Encouraging Volunteering And Participation

[Stosh]

My boys don't do the dues business.  They just go out and fundraise as needed.  Behind the scenes, the committee is working with parents to secure funding for their boys similar to what dues would do.  When they see a short fall coming down the road, they suggest to the boys to do a fundraiser, which they always do and if it doesn't cover the costs of the activity, they contact the parents.  We're running on empty most  of the time, but we have equipment, we go camping and the boys seem to be content with the process.

[blw2]

but the OP is asking about a Pack..... as is my example

I guess you could think of it the same and handle it the same as a troop, but from my perspective it's a bit different...... with more need for a schedule and plan.... since we're dealing with adults.

[Stosh]

Should be simple enough for a pack.

 

Create your budget....

 

You need $10,000 to cover everything pertaining to the pack.

 

Divide by the number of boys and half of that is registration for the year.

 

As money comes in for fundraising the amount due by each family is reduced to offset the other half due by each family.  If a family quits and leaves the pack with the bill, budget it into next year's expenses and move on.

[ShutterbugMom]

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.

 

This is exactly right.  When the boys join in August / September, the fee is usually about $12 for 4 months (includes Boys Life) so since this year it will only go through October, it will be $6 or $9.

 

Your $85 is exactly what I estimated for our pack (including the recharter fee and our CO actually pays for Boys Life also.)

 

We are having our planning meeting in the next couple of days, so I'm sure we will have to decide something.  My husband is on the page that we should not punish the boys (charge dues) because the parents lack of motivation, and I tend to agree with that.  However, I think moving forward, starting at roundup and our first pack meeting, we need to explain to parents the importance of fundraising and explain that there will need to be changes if fundraising goals are not met.  Thankfully, we are still pretty flush and could cover an entire year with no fundraising.  However, I just see this dwindling away each year and I don't want that to happen.

 

Even more importantly, we plan to emphasize to parents that they need to be involved.  They don't have to all be den leaders or committee members, but they need to volunteer for something.  This probably bugs me more than the money issue.  Everyone assumes someone else will do that....and we do...usually about 10 of us.  

 

I will let you all know what our pack decides and how it goes.

[CA Scout Mom]

When we first joined the Cub Scout pack when my oldest son was a Tiger about 8 years ago (about your same time frame), that same situation was going on--hardly any parent participation and the CubMaster was also the Committee Chair and very low membership.  Then, my husband took over as Committee Chair about 2 years in and decided that every parent needed to participate and laid down those expectations whenever anyone joined, at every pack meeting and event and at leaders' meetings.  The message started to permeate and the pack is now healthy and parents participate but it takes time for this to happen.  Just this summer our youngest son has just bridged over to the associated troop.  Just like with the Cub Scout pack, when we joined the troop, the troop had one person doing most of the work with just a few parents to help him.  The troop had about 10 kids about to age out and just a few other older Scouts when my oldest son joined as a 5th grader so it was not in a good place in terms of membership numbers.  They hadn't been recruiting so it was very small in number.

 

After a year or so, my husband became the Scoutmaster (they only had an interim one in place when we joined) and he's now implementing the same philosophy about parental participation that he had with the Cub Scout pack.  It's difficult because the parents who've been involved in the past and aren't used to participating don't like hearing the message but if parents don't participate, then burn-out happens.  For the past year my husband and about 2 other ASM Dads have been the only dads who've been doing the backpacks and rock climbing and it gets to be a burden so it's become imperative that we get some more participation. Just last month he went out to one Dad in his car who was dropping off his son and talked to him about needing more help.  The Dad, of course, was giving him the old "I work so much" story but that did not deter my husband--he's getting the message out one way or another!  Luckily, our Webelo den from our pack is in the process of bridging over so that will add about 8 new Scouts to the troop along with their parents who are used to participating.

 

It's been so clear to me from seeing the effectiveness of the message work in the Cub Scout pack that getting the message out is paramount.  So, my suggestion would be to share the message however and wherever you can.  And, yes, there will be a few losses but those families who left our Cub Scout pack way back were the type who valued sports over Scouting or who often had nannies who took care of their kids so was better actually that they left since they saw the BSA as "Babysitters of America".   It will take some work but better to recruit the ones who understand what is required rather than recruit the ones who won't be contributing.  I'm the Membership Chair and feel comfortable sharing this message, of course!

 

Stay strong, deliver the expectations, be patient, and things will improve!

 

 

[5yearscouter]

Our best years in the Pack were after we started the rule that every youth application had to include an adult application.

Then we would do a bulk adult ypt training, and this is scouting.

