Encouraging Volunteering And Participation

[ShutterbugMom]

I wasn't sure whether to post under Issues & Politics, Cub Scouts or Fundraising.

 

We have a huge issue with our cub scout parents not wanting to volunteer to help at den meetings / outings or with fund raising.

 

We are a pack that has been around for over 50 years and I have been involved for over 8 years now with my boys.  This has really just happened in the last 3-4 years.  We have three fundraisers per year -- popcorn, selling Scout Expo Tickets (for units that haven't done this you sell $1 tickets with many coupons on them in front of a store...it's super easy) and we sell bottled drinks at the county fair in the summer.

 

We really need about 20-30 volunteers (there are about 45 parents in the pack) each working a 4 hour shift at the fair, and the same six parents that volunteer for everything are the ONLY ones that have volunteered.  We have about 2/3 participation in the other fundraisers.  Some parents do not participate at all (and sadly, these are the parents who's kids win the Pinewood Derby and everything else).  We have nearly 100% participation in the PInewood Derby and only about 50% in Scouting for Food.   This is highly frustrating to me (I am the Committee Chairperson.)

 

Luckily, our associated Boy Scout Troop has an abundance of volunteers and can easily cover the fair for us and are willing to do so.

 

I am not sure how to get people to really "step up" and help.  I should mention that we have a great Charter Organization who provide not only a place for us to meet, but also pay the recharter for all the boys every year.  The parents literally pay nothing after the initial registration, which is under $10.  (They buy the uniform.)  However, to pay for Advancements, Blue and Gold, etc, we need the fundraisers.  I am absolutely okay with telling people either they help with the fundraiser or pay a yearly fee, although I am sure that will be bet with resistance since it has never been done.  

 

Or do I just suck it up and move on knowing that my youngest will move to the troop in 18 months?  We are in a middle income area, and I should mention that most parents would not have difficulty paying the fee.  We would be glad to waive it for those who are truly needy (although I think they could volunteer their time in that case and in most instances.)

 

 

[Stosh]

If one is working with the Scouts, then the funds should be apportioned appropriately.  If you provide 5 volunteers and they provide 95 volunteers, the pack gets 5% of the proceeds.  If that doesn't generate sufficient funds to float the pack, then the boys will go without.  One cannot spend money they don't have.  Money talks.  Make it clear to the parents this is the process that they need to consider.  If the pack doen't have the money, then the parents pick up the tab or their sons go without.

Edited August 14, 2015 by Stosh

[Gone]

I am not sure how to get people to really "step up" and help.  I should mention that we have a great Charter Organization who provide not only a place for us to meet, but also pay the recharter for all the boys every year.  The parents literally pay nothing after the initial registration, which is under $10.  (They buy the uniform.)  However, to pay for Advancements, Blue and Gold, etc, we need the fundraisers.  I am absolutely okay with telling people either they help with the fundraiser or pay a yearly fee, although I am sure that will be bet with resistance since it has never been done.  

 

We tried the "you work or you pay" approach a while back and half the folks opened their check books. Didn't help. While you had the money you were still burning out the parents who volunteered. So a long while back we made this simple change: Your kid joins, you join, you sign up to work something or hold some role. Period. If you don't, we're not the unit for you.

 

We lost a few (a handful really) but we GAINED so many more. There are people out there dying to help, but they usually like to join groups of like-minded folks. That way they know that if they need a break someone will fill in for them.

 

Checkbook parents are not worth the trouble. Their kids usually have the same mentality.

[blw2]

I think the approach Badwolf suggests is the way to go.

 

@@ShutterbugMom, most of your post could have been written by me.  It's a real struggle.

I have thought a lot about this.  I've attended university of scouting courses on recruiting volunteers

and I've read online a lot about it

There are lots of good suggestions to be had....

have detailed and honest job descriptions at the ready

target a specific person and ask them directly..."I need YOUR help, and you would be perfect for ..."

start with small jobs

etc...

I've tried all of that

I've tried general appeals

I've pulled the heart strings.... pointing out at pack meetings that these few years are the ones we can make the biggest impact memories in your son's lives

I've tried Sign-up Genius lists

I have tried the idea of just dropping things.... doing what I can handle, and focusing on what I and the other few volunteers could do for the best program possible given what we have to work with, and if somebody doesn't step up for XYZ, then we just will skip it this year...

I've hoped that when folks see a need, that they would step up

 

But it really comes down to two things i think

1) some folks have a "servant's heart", and others just don't

2) setting the expectation early and clear!

 

 

45 parents....

So am I right to assume 20ish boys in the pack?

 

Oh, one more thought... if parents don't pay dues, then they are less likely to value it.  That's true with most things....

If you pay a doctor a $5 co-pay, and that doctor advises you to do something difficult you are less likely to do it

than if you paid a doctor or other consultant $100 for the same advice.

It's a psychology thing....

The guy charging $100 is perceived as more of an expert.

