Finally!!!!

[momof2cubs]

Any of you guys' council doing camp cards? I don't know if it is a local thing or not. It's a card full of discounts (that can be used over and over for a full year!) to local establishments. They cost $5 each and the boys get to keep half.

 

I am THRILLED with this fundraiser. I loathe the popcorn and I am no fan on the pine straw because I think they are hard sales. Specially the popcorn. Who wants to buy that when the have the cookies? But these things go like hot cakes! My son just went out and unloaded 20 in less than an hour!

 

Finally a fundraiser that is right!

[moosetracker]

Never heard of the pinestraws.. What are they?..

 

Our council does have camp cards. It worked fine last year, but this year they added a rule, that may kill that.

 

Last year you took whatever cards you wanted and returned what wasn't sold, many units had just took lile 1,000 cards, and then returned 900 of them.

 

This year they changed it that the units are on the hook to pay for all they take..

 

I can see both sides, but where the units where way wrong with over extimating (the printing of the cards is an expense).. I think the council way over did their fix..

 

I think based on last years sales people can better guesstimate, sale potential this year.

 

Maybe something like allowing them to order only a % of what they sold last year, then if they sell all, then they can get that extra % over again.. Next year their starting order can be a little more, due to last year sales.. If they don't sell as much this year as last year, they will get less in their preorder in the future year..

 

Another idea is to figure the cost to produce each card, and charge the units the cost of the printing for leftovers rather then the Councils full share of the profits ($2.50, half the price of the card.)

 

Anyway, they should find something that does not promote waste, but also does not cause the troops to fear attempting the fundraiser.

 

I don't know, maybe this is true of selling wreaths or flower bulbs or whatnot, but I still think it will decrease the units willing to join in the fundraiser.

[Scoutfish]

This year was the first time we sold camp cards.

 

I had asked our DE about it the year before, and he kinda told me he didn't think it would go over that well. He said we should stick to popcorn in his un-official opinion. He said that popcorn was a far better fundraiser and camp cards generally did not do so well.

 

WEll, this year, I sold my pack on it mostly because....well...popcorn sucks and it's not a good deal at all.

 

The DE said we should maybe only order 100 because most troops in our district only sell 200 or so cards. No other pack sold them.

 

We asked the council for 3,000 cards. So far, we have sold 2,487 cards..give or take a card or two.

 

WE have another week before we have to turn in the unsold cards. Not that I think we will sell many more to be honest with you.

 

So, we sold somewhere around $700.00 in popcorn this year.

 

WE sold %11,435.00 in camp cards with %5,715.50 going to us and to council also.

 

Versus the $233.10 going to the council

[OwntheNight]

We have done Camp Cards for the last 2 years, and we wish we could do them in the fall as well. Last year, I believe we had 3 printings of cards due to the high demand from units.

 

Don't know how the rest of the Council's are doing it, but we have tied in with the Kroger grocery store chain, and the card had an instant coupon for 5.00 off the customer's purchase w purchase of at least 50.00. The card just paid for itself. This year we even had an online sign up system to log in and you could pick the stores and times you wanted to sell at. Last year was way to chaotic trying to contact the local store manager to set up times, and some units just taking every slot available.

 

One of our ASM's was the District Chair for camp cards and told me of a unit that sold $30,000 worth of cards. That's 15k back in the unit. I think our troop sold around $17,000 worth of cards.

 

We have one more sale date tomorrow at Kroger, for the pack. I got an email yesterday afternoon, that said we could get an additional 100 cards if needed. I snatched those up as fast at as possible, since I think we're down to 40 something cards total. I think we ordered 1000 cards during the first run, and every time we stand in front of Kroger, we usually sell out the allotment we brought. Each boy usually averages 25 cards sold for a 2 or 3 hr shift.

 

I've got boys who have paid for day camp and resident camp with these. We don't keep the money in the unit as a general fundraiser. We use it like it's promoted, to help the boys pay their way to camp.

 

I know the literature does give the asterisk of "at the discretion of the unit", but I personally think it should be used for what the boys are selling it as.

