Flat Broke Pack

[110Percent]

Has anyone dealt with a Pack that was completely broke prior to the end the school year?

 

There were were no awards in March. The April pack meeting and pinewood derby was cancelled and never rescheduled, without any explanation. Now an emergency meeting has been called to discuss our financial situation with the CC, CM, the current Treasurer (soon to be CC), and myself (a den leader) this weekend. The final Pack meeting is in a week and a half and I am worried that 3 months worth of awards will not be given to our scouts who have been working so hard.

 

I have a partial picture of our financial position but it is based on information from multiple sources. We currently have a bank account that we can't access and is basically empty. The CC had been lending the Pack money to cover our short fall up till some time around blue and gold. Also, no one knows the last time the pack did any fund raising.

 

I'm assuming I was invited to the meeting because I have been pushing all year to improve the Pack, but we are still fairly disorganized. I have not brought a single problem to the CC or CM without having a solution. I helped recruit the Treasurer to be the new CC when I found out that he would be moving on and found a new Treasurer. I recruited a popcorn team for the next school year and found a Kernal to run it. I even handed the CM a completed fundraising form which took a month and a half to reach council and I've yet to heard if there was a response (over a month later).

 

I am not looking for praise. I am just frustrated and don't know how else to help my pack. It looks like we are heading in the right direction to becoming a better pack but things are moving at a glacial pace.

 

Any tips of handling our current financial situation or any other issues you may see, would be greatly appreciated.

[Sidney Porter]

This is hard. How many scouts? I often wonder if it is better to disband and to collectively migrate to a healthly pack.

 

You need to evaluate is there the right leadership to make this happen and how long will it take? Balance that with the age of you scout... on a personal level where is your scout going to get a better experience? It maybe great to rebuild this pack but from a selfish standpoint is you son going to get the benefits?

 

[qwazse]

This happens ... your committee has to team up and ...

1. Come clean with the parents. Say at this time the pack has zero $ to finish the year, so although boys will be recognized for their accomplishments, you could not purchase any awards for them. Report that for a couple of months a generous donor has paid for awards, but it is unfair to ask the same person for another donation. In fact you feel that the pack should eventually return some of it because the donor is already in an unfair situation.

2. Call your council HQ and ask where that fundraising application is.

3. Make a budget, so that you all have clear goals about what money has to come in for the year.

4. Plan less expensive activities until ends meet.

[qwazse]

Oh, and a letter to National telling them that registration fees are bankrupting your pack and you may have to disband as a result would be appropriate.

[Hueymungus]

Sounds like bad planning on part of the Adults. As to the letter to National about registration fees. Well, I understand that comment. But, that was awhile ago and this should have been taken care of way before then.

[110Percent]

Our Official roster shows 29 but in actually I'm think its closer to 25 and my Tiger Den constitutes about half of the pack at 13. The scouts have been having a great time this year as I have been doing plenty of extra activities with my den, and on occasion hosting a pack event.

 

Our original due has thus far only covered our recharter and awards up until the point that the CC began paying.

 

The current treasurer has suggested disbanding and starting a new pack but that would leave us in the same position of no funds and scouts without the awards they have earned.

 

We live in a fairly populated town of 100k+ that only has 3 or 4 other packs. Most of the schools don't even have their own pack and losing this one could be a serious blow to our area. The current CC was a district scouter who stepped in to save the pack 2 years ago when almost all of the leadership abandoned ship one after another.

 

Also, our newly formed popcorn team is posed and ready to prevent this from being an issue in the future once popcorn season starts again.

 

But currently I am torn between suggesting to petition a dedicated group of parents to help fund us through the next couple weeks or have all parents fund the awards for their own children until the next school year.

 

The pack is fairly healthy other than our current financial situation and i don't see this having a long term effect. The leadership was just not prepared for the pack to double in size and for the meager dues to not cover the year. This is my first year and I didn't realize something was wrong until January.

[Sidney Porter]

It is interesting that they cancelled the pinewood derby. Was that financial? I assume the pack owns a track and a place to set it up. Assuming the scouts purchase their own cars there really isn't any expense. Trophies? Either get them donated or make them. 3 pieces of wood you can build a little trophy that the car sits on. Paint them for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. For that matter the Webelos could make them as part of craftsman.

 

We actually make a little money on pinewood derby. We sell hotdogs, water and chips (I think the food is donated). The cost of the car are included in the dues (same with raingutter) that way they parents don't feel like they constantly need to pay more for every event.

 

One thing with the awards is to only pay for rank advancement but not belt loops and pins. It makes it easier to budget.

[110Percent]

Our track is no longer serviceable and one of my assistant den leaders got a group of father together that were willing to build a new one but we never received the green light from the CC or CM. We could have built it but there would have been no where to store it without the CC or CM's access to the charter organizations storage facilities.

 

Also, the treasurer is just on paper as the (tightly held) reins have never been handed over.

[Twocubdad]

No, it's really not that hard. Pretty basic unit management.

 

At the meeting, figure out where the pack stands, financially. First thing is to get through the year. Figure out what you owe the outgoing CC and the cost of three months worth of awards. Look carefully at the awards. For example, our pack had a policy they would only present one belt loop, regardless of the number of times the Scout earned it. Given the financial crunch, maybe you only award rank badges and not all the other bling.

 

You then have a couple options. Off the top of my head:

• Send letters to all the parents asking for contributions to get the pack to the end of the year.
  
• Make an "assessment" for each family.
  
• Put everything on an a la carte basis. Your kid busted out 17 Webelos activity pins? Okay, here's the bill.
  