[ShutterbugMom]

If one is working with the Scouts, then the funds should be apportioned appropriately.  If you provide 5 volunteers and they provide 95 volunteers, the pack gets 5% of the proceeds.  If that doesn't generate sufficient funds to float the pack, then the boys will go without.  One cannot spend money they don't have.  Money talks.  Make it clear to the parents this is the process that they need to consider.  If the pack doen't have the money, then the parents pick up the tab or their sons go without.

 

That is exactly what my last e-mail told the parents.  That the troop would cover, but they would receive that portion of the proceeds and we would need to cut back our program.  I am fine with charging a fee, but I don't think those parents that have floated the pack the last couple of years should have to pay a fee.

[ShutterbugMom]

Your kid joins, you join, you sign up to work something or hold some role. Period. If you don't, we're not the unit for you.

 

 

 

I like that suggestion.  Not everyone has to be a den leader, but if you have an area of expertise, you can lead one meeting or activity per year!

[Gone]

I like that suggestion.  Not everyone has to be a den leader, but if you have an area of expertise, you can lead one meeting or activity per year!

 

Yup. MBC or ASM or committee member. All adults are required to help with at least one service project a year too.

 

No free lunch in MT...but when we do, it's BBQ.

[ShutterbugMom]

 

 

But it really comes down to two things i think

1) some folks have a "servant's heart", and others just don't

2) setting the expectation early and clear!

 

 

45 parents....

So am I right to assume 20ish boys in the pack?

 

Oh, one more thought... if parents don't pay dues, then they are less likely to value it.

 

 

Yeah, we have 28 that I would consider active....some are siblings, and some come from single parent homes.  We have not had our annual round up yet.

 

I do think we need to change our expectation -- we are having our planning meeting this weekend.  I think we should tell them they sell "x" amount of popcorn (or for returning scouts they can have a combination of all three fundraisers) or they pay a yearly fee in October.  

 

I don't see how this is an issue.  My kids also play sports.  My oldest son's baseball team had a steep fee AND a big fundraiser.  They expected everyone to participate, and they did.

[CalicoPenn]

As has been mentioned, offering the option of opening the checkbook really doesn't solve your issue which is getting enough parents to volunteer for those one time events.

 

But, the perfect solution is right under your nose, and you just need to get the CO to buy in.  You said the CO picks up the rechartering fee for the boys.  Get buy-in from the CO to draft a letter to the parents that the CO's new policy on rechartering is that they will cover the rechartering fee of every boy whose family volunteers at least 2 times during the year for events or fundraising duties.  If a mother and father work the same shift at the county fair, that will count as their 2 times.

[Stosh]

Great scout, single mom, 3 siblings, no discretionary family funds.

 

Marginal scout, 2 parents, 1 sibling, both parents work.

 

So tell me, what's the policy going to be mandated from the CO?

[John-in-KC]

Moderator Note:

 

No apparent controversy.

 

Off to Open Discussion-Program the thread goes.

[walk in the woods]

You know your parents better than any of us but we all know that people respond to incentives.  Sometimes the response though is to simply walk away.  Regardless of what you do, some people will walk.  Just be prepared for that reality. 

[Stosh]

You know your parents better than any of us but we all know that people respond to incentives.  Sometimes the response though is to simply walk away.  Regardless of what you do, some people will walk.  Just be prepared for that reality. 

 

And if you're the only game in town, that could mean the end of that boy's scouting career.  I find that difficult to accept.  I don't like punishing the boys because the parents are patoots.

[NJCubScouter]

First of all, how can the registration fee be less than $10? I thought it was $25, though I have never separately paid a registration fee myself. (When my son was a Cub and Boy Scout the youth registration was always included in pack or troop dues, and both units pay for adult registrations.) But I think it is $25.

 

Second of all, the units I am familiar with charge annual dues, which includes the registration as well as additional funds for awards and a portion of everything else (camping and event costs, equipment, etc.) The rest is paid for by fundraising. The annual dues have ranged from $40 to $60 with some asterisks here and there. (Such as, at one point the Cub pack was giving a "multi-Scout discount," about which I had mixed feelings, but then again I only have one son.)

[blw2]

guessing, but the $10 is likely what council collects to cover dues till recharter.....

that's what they do around here....

 

Personally, I like the model that our pack follows

We try to do one fundraiser per year.

It limits the focus on money

we charge a one lump sum Pack activity fee payment.  I think we're doing $85 for the year this time.

it covers most of the expenses - boys life, a t-shirt, the awards an average boy will earn, leaders dues, and in theory some other operating expenses.

that + our one fundraiser covers everything

if someone can't afford it, we'll cover it..... but I'm not sure that ever happens.  didn't in my time

 

then we can focus on the program and not another fundraiser

 

regardless if your CO covers dues or not, I would think a better approach would be to collect dues.  Your CO is covering $24 a head, so yours could be $60, or whatever your committee feels it needs to be.