Scout must sell popcorn to participate?

[Venividi]

John in KC,

 

Yes, I see your point. In the context of the overabundance of fundraisers for multiple organizations, that makes sense. Service projects, patrol activities, etc. may be more effective use of time in providing opportunities for participatory citizenship. And it removes the cut taken by the candy/gift wrap/... supplier.

 

 

[Eamonn]

So far -Remembering that the Ship is a little less than 3 years old. The Scouts have been good about raising money for the Ship.

Maybe this is because they see that we had nothing to start with?

Coming up with a budget that works is becoming easier.

Strange as it may sound, because we are not actively following up boat donations!!

Everyone seems to know that $5.00 a month doesn''t go very far! In fact it barely covers the day to day operating expenses of the Ship.

Sea Scouting is a wonderful program, but it is very expensive. The true cost of the program is a little over $300.00 a year per Scout. (Based on 25 Scouts) This of course doesn''t include or cover activity fees, food, travel and that sort of thing.

The QD did work on the budget. They know the costs involved.

I offered them different ways of coming up with the money.

The idea I wanted them to adopt; which they opted not to!! Was the "Magic Number"

The idea being that everyone starts owing $300.00.

How they cover the $300.00 is up to them.

They can hand over the money.

They can fund raise the money.

Or they can do a little of both.

As long as the Ship got the $300.00 -I was happy!!

As I say they didn''t go for this and are happy deciding where the money from each fund raising event will go before the event.

As a group they don''t mind working, be it selling hoagies on the street or washing cars. But they and their parents are not into the "Pre-sale". We can sell 600 hoagies of which maybe only 50 are sold to family and friends.

They decided not to sell popcorn, because they didn''t think they could and some of them have little brothers in packs and troops who are selling it.

While there is a lot to be said for "A Scout pays his or her way" - Still things get a little cloudy in my book when Mum or Dad are doing the selling. I really don''t think the Scout learns anything more from this than OJ did by working for me and earning "Half" the money and me writing a check. Of course a lot depends on how the unit is raising the money.

Eamonn.

[Owl62]

Just based on what the original submitter wrote, it appears that unit has set some rules about popcorn sales. I supposed that is within their rights, but I don''t think it good idea, especially as stated. While unit dues are not unheard of, I feel that $100 is excessive. In our unit, we do not have dues; everyone pays the $10 recharter/registration fee; and we all pay as we go. We also participate in popcorn sales, but no one is required to sell any certain amount or even participate at all. Works for us.

 

Regarding the popcorn sales and dues, before I would join such a troop, I would want to know exactly what that money was going to be used for. And I would not accept vague answers. If you are paying the money, my opinion is you have the right to know exactly what is is to be used for.

 

I have never heard of a unit requiring established amounts of popcorn (or other products or services) "or else". Just doesn''t sound right to me, doesn''t feel right. And to me, if it doesn''t sound or feel right, it probably isn''t (in my opinion), and I wouldn''t do it.

 

Also, this unit, or someone in the unit, may be, or feel pressured by someone to sell popcorn. Council and district staff often "push" popcorn sales.

 

Scouting is not about popcorn, it is about building character and other positive traits.

 

I would look for another unit.

[Aquila]

"In our unit, we do not have dues; everyone pays the $10 recharter/registration fee; and we all pay as we go."

 

Just out of curiosity about troops that do this, who pays for badges and awards? Our troop is only ~20 boys, yet we spent $325 for merit badges and awards for our last COH. With no dues, how is that paid for?

 

We have one big troop fundraiser per year. Just one - a huge rummage sale. We do Scout fundraisers most every month.

[Bob T]

Our troop does one fund raising event a year. There are two big annual community events (Lompoc, CA) the "Flower Festival" and the "Spring Arts Festival." Community organizations have booths selling food items. There is a long waiting list for an organization to get a booth; our troop has been in business for 40 years; has a booth in the Flower Festival and sells slurpies and root beer floats. If the weather is cold & damp the "fallback position" is selling coffee. In the one week each year the troop makes enough money to pay for all expenses and replace worn out troop equipment. The Scouts and participating parents enjoy it. They would hate to sell popcorn, way overpriced and going door to door. We have a "rural demographic" and most people in these parts couldn''t buy the popcorn anyway.

 

There are other ways to make money than going door to door selling overpriced popcorn.

[Jeffrey H]

"Is a unit able to require you to sell a certain amount of popcorn to participate or to go on a trip? I understand the dues, although $100 seems a bit excessive. Advice???"

Yea, I guess they could enforce their stupid policy and make you feel humiliated in the process.  You might search for another unit.  This one has a few loose screws... 

In our unit, we reward the boys by crediting their scout accounts based on the amount of popcorn they have sold.  There is no pressure to sell, but we build in incentive to encourage healthy sales so we can fund our annual budget.  If not for our fundraiser, our annual dues would be much higher.