Rent?

[Fat Old Guy]

At a recent Roundtable, an issue was brought up that no one had ever heard of before. One troop's CO is talking about charging them rent for the meeting hall and the storage space that they use.

 

May a CO do this? Has anyone ever heard of a thing like this before?

 

 

[EagleInKY]

I know that our schools are forced to charge rent to any organization that uses the building, so if a school is the CO for a troop, they have to charge them rent.

[Adrianvs]

I would not be surprised if this were the case in many situations where the CO does not realize that the troop is THEIR program and that they are responsible to support it as they would any of their other programs. Unfortunately, troops must often face the unfortunate effects of being 'owned' by the CO (restrictions on fundraising and property ownership) and being treated like a separate entity by the CO. The BSA policy regarding troop ownership only works effectively when the CO's are aware of their responsibility to the troop as its owner. When the BSA treats the troop like a CO program and the CO treats the troop like a BSA program borrowing their space, then the troop suffers needlessly.

[Fat Old Guy]

"I know that our schools are forced to charge rent to any organization that uses the building"

 

Do they charge the basketball team rent to use the gym?

[EagleInKY]

FOG - Nope. Didn't say I agreed, just telling you what is happening here.

[Eamonn]

I don't have a copy of the agreement that is signed by the Chartered Organization, near by at the moment.

I am sure that if they want to offer the Scouting program that they have to offer a meeting place. Charging them would seem to be a violation of this agreement.

Eamonn

[Bob White]

Eamonn is correct. But it all comes back to "Are you THEIR unit or a unit that meets THERE?"

[Fat Old Guy]

"FOG - Nope. Didn't say I agreed, just telling you what is happening here."

 

Hmmmm. . . . someone needs to explain the charter to the School in that case. If the School charters the troop, they are as much a part of the school as the basketball team.

[LovetoCamp]

The National American Legion put the word out that they support BSA 100%. If I was starting a new unit, or considering moving a unit, that's where I'd start. I've never met a more supportive bunch than the Legionaires who charter our ship. No more worrying about how the wishy washy church committees and ministers are going to smack you with a monkey wrench, no more worrying about the public school cutting your legs from under you, all you'd have to deal with is a bunch of older, not too PC, combat veterans, who were mostly scouts when they were boys who can't hold back from telling you all about it.

 

Go Legion!!!

[Laurie]

The annual charter agreement reads in part:

 

"The chartered organization agrees to...

 

Provide adequate facilities for the Scouting unit(s) to meet on a regular schedule with time and place reserved."

 

So, does this mean rent-free? Or just that the space it there?

[CubsRgr8]

The CO agrees to provide the meeting space at no charge. The CO for my younger son's pack is a School Friends of Scouting corporation. Since its leadership is identical to the pack's leadership, the pack committee chair takes care of room reservations. The school district provides after hours use of school buildings at no charge to civic and non-profit groups, so rent is not part of the equation.(This message has been edited by CubsRgr8)

[John-in-KC]

In addition to the Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars are a strong and steadfast supporter of Scouting!

 

Members of District and Council Key 3s should keep this in the back of their heads against the days when schools and PTAs want to drop scouting because we don't (insert politically correct practice here).

 

John

[EagleInKY]

Fortunately, I'm not in the middle of the school/scout unit issue. But I have heard about it through the grapevine. My understanding is that the PTA is the charter org, not the school. They are even charging the PTA for use of the facility. At least, that's what I've heard. Budgets are lean, and they're finding all kinds of ways to make a nickel.

[eagle90]

Our troop is sponsored by a school's parent teacher organization (Not a PTA affiliated group). They do provide a meeting place free of charge. If we want to use the building for a weekend activity, the first time during the school year is free. If we want to use it a second time during the year, there is a charge for the custodial staff. Seems like a fair system that has worked well for us.

[FScouter]

Once upon a time our chartered organization had a discussion about charging rent to outside groups that use the facilities. Of course our troop was considered to be an outside group. They wanted us to pay $25 per meeting. About the same time, some members complained at a meeting that we (the CO) should get a youth group going, because theres nothing to do for the kids in this town.

 

Why did our CO feel this way? Where was their head? Simple. They felt no connection at all with the troop they chartered. They simply did not understand the relationship between BSA and the chartered organization. Many of the membership had no idea that their group chartered a Boy Scout troop. The relationship doesnt work well if the Scout people dont communicate with the chartered organization people.

 

To resolve the rent issue, our troop adult leadership took some simple steps. We began attending the monthly meetings of our chartered organization. We got on the agenda and made a brief report each month about the doings of the troop. We personally invited members to attend courts of honor. We asked what kinds of service projects we could do to their benefit. We asked for their help in selecting adult leaders, and made it clear that the approval was in their hands. We decided our chartered organization rep was totally ineffective because that person was a Scout committee person doing double duty as COR. We decided it would be better to have a chartered organization rep that was more involved in the CO than in the troop, and that person would not be double registered.

 

In short, we began treating our chartered organization like they owned the troop. Guess what? After a while they took us under their wing and started acting like we were their troop. We get priority use of the facilities now, and dont pay rent.