Venturing Equipment

[TheGreyArea]

Hi Guys,

I am a new Venturing Adviser of a Newly Re-minted Venturing Crew. I was just wondering if it is acceptable practice for the Crew to fund-raise for equipment congruent to it's program: decent four season tents, backpacking stoves and the such.

Thanks for the help,

Chip

[qwazse]

@TheGreyArea, welcome to the forums. And thanks in advance for all you'll do for the youth!

I was a new advisor once. You're in for one wild ride.

Yes. You may raise funds. Same process as for other units. There is a unit fundraising application that should be sent to council.

But since you're gonna need friends to pull this off at the level scouts of this caliber want things to happen:

1. Touch base with your district executive get his/her help in pushing paperwork.
2. Visit roundtables.
3. Get Venturing Leader Specific Training ASAP.
4. Bring your lead youth to your council's venturing officer's association (VOA) meetings.
5. Look for council/area/and region VOA-sponsored activities for your crew to attend.
6. Attend your council venturing committee meetings (often held in concert with VOA meetings).

You will find that more than half of those will be time well spent.

[mrkstvns]

2 hours ago, TheGreyArea said:

Hi Guys,

I am a new Venturing Adviser of a Newly Re-minted Venturing Crew. I was just wondering if it is acceptable practice for the Crew to fund-raise for equipment congruent to it's program: decent four season tents, backpacking stoves and the such.

Thanks for the help,

Chip

You might want to poll your members and see if you really do need all that.

My son bought a lightweight tent when he earned Star, and bought his own hiking boots, lightweight cold-weather bag, and backpacking stove before he turned 14 (planning ahead for more HA trips).  If my kid is typical, then a lot of your Venturers will already have a lot of their own backpacking equipment and you might not need to buy all that much as a unit (or deal with typical quartermaster problems of storage, cleaning, damage repair/replacement, etc.).

[MikeS72]

43 minutes ago, mrkstvns said:

a lot of your Venturers will already have a lot of their own backpacking equipment

We do a lot of backpacking, hiking, and kayaking as a troop, and the majority of them have their own backpacking tents, hammocks, stoves, etc..  We have plenty of troop gear for those who need it, but find they tend to take care of those items better when they belong to them.