scout weekly $1 dues?

[blw2]

Let me run something by you good folks....

Where do you stand on making the scouts bring in $1 a week?

 

As you know, I'm transitioning to treasurer role, been a long process getting the bank account s re-set before I take it.

Anyway, So our troop has a custom.... clearly adult driven and I'm fairly sure an artifact form the old pure- adult corps....

Each patrol has one of those little zippered cash bags.  The bags are kept by a committee member and brought to each meeting

where each patrol gets their bag, and the PL (or someone) collects $1 from each scout.

It's sort of loosely tied to the scribe and attendance, but it doesn't look like it's clean to an adult level of performance anyway...

 

So we have these bags of cash

every now and then the cash gets deposited into the general troop fund.

 

The stated purpose of this whole game is to "teach the scouts responsibility"

 

Now I have to point out that this is not the annual troop dues or activity fees... this is just a silly token fund.  It adds up of course, but it's not the real money.

 

Several times now they have tried to hand these things off to me for safe keeping, and so far I've danced away cleverly.... oh, I'll take them eventually, once I'm up fully running....  but honestly I'm trying to stay away as long as I can.

 

At this weeks meeting I asked again, so why are we doing this?.... and got the responsibility schpeel, I really had to bite my tongue about giving them real responsibility.... mainly because a few parents and scouters in ear shot were all so serious about it.

 

So, I'm trying to figure out how I eventually want to try to steer this.

I'm thinking about keeping it going for a while, but let each patrol hold the bags (Pl or whoever they want).

Maybe each week or each month give me as treasurer a balance sheet, and when it gets over some threshold take the money for deposit... (or maybe let them spend it on something for their patrols)

but

honestly what I hope to work for is letting the scouts be responsible for handling all the money in a similar way (campout payments and the rest)

 

What are your thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

[Stosh]

So what happens to all the paperwork necessary to keep track of the boys that forget their $1 or don't show up for a couple of weeks.  There are so many other important procedures a Scribe could be involved with other than this petty cash "lesson". 

 

I would leave it up to the PL's to decide if there's going to be a Patrol account and dues.  Money raised by the boys does not go into their personal accounts, but into a patrol account that can be used to collect dues as well.  The the PL, APL, Scribe, and QM can meet on a regular basis and evaluate funding needs for the patrol and are free to use the money in their Patrol account for whatever they want.  This will encourage finances to be held at the patrol level, evaluation of need will be within the patrol and all the money is held in the troop account under the running balance of the patrol.   If a patrol wants dues, they set the amount and that's the end of the discussion.  If they don't want dues they can set that up too.  It's up to them to set up their lesson and learn it, not the adults. 

 

It sounds like the adults are fundraising off the boys in the troop.  Pretty hard to justify that by collecting $1 and tossing it in the general fund of the troop.  Totally no accounting of the funds and as far as the boys know, it just goes down a rat hole never to be seen again.  There's a lesson in that too.  It's called adult rules that don't make much sense.

[Krampus]

Is this for the SM's beer fund? 

[Stosh]

Well, we know know where @@Krampus's dues go.  I would have NEVER thought of that for my troop.  Yeah, right.

[Eagle94-A1]

$52/ year in addition to the $24 registration? $76/ year. What do the Scouts get from it?

 

I know the pack I'm with charges $60/ year without Boys' Life and $72 with. Money is used for registration, wards, supplies, etc.

 

My son's troop is $.25/week plus $25 for registration and insurance and an additional $12 is you want Boys' life. Going to go up some, $.50/ week to cover expenses.

[Stosh]

The Committee works out a budget for the troop.  It is approved by the PLC.  No monies go into any patrol accounts until the basics are covered. 

 

Instead what we have is thousands of dollars earmarked for boy's personal activity while the troop goes broke.

 

At the end of the year the troop balance is $0.00, the bank account holds the patrol funds.  New year. new budget, all monies coming in go to the troop budget until it's covered and then to the patrol accounts.

 

If the troop suddenly finds itself in financial difficulty, the patrols have backup funds to keep the troop solvent.  If the troop is having financial difficulty, the PLC needs to know immediately.

[Eagle94-A1]

Way it workls in Son's troop is patrol QM collects money, fills out the patrol dues envelope, and turns in the envelope tot eh troop QM.  I don't know if the patrol QM's keep copies of the deposits. I know the troop QM and SM keep records. Some Scouts will not be getting their awards Monday until their dues are paid, becasue that's where teh $.25 / week goes to. And awards aint cheap. 14 MBs and ranks was over $30!

[Stosh]

What's the rationale behind the QM handing the funds and not the Scribe? 

[Eagle94-A1]

Sorry, scribe not QM. My brain is fried after work today.

[CalicoPenn]

Interesting - I thought that vestige of the old days had long since died out. 

 

Unless the funds are being used to help the boys pay for re-registration, or the patrols for food or other sundries, then I see no further purpose in it.  If the funds are just going in to the general fund and disappearing (aka spent on troop stuff) I would eliminate it.  That being said, there has been a tradition in Scouting for weekly dues, kept track of by the Patrol Scribe who informs the Troop Scribe who has paid (up to the boys to decide if the reporting is weekly or at minimum monthly. 

 

If you collect that much, then I think the Troop would be wise to allocate that money to a Scout's registration and any thing left over, allow them to draw on it for summer camp trading post expenses, or some such thing.  Treat it like a Christmas Club account.

Edited April 14, 2016 by CalicoPenn

[Stosh]

Sorry, scribe not QM. My brain is fried after work today.

[T2Eagle]

If you're really only doing this for the sake of tasking the boys with remembering something every week then why not choose something else to remember: a stick of gum, a pencil, maybe a marble.

 

If you want boys to be responsible then give them something meaningful to be responsible for, otherwise it's just busy work.

[Stosh]

If the boys need something to remember from one week to the next, assign a rank advancement requirement to learn or do.

[Eagle94-A1]

Back in the day, we paid monthly dues instead of weekly dues. Started at $2/ month then moved up to $3/month. That $24-36 covered registration, BL, and some troop supplies. However we did fundraising with some money going to Individual Scout Accounts ( I know not allows) that we could use for dues, and activities, but the bulk went into troop operations.

 

The Pack my younger sons are in charges a lump fee, although you can spread it out over 3 months.

 

I'd take spreading it out over a lump sum anyday.

 

Way it worked for me, and oldest now, dues are HIS responsibility, and he needs to pay out of his allowance.

[Beavah]

Yah, this harkens back from da Olde Days of Scoutin', eh?   Bring your dues in cash to a meetin'.

 

Nowadays we don't do that sort of thing anywhere in da real world.   So I'm not sure why we think it's important to do in Scoutin'.  Seems like a make-work task to me, and it's makin' a lot of work.   I reckon this is one of those "we've always done it this way" sorts of things, eh?

 

My question would be whether the PLC controls da budget, eh?   If you're goin' to teach kids real responsibility, give 'em a real task.  Let da PLC control the budget and manage the fundraisin'.  Let the Scribe be junior treasurer with real access to the books.  

 

Let the PL's collect $ for food or fees for the next campout, perhaps.   And if a PL wants to do that by electronic funds transfer or whatnot, more power to him!

Edited April 14, 2016 by Beavah