Troop Budget and Dues

[NJCubScouter]

No dues or camping fees.  Scouting is an extracurricular activity.

Does that mean your CO funds all costs of the program?

[CNYScouter]

Troop dues are $75 per year per Scout. Payable in a lump sum or on a monthly basis ($7.50 a month for 10 months)

 

This pays for new equipment, registration, awards, badges, camping fees (site fees/cabin rentals) and other general Troop expenses (trailer insurance for example).

There is also a yearly fundraiser that helps to offset these and helps pay for the bus rental for summer camp.

 

Monthly outings, summer camp and HA trips are above and beyond this fee and are payed by the attendee.

 

The costs vary from anywhere from a couple of dollars into the Hundreds ($430 for summer camp this year) depending on the trip.

A basic weekend camp out runs about ~$15 per Scout for food.

 

Troop still uses ISA's and all these costs can be taken from the account.

I have lost track on how many fundraisers that have been done this year alone (over a dozen so far)

[David CO]

Does that mean your CO funds all costs of the program?

Yes.  

 

The KC's pay the registration fees.

 

The Boosters Club pays the camping fees.

 

The concessions stand buys the food.

 

The Outdoor Education program of the Science department owns the equipment.

[Cambridgeskip]

This thread is quite fascinating to see how other countries do it. Although not completely unheard of it's pretty unusual to have any camps included in what we would call "subs". They typically cover everything that goes on at regular weekly meetings plus maintenance of buildings or rent for this using church halls or school halls. It also normally covers what we call capitation and what you call registration each year. For my group that means £90 a year paid per academic term £30 each. Camps are normally paid for separately.

 

My group receives all money for subs, camps or anything else that might need paying for by direct debit (ie bank transfer) which is arranged when they sign up for anything which is all done online. Saves a lot of time when you don't have to go to the bank!

 

Our fund raising is typically either used for capital expenditure (tents etc) or to subsidise major camps.

[King Ding Dong]

Two councils ago while we were all still in Cubs there was a church based troop that I was very interested in. Somewhere along the line they had invested in one of those carnival food truck trailers that serve up heart attack on a stick. The suburban city we were in had a big 4 day carnival every year and for those 4 days the boys and parents manned that truck AM to PM. The proceedes funded the whole program. EVERYTHING, including summer camp. Not sure about HA as I was not really aware of it at that time so didn't ask.

[Tampa Turtle]

Our Troop sure has a lot of extra cash sitting around. I wish more of it would go back into the program...

[blw2]

Our troop currently charges $100 in the fall - dues (prorated for crossovers since national dues were paid to the pack)

campouts are $10 per head for the grubmaster.... but I'm thinking of proposing a change to this one... maybe another thread topic

Summer camp is cost

 

I'm rolling in as treasurer too late to have a handle on fundraising results just yet.

[revdmv]

Our yearly dues are $165, pays for recharter, boys life, ins. Campouts are budgeted $12/day for food plus site costs. Summer camp was around $400 this year. The Seabase cost all in was estimated around $2500 including the initial gear, dive certification, airfare and transport.

 

We have one fundraiser a year, most families prefer to write a check rather than fundraise.  

[Beavah]

Yah, I'd say your $275 is pretty much in line with what da actual costs are for a reasonably active troop, eh?   Depends on where yeh are in da country and how much gear yeh have vs. what yeh have to rent (around here, canoe rentals have gotten steep...). 

 

On average, I'd say troops run the range, eh?  Some of 'em charge roughly that as dues (usually split quarterly or semi-annually), some of 'em commit to fundraisin' da whole thing.  Most split it in some way, either through scout accounts/family choice, or some other formula.   Lots and lots of variations on that.

 

So you're not out of line expense-wise.   Based on what you're sayin' and what yeh say your troop culture has been up to this point I'd suggest two options:  

 

1) Commit to additional fundraisers and keep da troop culture of we always pay for things through fundraisin'.

 

2) Set dues to match the activity fees or some fraction thereof, and then have fundraising go to gear/camperships/summer camp/reregistration/awards/adult and youth leader training fees, etc.     In other words, set da new culture to be that boys and families pay for the activities for themselves, and fundraise for all da group stuff that makes the troop go.  It often helps when fundraisin' to know where it's goin' - both to encourage donors and to encourage participants!