 

and we had a rule that every normal sized den had to have a den leader, asst den leader, cubmaster or asst and a committee member or two in it. The other parent had to step up into some kind of event or activity chair, or into a large job of some other kind.

 

We passed around a list of all the jobs in the pack (secy, treasurer, den leaders, asst den leaders, cubmasters and asst, committee members, event chairs etc) explained they had already done the application and most of the training which was the hard part, now they just needed to show up and do some stuff with their kids.

 

That's the years that in the fall we had a cubmaster and 4 assistants, with the transition already in place that webelos 2 cubmaster was senior, but heading out in the early spring at blue and gold and that left the other 4 to choose a cubmaster from their ranks by recharter with the rest as assistants.  This gave enough coverage that one guy did the pack meeting game, one led skits or songs, one did advancement theme/presentations, and the other guy just mc'd the meeting.  nobody had to work too hard, it was fun for everyone..

 

and we had a full active committee, with all jobs being done by someone that wasn't me.  this is big cause I helped start the pack with 3 other parents and at one time did every job often simultaneously or it sure felt like it. 

 

This worked well until the year my youngest was a webelo 2 and I got ready to cross over into boy scouts, so the new guys in charge decided that the paperwork burden of registering all those adults and getting them trained was too much so at roundup they didn't register any new parents.  They thought they'd have it made in the shade with  like 70 cub scouts, they were bound to get enough help. Bit them in the butt very fast and the parental help dropped off exponentially.  It was no longer required, so the parents didn't help anymore.

 

FYI the pack went from over 70 scouts, to 35 that year, then down by half every year after til last year with not enough scouts to recharter.

Edited August 18, 2015 by 5yearscouter

[Gone]

@5yearscoutersame thing happened in my old pack. They lost their CO in 2013 and had to find a new home. Just now breaking 35 Cubs again.

[vumbi]

So, 5yearscouter, did the pack die? That's what it sounds like.

[5yearscouter]

So, 5yearscouter, did the pack die? That's what it sounds like.

I didn't see this when you posted it, but yes,

My pack did not recharter for 2015 and it's gone now.

The last year we had 5 cubs, and they were all different ranks.  That was a HARD year, one room schoolhouse type cub scouting, and none of the parents wanted to do a darned thing.  I came back from boy scouts to try to make a difference but it was too little too late when at recruiting one new potential scout showed up, and three existing members didn't show.  So that was the end of that. 

[Gone]

So it all comes back to motivating parents to help. Frankly, that's a HUGE task for volunteers. We already have so many things we need to do just to keep the program vibrant and exciting, to add parent/family therapy to the mix is a bit much.

 

In my opinion, BSA needs to spend money to investigate how to engage and train parents; how to put a boot up their bum and teach them that involvement in their kid's future is a GOOD thing. Right now most 20- and 30-something's are too narcissistic to care about anyone other than themselves.

 

BSA needs to lead this effort. It's too big for units to handle.

[ShutterbugMom]

Our pack has a terrible time getting people to volunteer.  My husband is the Webelos den leader and I usually send out the e-mails and help him plan.  Last week we asked for a few volunteers (bring water for the boys, lead a game  - already planned, just show up and lead it, and a couple other, equally easy things.)  Out of 12 families, 10 who are active as far as I know, we got ZERO volunteers.  So what do we do?  Show up and do nothing?  They know that we will just do it all, and nobody will help.  I am beyond frustrated and feeling annoyed.

[Stosh]

Our pack has a terrible time getting people to volunteer.  My husband is the Webelos den leader and I usually send out the e-mails and help him plan.  Last week we asked for a few volunteers (bring water for the boys, lead a game  - already planned, just show up and lead it, and a couple other, equally easy things.)  Out of 12 families, 10 who are active as far as I know, we got ZERO volunteers.  So what do we do?  Show up and do nothing?  They know that we will just do it all, and nobody will help.  I am beyond frustrated and feeling annoyed.

 

So just have each boy bring their own water bottle filled and when the boys show up just do what you can.  If it doesn't get done for lack of help, so be it.  Webelos is the stepping stone for moving into boy-led Boy Scouts.  Turn to them for the help you need, they are at that age where it can start.  Just make sure everyone is having fun and don't worry about the slacker parents.  If things aren't getting done up to the level they want to see, then they can step up or take what's offered.

 

The next meeting starts out with: "Well, boys, it would seem that the parents are all busy, so we're going to have to do our best with what we have.  In Boy Scouts, they do all the stuff for the meetings, let's just start out slowly and play a game.  Who wants to help set it up?"  If you can't get the boys to volunteer, you've got a pretty hefty up-hill battle to fight.    Trust your boys, they will surprise you.