN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pack18Alex Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I can see consolidating the purchasing departments to get better volume discounts on stuff they need to buy. However, it has been shown that decentralizing is a much better model than centralizing - more responsive to local needs instead of trying to fit the one size fits all decisions from Central City Michigan seems to have gone overboard on consolidating. Has it been nothing but good for them since then? It depends what the purpose of the Council is. If the Council exists to provide a legal umbrella in the state and comply with state laws, one/state is sufficient. If Council exists to actual do something, then I see a purpose of decentralization. That said, with a Council comes a Scout Executive (200k-400k), and several other 100k+ position, plus a number of support positions (40k range). The District Executives seems to be the front line personnel. So consolidating council increases the DE/Council ratio, which means a lower overhead. Obviously this is only true up to the point that the SE and team can't stay on top of the DE team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrdalys Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 Our council (Cascade Pacific) takes in funds wherever it can. We have the annual sporting clays event someone suggested earlier...we have a 'rappel off an office building' annual event in Portland, FOS...the council slice of popcorn sales (and candy bars/meat sticks in the Spring) is only one part. Now all that said, our unit last did popcorn 3 years ago. The boys knocked it out of the park and we didn't do it again the next year (we dont spend much typically, but we offset half the resident camp expense for any of them that went to camp). I was the last Popcorn Kernel (while also being the Wolf Den Leader). I'm cubmaster now...and the committee couldnt find someone to be Kernel this year (and there's no way I was doing it again...that stuff took over half my house, and the constant flow of people checking product and money in and out was pretty intense). This year we sold first aid kits...did well...but I don't think thats repeatable. so....guess what? We will be doing popcorn again this next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnew2 Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Our large scout troop sells a token amount of popcorn I am assuming to appease council. By far our main fundraiser is selling nuts (peanuts, toffee peanuts, cashews, mixed nuts, chocolate covered peanuts, choc pretzels, yogurt pretzels, trailmix, etc). Bought in bulk and re-packaged into 1 pound bags. We charge $3.50 - $8.00. I don't MIND the BSA popcorn but our area is crawling with scouts (isn't that nice!). Our little town has 4 boyscout troops alone. There are scouts all over the place selling popcorn during the fall. There is just too much competition to make a good sale. Our council does offer Camp Cards our troop does not sell them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomerscout Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 By far our main fundraiser is selling nuts (peanuts, toffee peanuts, cashews, mixed nuts, chocolate covered peanuts, choc pretzels, yogurt pretzels, trailmix, etc). Bought in bulk and re-packaged into 1 pound bags. We charge $3.50 - $8.00. I What time of year does best for your nut sales? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnew2 Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 What time of year does best for your nut sales? We sell in the fall thinking that some is purchased for "deer camp" (Nov 15, first day of deer rifle season is practically a holiday in Michigan). We sell at the holiday craft show at our local school in early December. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfscott Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 We don't sell BSA popcorn because it is contra to #5: "All commercial products must sell on their own merits' date=' not the benefit received by the Boy Scouts. The principle of value received is critical in choosing what to sell". [/quote'] This. At least when it was sold in the decorative tins it made for some nice gifts. But the quality is poor and the prices are too high. Camp cards, OTOH, are great -- they are easy to sell (no need to wait for product to deliver), a good value to the buyer and make a nice profit. We're supposed to be teaching the boys something, right? Thrifty & Trustworthy are a lot easier to explain when selling camp cards than popcorn. Our TC is also looking at running a merit badge clinic in the fall. With much of the space donated by our CO and time donated by our parents, we're thinking we could raise some money there as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ding Dong Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 You may be able to get away with it but it is frowned upon by National. See GTA 2013. 7.0.4.10 Charging Fees for Merit Badge Opportunities Council, district, and multiunit merit badge fairs have become increasingly popular over the past several years. While they provide a service to our Scouts, they should not be presented as fundraisers. There are many other methods available to raise the funds necessary to operate the Scouting programs at any level. Although charging fees for merit badge fairs, clinics, or similar events is not prohibited, any fees charged should be limited to recovering the costs related to presenting the opportunity. Local councils and districts may also include in the fee a reasonable contribution to the council’s overhead and administrative costs. Using merit badge events as fundraisers, however, is discouraged, and councils may exercise their authority not to approve them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomerscout Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 we're thinking we could raise some money there as well. Promote the clinic as a freebie except for the cost of supplies. That way many more Scouts will show up. Announce that refreshments & fried chicken will be available. Sales of soda pop, water, iced tea, snacks, luncheon entree should bring in the money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomerscout Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Whoa! Troops can't include a reasonable fee to cover their overhead and salaries, but council can? There are many other methods available that council can use to raise the funds necessary to operate the Scouting programs at any level Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeptic Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 We are still doing it, but only on a minimal level. Working on developing other directions and may opt out all together going forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ding Dong Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Boomer, your troop pays salaries? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomerscout Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Boomer' date=' your troop pays salaries?[/quote'] well, we'd probably like to. Would make reimbursing for gas and tire wear a lot easier. We do have overhead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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