Pizza Hut Night?

[htusa31]

Are we allowed to use Pizza Huts's fundraiser night?

 

We sign up with Pizza Hut, we pick a night M-Th. 

We get 20% of any and all sales that night. 

 

They will send us flyers to hand out, and try to get people to eat Pizza Hut that night. 

 

Boys have to do nothing other than hand out flyers. Monies will go to the general Troop fund account.

[Krampus]

Are we allowed to use Pizza Huts's fundraiser night?

 

We sign up with Pizza Hut, we pick a night M-Th. 

We get 20% of any and all sales that night. 

 

They will send us flyers to hand out, and try to get people to eat Pizza Hut that night. 

 

Boys have to do nothing other than hand out flyers. Monies will go to the general Troop fund account.

 

Units use Kroger cards (shop Kroger, use your card, % goes to troop). I would see this as similar.

[qwazse]

We've used a similar event with our local Wendy's. We usually schedule it for our meeting night. It's optional for families of the boys to come, but we encourage it. Boys show up in uniform for a given hour and thank everyone for supporting the troop. It's a great way to get your friends and neighbors together to meet the boys.

 

There is a unit fundraising application that you are supposed to file with your council, but call your DE to see if he thinks that's necessary.

 

It didn't net a lot of $ for the troop, and it took them a while to figure that amount on one occasion. But it was a fun change of pace from the usual meeting night. Around here, most of the boys would go out like that anyway once a month or more, so we didn't factor in how much they ate the profits.

[Stosh]

There are a number of businesses in our town that do that and we tap into it on a regular basis.  Even the council does it on a larger scale than the units.

[NJCubScouter]

Various youth-related groups that I am aware of have done this kind of thing with varying degrees of success. I don't specifically recall any BSA units doing it. But the way you describe it, I don't see how you can go wrong - especially if they are really giving you 20% of ALL sales that night (as opposed to just those where the people show up with one of your flyers.)

 

I agree with qwazse about checking with council to see whether the Unit Money-Earning Application is required for this. My guess is "yes", but I have guessed wrong in the past.

[John-in-KC]

The Council is always going to ask for the unit money fund raising app.

 

Read this document.

2011 Unit Fundraising Policy 510-274.pdf

Edited January 14, 2016 by John-in-KC

[scoutldr]

All subject to the whim of the SE. I've always been told that soliciting monetary donations from businesses is Council's job, not the unit's. It's part of the FOS campaign. The theory being that if they donate to units, then they won't donate as much to Council.

[Krampus]

Units use Kroger cards (shop Kroger, use your card, % goes to troop). I would see this as similar.

 

Here's the program I was talking about. Other stores may have a similar thing.

[SSScout]

Now there's a point for discussion. I hadn't thought about it this way before.

If the Unit is not supposed to solicit "donations" and  a Scout is supposed to PAY his own way, and any fundraisers are supposed to give "value for the money spent" (bags of mulch, cars washed, spaghetti dinners cooked, flags place on front lawns,  flamingos emplaced, etc.) , how is this (20% night at the Pizza Hut)  not soliciting a donation?  The scouts are not doing anything except asking folks to go eat at a specific, privately owned , professional restaurant.  And then, that restaurant's owner GIVES the Troop/Pack/Crew a DONATION.

I am all in favor of supporting the Troop. I buy popcorn and cookies and Christmas wreaths and even mulch (altho it is free to pick up at the county dump) . I even eat at the Greek restaurant that announced it would "donate" 20% of that nights intake (not including tips) to a Scout's Eagle project support (went to the school he was projecting at).

What then is a "donation?"   When I help the Troop sell Christmas/holiday decorations, and someone comes up and says "I'm Jewish, we don't decorate our house, but I love the Scouts, here's twenty bucks", we will say "thank you !"  and put it in the box.  That wasn't solicited, was it? We didn't ASK him to give us money, he just didn't want to buy our wares.

  But if the Scouts are asking folks to EAT at  Hut de la Pizza  on Thursday, maybe we can say the Scouts are WORKING for the restaurant, and EARNING their "donations" by being PR men? . 

In another vein,  when we helped the CO at their Fried Chicken Dinners, busing tables and directing traffic in the parking lot,  they would give us a "free" dinner . Did we work for that dinner?  Or was the church really losing money on our help (hey, a Scout might eat three times the dinner of the paying guests!) ?

[qwazse]

Definitely what we are teaching boys with this is "legwork PR." It's a profession that some companies value highly. When Son #1 was in high school, he got a job just like this for a pizza joint -- putting flyers in apartment boxes, etc ....

 

As for the CO letting some boys have a meal on them, well, lets just call it "product testing."

[Krampus]

Check out this survey on Millennials. Any wonder the injury that helicopter parenting does to Scouts? 

[Stosh]

Used to be Greek and Latin was taught in our high schools.  Now remedial English is being taught in college.  And BSA wants to move to be more in step with today's youth?  Might want to think that one through again.

 

Seriously, I did take Latin in high school.  Best class ever in understanding English.  Those fortunate enough to have taken it know what I mean.

 

Took Greek in seminary, so I got all my bases covered. 

Edited January 15, 2016 by Stosh

[JasonG172]

We use it from time to time !  If you can get the word out to everyone you can make some good money.

[Stosh]

Of course it's work.  The boy doesn't work, sell or promote the fundraiser, he doesn't get any money in his personal account to spend on his own self.  Doesn't even have to claim it on his taxes.  All non-profit, ya know. 

[qwazse]

My kids loved Latin! (Much of the credit for that goes to an enthusiastic teacher.) And, although they are die-hard science majors, English was their strength. (Especially Son #2 who outright disdained the humanities to his English teacher. In turn, she said he was one of her more enjoyable students!)

 

I wished Latin was offered in my H.S. (told some teachers so at the time). I made do with French. I was always too chicken to take it or Greek in college. Loved learning Arabic, though. (Best way to get small classes at a big university at the time.)

Edited January 15, 2016 by qwazse