Leaderboard

One thing to remember is that council actually needs you more than you need them. Registered units and registered scouts are THE most important thing to a council. Meaning no disrespect to Unit Commissioners out there, but they are pretty much the same place as a unit leader, at best, on the totem pole. Fill out the paperwork, and dare them to tell you and the Chartering Organization that owns and supports you that they won’t allow fundraising where they don’t get a cut. Dot your ‘i’s and cross your ‘t’s, but be stubborn. They will see the light, however grudgingly. I have a

The Chartering Organization can conduct a fundraiser and designate the proceeds to the unit. In fact any proceeds from a council fundraiser are owned by the CO anyway.

@Maboot38, consider the source... I think in your other posts, you indicate this policy information came from a Unit Commissioner. Great, but the UC isn't the authority on this. What @RememberSchiffposted is... That is, the council can set additonal fundraising policies above and beyond what national lays out. I read through the link he posted. (If that is your council, I recommend it... it is well done 😜 ) The policy statement mentions a few key points: - Units can conduct all kinds of fundraisers - Units must apply for permission from the council to conduct a fund

Indeed! This has been my playbook since I started just under a month ago! I've asked to submit an adult leader application for the girl troop and be added as an admin in their scoutbook. I've got all the position training and then some. I know the other SM has the in person training because we did it together. Not sure about the online position trained stuff, but I feel that's where the real meat is. For the physical distance of patrols...YES!!! I've already started acquiring a mobile patrol box from another troop, and we will be making copies to give each patrol mobile indepen

I think they can say you can't do it, but I don't know that they have a way to prevent you from fundraising if you decide to ignore them. The popcorn thing is a huge problem for many units and you would not be alone in going rogue. Far from it. They do have some sticks they can beat you with though so be prepared. Our units opted out -- politely, but firmly -- and endured a lot of threats. But we continued to make an in lieu contribution to council from our new, more successful fundraising efforts and our membership grew, so within a year or two they left us alone. Hopefully you're in a reason

They cannot do that, period. They might though not allow a unit to participate IF they do other stuff too. But, the unit, as long as it is within the rules of National fund raising, can choose whatever they prefer. Now dealing with such a demand is dicy I would guess, but if you have a strong unit with good support, you can suggest some sand pounding I believe, but in a Scoutlike way.

Sea Scout story reminds me of one an ASM told me of, and peaked my interest in Sea Scouts. His ship was located in Norfolk, VA. They did not have a designated vessel to use, so they went looking for one. They found a WWII PT boat in Bangor, Maine, but they had to work on it, get is USCG approved, and transport it back to Norfolk. They took the train to Maine, worked on it for a few weeks, spent a week getting approved, then steamed from Maine to Norfolk. I think all total it was 5 or 6 weeks spent getting the boat. Forgot to mention, none of the adults went with them, just the Sea Scouts.

Yes, the CO can give the unit anything they want. They just can't raise funds in the name of Scouting or the BSA. Scouts can participate in the CO's fundraiser, but not in uniform.

yeah, we are in the same boat. Our troop MUST offer popcorn as a fundraising option for scouts who want camperships, but we do not require it of all scouts. The hangup I have is while we can do fundraising of other types when popcorn season is not going on....we are told that we can't do fundraising at the same time. Unfortunately, as popcorn runs pretty much ALL the nice months of the year, it leaves only the cold of winter or the mud of spring to do any fundraisers besides popcorn. That's where I'm stuck. I guess I'll just kick the tires when and if the scouts ask to do something. Don't wan

When I was a SM Council said Scouts choosing to not participate in Council fundraising activities (popcorn, camp cards) could adversely affect their ability to receive a campership/ financial aid from the Council. Furthermore, the Council campership application had a spot that specifically asked about individual participation in those fundraising activities. We didn't want to hinder a Scout being able to pursue those things, so we facilitated Scouts participating in Council fundraising, but did not require it. We also did our own fundraising activities and provided our own unit level financ