This really needs to be done as part of a long-term financial plan for the pack. Your new CC and treasurer should develop a budget plan for the coming year. Any of the above short-term solutions should be considered in light of what's going to happen in the fall. Don't hit the parents with an assessment in May then another bill for dues in August.

 

Your first step is to figure out expenses. Guess your average cost for advancement. If the pack is going to pay for PWD kits, factor that. Blue and Gold, campouts, general administration. This is all covered in the training and handbooks. Contact nearby packs or go to Roundtable and ask other leaders what their per Scout expenses are.

 

So then you'll know how much income you need. Look at it on a per Scout basis too. At that point, I'd call a pack-wide parents meeting and ask them, "here's what it cost to have your Scout in the pack. Where is that money coming from?" Then listen to the parents. If you are in a low-income area (and hopefully you considered that in your expense budget) it's going to have to come from fundraising. Then everyone needs to know they are expected to raise "X" dollars through the fundraiser. The other option is dues. But your baseline needs to be, "here's what it costs." Each family needs to be responsible for their share of the load.

 

(There are a few other options, like asking for contributions from your chartered organization or from individuals in the community you know support Scouting. [Councils frown on that -- you're working their side of the street.] If your pack is includes a lot of low-income families, the council may have programs to help. Basementdweller runs a pack like that, I'm sure he can offer advice if that's your situation.)

 

One bit of advice: unless there is evidence of real wrong-doing, stay away from the he-said, she-said of how the pack got into this mess. Sounds like you have a new slate of officers (I'm seeing you as the unit leader before long) so look at this as if you were starting a new pack from scratch. Don't let the drama get in the way of moving the unit forward.

 

[Fehler]

Without knowing the "hows" or "whys", its hard to offer advice. Has your Pack done fundraising before, either on your own or as part of the Council Popcorn Sale? Do you charge new and/or returning families dues? Are the awards waiting to be handed out a shovel full of belt loops, or everyone's rank badges? Was the money spent on single, large events, or just the one-meeting-at-a-time supplies and stuff?

[110Percent]

The pack has not done any fundraising since any of the leaders have been in their positions (3 years max). I have gone to every round table and the CM is part of the staff but prior to this year the committee consisted of only the CC and CM and I have never seem our budget. I know that next year's budget will be thorough and made public to all the families.

 

All of our events are potluck and there has been no other cost associated with them (running on a real shoestring budget).

 

The pack is at the end of its second year of rebuilding and people are starting to step up to help. My biggest fear is breaking the spirit of the pack by hitting everyone with a bill and causing the pack to revert back to the collapse mode from two years ago. Last time only the current bear den survived.

[beardad]

Popcorn isn't the only fundraiser you can do. In fact, the amount of work compared to the rate of return makes popcorn sales not really worth it. Our pack quit doing it years ago.

 

Have a car wash, or a walk a thon, and have the scouts get sponsors.

 

sell See's candies. or make dryer lint and wax fire starters and have the scouts sell them.

 

A local troop in our area was just outside Lowes last weekend selling Oberto peperoni sticks.

[Fehler]

Not fundraising, and not charging any dues except the registration fee? How did your pack expect to survive, even on a shoestring?

 

Be honest, no one expect things to be "free". And you don't want to nickle-and-dime your Den Leaders (our Pack covers their registration, and training if they'll take it) or expect them to provide their own supplies (although most of ours do, with their personal stashes of supplies).

 

Our pack budgets $10 per scout/year for badges/advancements/beltloops, $25 per Pack Meeting and $1 per scout per Den Meeting for meeting supplies (about 40 scouts in 4 dens of 10, 2 Den Meeting a month). PWD, if you already own a track, is $4 per car, $1.50 per patch, and $15 each for trophys. With a mix of Free events (nature hikes and sledding days) and a few "ticketed" events (Fall and Spring Camping, when campers pay about 50% of the costs and the Pack covers the rest, it comes out to about $25 per family for a weekend), you can have a very enjoyable year.

 

Baseline, you can run a dang good program year for $100 a scout, which translates to $300 in popcorn sales. Give parents the cash or the fundraising option, let new families join for just the application fee until they see the big picture, and everyone will know its still a bargain compared to other activities.

[ScoutNut]

All of the above!

 

Contact council about the money-earning application. What was it that you asked to be able to do? Start setting that in motion.

 

Who is your CO? Do they have a visible, easily accessible, home building, with water/hose? A car wash can be fun for the Scouts, advertising for the Pack & CO, and can make you enough $$ to make it thru the year.

 

Can your CO pitch in any money for THEIR Scout Pack?

 

Come clean with your families, and ask for help for THEIR sons.

 

3 Years! Good Grief! Where did you adults think the money to run a Pack was coming from? The Scout Fairy? You might want to ask his buddy, the Bill Paying Fairy, if he knows what he has been up up to!

 

Sigh! Find someone with an actual head for math and finances, and make them your Treasurer.

[qwazse]

...My biggest fear is breaking the spirit of the pack by hitting everyone with a bill and causing the pack to revert back to the collapse mode from two years ago. Last time only the current bear den survived.

 

Sounds like why gamblers don't tell their significant others about their addiction!

 

Full disclosure is the best path to healing. Nobody needs to name names. Parents just need to know that they had been benefiting from donations that aren't there any more. Now, it's their turn to take action.

 

Honestly, I know everyone thinks that it's a sin if boys don't get their bling. But the world won't fall apart if little Johnny finds out that he needs to generate some capital for him and his buddies to be recognized with patches and pins.