Fundraising for COPE gear.

[OXCOPS]

As some of you may remember, I have been looking for various ideas for finding money to replace much needed equipment for our COPE course. The problem is that our council (like many others) is operating on a very tight budget. I have asked and begged for spare change in the Council Office with minimal results.

 

As the COPE Committee Chair for our council, I am betweena rock and a hard place. I have to replace gear per BSA standards, but the SE won't come off the cash to do so. I tried to give them a list of stuff with enough advanced notice to ease the pain, but no luck. So, I am looking for other ways to generate funds for required gear.

 

I have an idea that I want to see if it is "BSA legal". I would like to have a raffle. I would like to raffle off either a rifle or shotgun. I have been involved with other groups who have had great success with such fundraisers. Now, as some of you know, I am a police officer. I will make sure that the transferring of a firearms is done legally through a federal firearms licensee. The winner must abide by all laws just as if they bought it at the store.

 

Now, to keep this civil, I would request that debates of pro/anti firearms be left to another thread. But, is there anything in BSA regs that would not allow such a raffle? If it is against regs, what other fundraisers would you recommend?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

OX

[Sturgen]

First I would like to thank you for your service as an officer of the law, being the son of a police officer I can appreciate the sacrifices you and your family make daily. Now on to COPE.

 

I worked last year on a COPE course at my home camp and I am a certified COPE Instructor, my director last year and I have often looked for ways to improve the course and our supplies. One thing I may suggest is opening up the COPE course to organizations outside of scouting as well as troops for a fee during the off season. Similar courses charge as much as $75 per person per day for a group of eight. Seeing that you would have no need to buy extra gear to do this, you would only suffer the wear and tear on the ropes, which would be well worth the extra cost, even if you charged as low as $15-$20 per person. Carabiners, harnesses, ATCs, etc. have to be replaced based on age not use, unless of course they are abused, so these would get no additional wear as far as BSA is concerned. I would also suggest you contact several climbing/outdoor specialty shops in your area or large corporations. They may be willing and able to sponsor the course. For instance REI may be willing to sponsor the course if you agree to wear climbing gear with the REI name on it and hand out stickers to the participants, although the corporate influence is not desirable, it is a small cost to pay if you can get new supplies. Then there is always the good old-fashioned begging for donations at camp, at roundtables, at any event that could possibly get you a few bucks.

Most importantly keep COPEng with it.

 

[OXCOPS]

Thanks Sturgen.

 

Non-scouting group courses make up probably 75% of our program. We have a fee scale set up where we don't charge scouting groups very much for a course. It is a scouting program and we try to make it very affordable for scouts to use.

 

We sell corporate courses for a good bit more. The problem is that the money made for our course is deposited into the council general fund. Then, it is spent on council needs. Usually, those needs are other than COPE. We have tried to establish a custodial account through the council, but the SE won't do it. I guess they like what revenue we generate. Who knows.

 

Anyway, I have received price quotes for new gear. I just need some cash to buy it with.

 

I have not thought about talking to corporate groups for sponsership. Does REI do that sort of thing? I have to call them leter in the day to get another quote and would be interested in talking to them about it, if they do stuff like that.

 

I am to the point where I will do anything to endure that our program succeeds. I think COPE is a valueable tool to get new people turned on to Scouting. It is a way to get outside adults to the camp to see what it is like. It gets high school aged kids to the camp and possibly spark intrest in Venturing, etc. So, I do not want ot see this thing die. Plus, selfishly, I don't want to see the hard work me and my committee have invested go down the tubes.

[EagleWB]

I am sure that a raffle is not allowed for fundraising. People must get something for their money. Maybe you can show your SE all the money they are going to lose when you have to shut the course down. We have had similar problems and this argument seemed to work the best for us.

[Fat Old Guy]

Ah, the old "you make the money but don't get to benefit from it" game.

 

Have you tried explaining that if he doesn't pony up to repair the that the goose that lays the cash eggs may die of malnutrition?

 

Now for the raffle problem. Our DE says that BSA doesn not permit raffles because they are gambling and the person does not receive anything of value in return. BTW, here there's an interesting thing about raffles, you cannot charge for the tickets. Yep, you can ask for donations but someone is within their rights to demand a "free" ticket.

 

Anyway, back to the show. Find an organization that will run the raffle for you. I know of a number of Charter Organizations that run raffles with the proceeds going to their Troops and Packs. They sell the tickets, award the prizes but proceeds go to the Scouts. It's splitting hairs but it works.

 

Perhaps your Police Association or FPO lodge could run the raffle.

