Re: (fwd) Re: Fundraising
Jim Miller, Jr. (jmillerjr@LSFCU.ORG)
Thu, 26 Jan 1995 14:50:33 EST-5
>TOM@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU wrote:
>: Too many fundraisers, anyone else agree? Don't know about you, but
I'm
>
>YES! Not only are there too many fund raisers from too many different
>organizations, but there are too many fund raisers in my Scout Council.
>
>It seems like we just finished with the popcorn sale, and yesterday I
got
>a letter from the New Orleans Area Council informing me of the February
>sale of World's Finest Chocolate.
>
>And speaking of fundraising, the Scoutmasters Handbook says that boys
>should not sell a commercial product while in uniform. It also says
that
>any commercial product we sell should be worth the price, and that we
>should not rely on the goodwill of Boy Scouts to sell the product. Yet
>our council is telling us to be sure to have the boys wear their
uniforms
>to sell the Chocolate; the printed materials from the BSA tell the boys
>to wear their uniforms when they sell the popcorn. And maybe I'm
crazy,
>but $5 for a box of microwave popcorn doesn't sound like a good value
to me.
>
>Will someone please explain to me why this is something other than
utter
>hypocrisy on the part of the BSA or my local council?
AFAIK, the purpose behind not selling products in uniform is to avoid
apparent BSA endorsement of particular name brands or products. Once
again, a liability issue directly affects people at the Unit level.
As for the number of fundraisers held, I usually explain it this way
when it comes up at either an EPA/Roundtable meeting or a training
course. The Exploring Division (as well as any District) has a pretty
simple rule of thumb for how much money we should try to raise each year
for the Council. That number can be easily "ballparked" by adding up the
Exploring Executive's (or DE as may apply) salary, benefits, and
reimbuseable expenses; one-fifth (we have four Districts and a Division)
of the same numbers for the Council Exec and ALL support/clerical staff;
one-fifth of the expenses of maintaining Council properties...
I can go on for a while at this rate :) The point is this - if we could
manage to raise this amount in one fundraiser, we would have no more.
Our Council Executive Board would love to cut down to one fundraiser
along with FOS/SME for the entire year's fundraising effort. Usually,
this is impossible because we haven't found a single fundraiser that
will get all of the income side of the budget in one shot.
As a Unit, you would keep having fudraisers until you got the money you
needed for whatever project you are working on. Your Council is merely
doing the same thing on a larger scale. The greater your support in
these fundraisers, the less likely it would need to be done again and
again and again.
>--
>"In the old days, being crazy meant something. I don't
speak
> Nowdays, EVERYBODY'S crazy." for
Tulane.
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
