NIscouter Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 OneHour You should look into the software offered by Troopmaster for your finances. It has an easy way to handle the scout accounts and is a great way to keep your books. Just to chime in on the costs, our troop usually charges $15 to $20 per scout per outing, and the adults go free. We have the boys earn the recharter fee as part of the fall popcorn sale (1 case per boy for recharter), and our summer camp fees are $165 this year. The scouts get money in thier scout accounts from our fundraisers to be used for summer camp and scout related equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoutldr Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Our troop charges actual costs for both youth and adults, determined on a per-trip basis. No reimbursement for gas or membership registration. Patrols do their own menus and the designated food-buyer (Grubmaster) determines what each scout's share will be. If there is an extra charge for campsite ($1 per night per person to use Council camp), patches ($3), etc, it is added to the food charge. Typical troop campout runs $6-10 for food. More for adults, but we eat well and don't mind paying for it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob White Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 We do the same as the unit scoutldr serves. Typical outing costs no more than $15 with camp fees incuded. We do $60 annual dues to cover recharter and awards and equipment. Averaging a field uniform lasting a minimum two years we figure it costs about $450 a year (about $37 a month) for scouting including summer camp, excluding personal equipment. We ask each scout to sell popcorn and we usually have one other fundraiser during the year. Half of the profit generated by a scout goes into the general fund and half is earmarked for the scout to be used to reduce dues or camp fees. Several of the scouts earn half or more of the cost through these fundraisers. We also encourage the families to have the scouts work at home for an allowance to pay for scouting themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR540Beaver Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Geez, either a lot of you guys are expensive or we are cheap. We usually collect $5 per adult and boy per campout for food and none of us have starved yet. I understand we have a new boy coming into the troop who ONLY eats mac and cheese and the meatballs out of sphagettio's. He might starve, but it won't be for a lack of good food available. We don't allow special diets except for health or religious purposes. I think the highest cost we've charged is $10 when we go to a non-scouting camp that charges for the campsite. The highest charge we've had so far is $2 per night per person. We charged $25 annual fees for 2005. We are going out of council for summer camp and it will run $180. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob White Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Beaver, I would be interested in seeing a balanced menu for 4 meals for $5 total. Could you give us an idea of what an average weekend menu looks like for a patrol? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packsaddle Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 The CO pays for most leader training. Leaders pay the same fees as the boys for food, etc. on campouts. This unit levies a fee of $7-15 per outing depending on number of meals. I am delighted to see balanced meals planned by the scouts at any cost. It does happen sometimes. The annual dues is more like $30 to cover registrations and minor recurring costs. Major outings are managed individually. I am still struggling with an ideal way to deal with indigent scouts for major outings and I would like to hear your ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneHour Posted March 23, 2005 Author Share Posted March 23, 2005 Thanks for all replies. You all gave me a good idea how to move forward. I now have a good backups to bring to the Committee table. As for the upcoming Camporee, $25 it is then. I do believe that subsidizing the leaders is the least that the parents in the troop could do for them since they are taking their time out of their ordinary lives for the boys and it is equivalent to paying for their gas. I will make sure that the adults going are going for a purpose not for a vacation. If it is a vacation then they are fair games for fees as the boys are. Thanks again. 1Hour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packsaddle Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Typical trip: Church bus - 14 boys, Ford Expedition - 5-7 boys, Chevy Suburban - 5-7 boys, the Ford or Chevy pulling a heavy troop trailer as well. 300 miles or so of driving. Fuel $2 per gallon or more now, not to mention excess wear and tear on the vehicles. The hours of time, we donate gladly. I think it is appropriate and fair to reimburse any adult who hauls boys in their gas guzzler or uses it to pull a loaded troop trailer. If I use my personal vehicle for my work, today I get 40 cents per mile. I gladly pay for someone to use their vehicle to haul my boy or his equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hacimsaalk12 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 1. in our troop:0 2. in our troop:0 3 for troop oriented activites:$8(6 goes to food, troop keeps 2$ for camping fees) disctrict/council events:0 our troop charges what it does, and we eat extremely well. we barely ever go over our foood budget. why is your troops cost so high? annual recharter fees are $30 flat. scout camp and big trips(done every 2 summers for obvious purposes) cost at most $175. total that ive probably comes to $400 and that is stuff i use for other than scouts. i think your troop needs to go over its budget again, and work some things out. btw, the troop pays every thing for the adults, except for uniforms(This message has been edited by hacimsaalk12) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneHour Posted March 23, 2005 Author Share Posted March 23, 2005 Packsaddle, don't get me wrong. I have no problems taking time out and use my van for scouting function; as a matter of fact, I'm on my second