[Sturgen]

Perhaps you could offer a spaghetti dinner or something of that nature with a raffle involved, so that those who loose the raffle still get something for their money. My troop has run a free spaghetti dinner (donations strongly encouraged) every year before an annual race and has made as much as $3000 in one night, that ought to buy you all the ropes and most of the harnesses you will need for a couple of years. It would also be feasible to integrate more items than the gun into the raffle, Free COPE for a group of 8, gift certificates to local stores/restraints, ride-along with a city police officer, camping gear, etc. The primary issue would be getting as many people to the dinner as possible. As far as costs, im sure you could find a church willing to donate a fellowship hall, kitchen and dishes at no cost, that leaves you with food, which if you buy in bulk can be as low as a couple of hundred dollars.

[FScouter]

You said your council operates on a tight budget. It's not fair to ask for money if the COPE activities have not been planned and budgeted. I'd suggest working up a COPE budget with all of the expenses you need to cover. The other half of your budget is the income side. Budget for money-earning events and course fees such that the income you bring in covers the expenses you've budgeted. Now is not too early in the year to be planning for the 2005 budget.

[le Voyageur]

If all your efforts in fund raising fails, and your equipement no longer meets the standards, than it's time to inform the SE you're closing the C.O.P.E. course. As the director, not even the SE can override that decision, nor open the course back up without your permission....it's hard ball, but it'll get your point across that safety comes first....

[OXCOPS]

FScouter-

 

That is part of the problem. We have been talking to our SE since as early as last summer camp. We gave him a list of "needs" and "wants" with some numbers. He said he would budget for it in the 204 budget, but did not. He said that he needed to spend that money on "more important" issues.

 

le Voyageur-

 

I am a little leary of calling his bluff by telling him that we are closing the course. He is not a big fan of COPE. He has only been on the course one time (during inspection). He has said several times to people he thought was anti-COPE that he could care less if we had the program. So, calling his bluff isn't an option at this point.

[FScouter]

Scout Executives don't write the budget. Your council program director or activities persons would be involved in preparing the part of the budget that includes COPE. A list of needs and wants is nice, but FOS only goes so far, and if your council is like most it isn't far enough. Budget the income side too. It will hard to say "NO" if you have provided a way to pay for the equipment you want.

[Eamonn]

I feel almost certain that the raffle would not go along with BSA rules.

Sad as it is everyone is trying to get money for "Their" thing. Last year "My Thing" was training. I was asked by the Vice President (Program) to come up with a wish list in order of priority. The list was discussed with the District Training Chairs. In the end it totaled almost $5,000. We didn't get any of the things on the list in fact with money being so tight we didn't get anything.

The Budget in our council is made by the Scout Exec. and then discussed and passed by the Executive Board. Revisions can be made. When it became clear that we were not going to get "Our" stuff we went to plan "B"

The Order Of The Arrow in most councils does make a big donation, we got them to spend $2,500 on training.(It helps to have a son who is a Vice Chief.) We then asked if some of the things that we wanted could be put on the DE's Project Sale List. This is where rather then asking for money which would go into the general fund we ask for things that we would have to buy any way. We found a hospital that was replacing all their TV's so we took them and a few of us kicked in a few bucks and bought cheap VCR's. We also managed to get two really great photocopiers, when we got a chap who owns a company that sells business machines to become a board member.

Your Scout Exec. Might have tried to put the equipment that is required for COPE in the budget, but it might not have got through the board. I would talk to the OA and while it would be wrong to ask the corporate users of the course for money a few hints about donations of equipment might just happen to fall from your lips.

Good Luck.

Eamonn

[OXCOPS]

Well, I talked to my committee and our new council field director. I think we may have some good funding alternatives. Our field director is a huge fan of COPE and will help in any way he can. I gave him the lowest bid for equipment and he is going to call some personal contacts in the outdoor industry to try to beat the prices.

 

We are also going to try to get at least of those companies to sponsor our course. As Sturgen said earlier, we may see if we can work out a deal with a company to provide free gear in exchange for some advertising of some sort. This would save us around $3,000 on gear.

 

We are also thinking of asking previous corporate customers to "Adopt an Element". We have not worked up the details yet, but thought about letting a company(or individual) sponsor a low element for $500 or a high element for $1000-$1500 per year or every two years. We would make a nice sign to mount on a 4x4 post at that element with the sponsor's name (and possibly their logo). We would also offer them free spots on a full weekend course every year. This alone could possibly provide $10,000+.

 

If those things come to bear fruit, we will have some money available for repairs, upkeep and keep some funds in the kitty.

 

Cross your fingers.