 

Beavah

[CA Scout Mom]

$140 per year and Scouts pay for outings which vary from $15-$20 for a one-night overnight to $25-$45 for 2-3 night backpacks.  Summer Camp costs covered by Scouts.  Do annual popcorn fundraiser which brings in limited amount ($1500/year) which goes toward equipment, covering adult fees on outings, gas, other expenses like merit badges, patches, patrol and new Scout supplies.  

 

Have a healthy reserve but need to buy a new trailer as current one is about 40 years old and about to fall apart.  Might end up financing that purchase since we can't cover it in dues and don't want to deplete bank account.

[andysmom]

$175 a year. 

$5 per campout

One fundraiser, popcorn, proceeds split between troop and earmarked for individual scout

Summer camp is not included, badges, rank, camping fees, replacement of troop equipment are.

[cnew2]

_{I'm late to this topic, but I would like your response to this:  I am outings coordinator for our troop.  We had a committee meeting last week. We have approx $5,000 in our bank account.  K of C gave us a check for $500.  I suggested that we part with some money and pay for a corn maze night for the scouts.  Shot down.  Our troop has no dues.  One fundraiser (nuts) 60% to troop, 40% to ISA.  We just put new tires on the troop trailer and had some re-wiring done.  Oh and if your troop goes to $0 every year, you have no seed money?  I just spent $1000 making reservations at various outings for the next 6 months.  (one cabin camping in the winter is almost $600, had to be paid up front).  This will be reimbursed as the scouts pay for the outings.}

[T2Eagle]

I think that while keeping some reserve for equipment, like tires for trailer, and maybe being conservative about the ups and downs of fundraising, you should spend the vast marority of the money you bring in each year.

 

At one point in our troop I had to point out to folks that unlike with our home budgets saving for college or retirement wasn't an alternative to spending our current income.

 

If you're saving money for the future what is it you intend to spend it on then, and when do you intend to spend it.

Edited September 15, 2016 by T2Eagle

[thrifty]

_{I'm late to this topic, but I would like your response to this:  I am outings coordinator for our troop.  We had a committee meeting last week. We have approx $5,000 in our bank account.  K of C gave us a check for $500.  I suggested that we part with some money and pay for a corn maze night for the scouts.  Shot down.  Our troop has no dues.  One fundraiser (nuts) 60% to troop, 40% to ISA.  We just put new tires on the troop trailer and had some re-wiring done.  Oh and if your troop goes to $0 every year, you have no seed money?  I just spent $1000 making reservations at various outings for the next 6 months.  (one cabin camping in the winter is almost $600, had to be paid up front).  This will be reimbursed as the scouts pay for the outings.}

Its my opinion that you should have a year worth of budget/expenses in reserve if you are lucky enough to be able to do so.  I'm not referring to things like campouts that could be postponed or changed but costs such as purchasing badges, replacing broken gear, plates on the trailer, etc..  There's always the chance that whatever fundraising the troop does will not be enough to cover future costs, so having a rainy-day fund will give the committee/troop enough time to come up with plan B to put $ back into the bank.  We had snow in April, one week before our yearly fundraiser.  If it had snowed the day of the fundraiser, I think it would have been a failure and we would have been insolvent because we didn't have any reserve funds. The fundraiser worked and now we do have a reserve but its a constant struggle to remind everyone that the troop bank account is not a money tree.   

 

On the flip side, too much $ in the bank means that the boys aren't seeing any benefit from their hard work except a bank account balance. 

[ParkMan]

We have a pretty healthy bank account.  We keep it that way so that we have the ability to respond when needed.  Generally, our priorities are:

- have emergency funds available should sometihng happen.  i.e., if we've got the Troop at Philmont and we need to get some people home quickly, we can.

- pay upfront fees for trips.

- purchase/upkeep equipment as needed

 

If you tried to build up a balance quickly, then I'd agree - it would impact the current program.  But, when you add a bit to the account every year, it eventually gets there.  Our approach is to run cash positive every year and let it build up incrementally.