 

Our Pack has actually began discussions about just doing Show and Sell for Popcorn next year. We were able to sell our entire allotment of S&S popcorn with just 2 weekends in front of Lowe's. But we are now looking at alternate methods to bring in money. Everybody in the Pack is trying to get me to set up something like Scoutfish's chicken dinner fundraiser, except with my Smoked Brisket. Apparently it was a big hit, when I smoked a full brisket for our pack campout last weekend. Don't know if I want to start a bunch of smokers at 4 in the morning in the CO parking lot

[Scoutfish]

Our cards were tied in with Harris Teeter. Same thing: $5.00 instantly off a $50.00 purchase and figured before coupon discounts.

 

Also we had Taco Bell and KFC with buy one/get one free dinner combos.

 

THose 3 were only for 6 months though.

 

The middle of the cards had 6 or 7 diferent chains: Oil change shop, Barbershop, Mexican restaurant, Tire store, etc.... Most of them were 105 discounts and good for the entire year.

 

WE had our 14th annual chicken dinner last weekend. This year,we didn't do so hot. Our beach location ( we's Home Improvement parking lot) sold $1,830.00 and our CO location sold around $500.00.

 

Well, the economy hasn'r ben so great, peolple really been tightening down too. There were about 8 other groups holding fundraisers that same weekend, two of which were for a local 6th grader who has a rare brain cancer - less than 30 cases ever diagnosed.

 

We ended up gining all clear donations to her too. She lives across the street from our CC and has played with his daughter for years. Giving back to te community.

 

So, we have about 6 cases of chicken that were never opened and we froze them. We will be having another dinner in a few weeks at just the beach location this time.

 

Hope it does better this time as this is our main source of funding.

[momof2cubs]

Ours are tied with Publix. $5 off a purchase of $50 or more, so yeah they DO pay for themselves even if you none of the other coupons, so people are very likely to buy them. They figure they can at the very minimum make their money back AND help a boy go to camp. I think they are absolutely AWESOME.

 

Popcorn sucks as a fundraiser. It's overpriced and the boys don't get to keep a whole lot of it. My son's troop sells popcorn because (in their words) "we are forced to". But they don't push it AT ALL to the boys. Their main fundraiser is selling bales of pine straw (it's like mulch). It's a slightly better deal, but at least it all stays in the unit.

 

I am really happy with these camp cards and I am going to make them the main fundraiser in my family. I'm done with popcorn.

[NJEaglemom]

Our Council offered them, but didn't give enough warning and not enough units participated, so they shelved it for this year. I know there was a coupon from Dunkin' Donuts, a Movie Theater and a sporting goods store.

 

They charged an upfront cost of $1 per card, just so they wouldn't be stuck with a lot of cards from units overestimating. Unit that sold $500 worth of popcorn got the $1 back by getting an extra dollar in commission.

 

I thought it was a great idea. I have 2 in my car from the local football team and women's soccer team that I bought (actually never used them--forgot they were there), but it is an easy fundraiser and people will buy one so a cute kid in a uniform can go to summer camp.

 

[Eamonn]

I never heard of these.

But I'm happy to hear of something that works and people are happy with.

Me not liking popcorn? Just might also play a part?

Ea.

[moxieman]

My council doesn't do this...yet. But considering the success I keep hearing from our neighbors to the east, it might happen here in the future. Here's the link to the info on the program next door in Katahdin Area Council:

http://katahdinareabsa.org/assets/Announcement_Email2.pdf

 

I am on the "border" between the two councils. Maybe I need to hunt down a scout to my east and support him. My local IGA is one of the participating IGAs in the program.

 

The three one-time snap offs in this case are:

Dunkin Donuts: Free hashbrowns with combo purchase

IGA: $5 off $50 purchase

Old Town Canoe of Old Town, Maine: $10 off purchase of $50 or more.

(This message has been edited by moxieman)

[boomerscout]

Councils sometimes charge a penalty for unsold cards because they have to pay the card provider by a certain date.

It would be better, with a little experience, for council executives to get their own cards printed up - that way costs may be lower, and both council and units would receive more money. Do councils generally have anyone with business and marketing experience?

[Tokala]

West Cemtral Florida Council started selling them this year. We got a late start by not having cards available until March. I haven't heard any reports on sales except that enough had been sold that the cost to produce them has been covered. They do have great potential for both units and the Council. I hope the units get onboard and sell them.

 

We give them on consignment. Take what you think you'll sell. Turn in the $2.50 and unsold cards. Other than lost cards, I don't see the Districts or Council getting upset with the cards. It's even better that the units get to keep their 50% up front, rather waiting on some check from Council.