If you submit the form for a carwash in July, and get declined by your council, I recommend you do it anyways. (I would be absolutely shocked if they declined.) Just inform parents that you are doing it on behalf of your CO, to benefit your unit through them, and that the BSA insurance does not apply in that case. BTW, do your unit parents know that BSA insurance is supplemental only? (There are some exceptions where it is primary...) That is, it only covers the copays for things. There are a few other benefits, but I would not rate them as significant enough for you to cancel your

OH I totally wouldn't put it that way to the scouts. It just means I have to amend my previous statements. I told them "if you come up with a fundraiser you want to do, let me know and I'll get the committee to help." Now I need to amend it somewhat. In fact, anything that the PLC wants to do first needs to pass through me anyway as I wouldn't allow them to break rules or do something that goes against G2SS or YPT, so they know they can't do anything they want....but as it sounds...if the scouts said to me "We'd like to do a car wash in July", I'd have to tell them "no you're not allowed.

Great feedback everyone! The root of my question comes from the fact that I told the scouts "this is YOUR troop, and YOU get to decide what you do, it's up to us adults to remove roadblocks and make your plans achievable." However, now I have to backtrack and say...actually, you have no say in how you do fundraisers....grownups are going to tell you what to do.....again. Was hoping to avoid that. To be clear, I'm not trying to trash talk our fantastic council, just voicing my concerns about the realities I'm facing as a new scoutmaster. I'm sure they have historical reasons for

We were always told that they care, because they need to protect the name and image of the BSA, therefore any fundraising approved needs to follow the policies of the BSA... which is to NOT imply BSA endorsement of commercial products (although producing patches with commercial trademarks seems to be ok for some reason.) BSA uniforms are not permitted to be worn while fundraising, except popcorn, without Council Executive Board approval. And no asking for direct donations...money received must be in exchange for a legitimate product of value (and some may argue this with popcorn.) Some units

Yes, that was my intent. Sorry. We have chosen to no longer do the Popcorn, as it is NOT a good look due to the prices and such. Also, with YP, keeping scouts in front of stores and so on is challenging should we say? Thank you.

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They get a cut of the ones that they coordinate.

I believe you are in Katahdin Council and if so here are their unit fundraising rules on their website. I found no mention of "Absolutely no other troop fundraising other than popcorn sales during popcorn season." https://www.katahdinareabsa.org/files/18266/KAC-Unit-Fundraising-Guidelines-pdf In my experience, if a statement sounds doubtful ask to be shown where it is written policy.

Ah ok. Thanks for the clarification. (Inserting opinion - this doesn't sound very "scout led", and is opposing my messaging to the scouts "what do YOU want to do?". Instead, it's adults telling the scouts what the must do....kind of like saying...you MUST go to Klondike Derby, instead of asking the scouts if they want to go to Klondike Derby or would they rather go mountain climbing). End rant.

What I am saying is they can forbid any fundraising they choose to. If they don’t want to approve any other fundraising besides popcorn for 6 months, they can do that.

Not true. To do any fundraising, a unit needs an approved fundraising application. That is part of “following the national rules”. That application MUST be signed by the local council. Again, if you want to follow the rules. No application is needed for council fundraising.

Georges Remi, aka Hergé, was born in Brussels in 1907. He found joy in scouting, earning the nickname Curious Fox. Hergé stated, "As I was a boy scout, I started telling the story of a little boy scout to other little boy scouts." "His artistic journey began with drawings in scouting magazines, eventually leading him to the subscription department of Le Vingtième Siècle magazine In 1928, as Chief Editor of Le Petit Vingtième, he introduced Tintin and Snowy on January 10, 1929, in Le Petit Vingtième, a weekly youth supplement, marking the birth of an iconic duo." "Scouting gave me a

In this case, the CO is a group that is dying out, has lost their meeting space due to it being uninhabitable by humans, which has resulted in our troop losing OUR meeting space. It's a whole other problem for me to tackle (along with rebuilding the patrol method, transitioning to a scout led program, and figuring out how to handle an integrated boy and girl troop. Add it to the list Good thing I like a challenge!

Compounding the problem, we have scouts who want to go to camp, but struggle with the cost. Our council does "Camp Cards"(little coupons with discounts to local businesses I think) that are sold by scouts interested in getting financial assistance for camp. I have been told that in order for our troop to be eligible to participate in the camp card program, we MUST participate in the popcorn program.