van. The first one, a new Dodge Caravan, we put 130k on it for the first three years of its life. Got rid of it to get a more reliable Honda Odyssey three years ago and it is sitting at 101k and most of it are driving the troops to and fro and that's not going outside of the state, yet! Texas is a big state! I only get upset when a parent gives me a bleeding heart cry about why they can't help the troop because they are too busy! Cheers, 1Hour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GopherJudy Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 OneHour, I have a question for you, how come only about 1/4 of the boys participate in the fundraising? That's not fair to the boys who do the fundraising that the ones who don't aren't pulling their share of the work. In my son's pack, every boy in every den had to participate in whatever our fundraiser was. My son is now a Boy Scout & his 1st troop meeting was last night & we were told that all the boys have to participate in the fundraising as it offsets their cost for camping, etc. I know that fundraising is time consuming & as a single mom with a son now in Boy Scouts & a daughter in Brownies & the fact that my kids get home from school around 3:45pm that there isn't that much time available. There's homework, school projects & scout work that has to be done but I know it's important for the fundraising to be done. Good luck in getting all of the boys to participate in your troop's fundraising! Judy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneHour Posted March 24, 2005 Author Share Posted March 24, 2005 1/4 participate because of the mentality of the adults in our troop. They have the "I rather pay cash than make my son go door to door" attitude. That is exactly what one father told me one time. It's very frustrating. Granted that more than 1/2 of the troop are from the more affluence side of the freeway, it doesn't mean that everyone has that deep of a money pocket, present company is in that mix of the "low-rent side." Yes, I tried to get them to understand the benefits of the boys earning their ways. There are two packs in the area as well and our Pack is on the West side and everyone participates in the fundraiser. The other pack and our troop locates on the affluence side of the fence and tends to allow fundraisers for some reasons to become optional. Uggggghhhh ... very frustrating! 1Hour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packsaddle Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 OneHour, I think your generosity is admirable and I certainly don't mean my comments to be critical of you. In our situation, similar generosity in the past led other adults to 1) assume things are taken care of and 2) inadvertently take advantage of those being generous. My concern is for responsibility, namely, by those on the receiving end. It is not only fair for you or another leader to be reimbursed, it is the best way for the non-active parents to understand the monetary costs for the program. As I said before, time is something we willingly donate. I can't expect the parents to act responsibly if they have insufficient information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GopherJudy Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 I feel sorry for you OneHour, we had a family like that in our den with a candy fundraiser we had in September. It's such an easy fundraiser, each case of candy contains 52 bars & each bar is $1.00. When I called the parents of all the boys in the den to let them know I had the candy & If they wanted to come by & pick it up or I'd drop it off & let me know the best time. This one boy's parents are really humdingers! I called & spoke to the mom & I could hear the boy's dad in the background yelling "I'm not taking & selling any candy!" All of the boys in the den sold their required 2 cases, my son Mark sold 6, except for this one boy who's mom returned the 2 cases of candy unopened & said it didn't sell! There were prizes at the den & pack level for who sold the most candy & Mark won den & pack. Well the CM who's also the DL had enough crap from the parents & when it came time for November Pack Night, that boy just had the award cards in his envelope & the CM told the mom that because you refused to participate in the fundraiser, you'll have to buy the awards for your son yourself! Some parents are really stupid & don't realize what the fundraising money covers. Don't the thickheaded parents realize that it would probably cost them less money if their child participates in the fundraisers so the troop has more money? It's mindboggling the way some people think! We don't have Scout Accounts but in your case it might be a good idea, especially if it's the same boy who participate in the fundraisers. They would get a break on the cost of activities & rightly so since they did their share of bringing money into the troop. The other boys aren't doing their fair share of work & they have to realize that money doesn't grow on trees & if they want something they have to work for it! Fundraising shouldn't be optional! Good luck in getting them to understand! Judy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR540Beaver Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 Question: How do you REQUIRE a boy to participate in a fundraiser? Don't get me wrong, I expect them to as much as the next scout leader. I single handedly organized and ran a fundraiser for our 2005 Jamboree contingent since our costs were $1900 per participant. Around 100 eligible boys covering over 1/4 of the state of Oklahoma. I had about 33 boys participate. One boy sold over $800 in first aid kits. Many others sold $15 worth. Around 66 boys didn't participate. My son was the second highest seller. Our troop is currently having a fundraiser. My son won't lift a finger to sell. He absolutely dislikes going door to door. Heck, I would too. I could make him, but is that what scouting is about? I agree it isn't fair to those who work hard. We went thru this same thing with every sports team he played on iwth parents or kids wanting to write a check instead of raise funds. The question is, how do we enforce the requirement? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now