fred8033

I think this point is key to justifying fundraisers going into scout accounts. **** Does anyone have more information on this aspect? **** "However, the IRS still will overlook individual fundraisers (i.e., each girl selling cookie dough) in which the girl keeps her own money earned. This distinction between types of fundraisers may seem obscure, but the endeavors involving participation by the group and the amount of money raised, as opposed to one individual at a time, seem to be the deciding factors." ...

Twocubdad is adding to the requirement. Video please. Seriously though, the book is not required. Same as your membership in a troop is optional too. If a troop says that's how their troop tracks and administers advancement, it's part of membership in the troop. You can always find another troop. Though it would be difficult to find a troop that didn't use the scoutbook. I must admit that I'd be gun-shy to use anything else. Ya the adults use TroopMaster and the adults use on-line software. But that's for the adults to coordinate the group. That's the bureaucracy part.

The avalanche has already begun. It is too late for the pebbles to vote. --Kosh Love that show though I'm sad the Vorlons turned into bad guys.

Oak Tree: I should mention that I'm close to full agreement with what you wrote. I just don't think it's a 100% definitive. It's a case by case thing. There is room to argue, wiggle and perhaps options. Also note that most every example presented is written within "COULD", not a definitive "would". Here's an okay summary I had found. Plus a great quote: "... frequently results in illegal private benefit. However, the IRS has stopped short of strictly prohibiting IFAs." That's the issue. There is some room to argue you can do scout accounts. It's a thing of interpretting insubstatial

It's not that clear cut. I'm not saying your wrong. I'm not saying your giving bad advice. Your giving the play-it-safe answer which is always a good choice. I'm just saying it's not 100% clear. The following 2002 IRS article explains my reasoning. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-wd/02-0041.pdf I had read the 1993 article you quoted. That same 1993 document you quote also says: "As indicated in GCM 39862, the inurement proscription is aimed at preventing dividend-like distributions of charitable assets or expenditures to benefit a private interest" The 1993 article examp

Gunny2862 - Nice comments. Beavah wrote "For da Citizenship badge, the purpose of the service is to help 'em see how a particular organization contributes to their local community, and a bit of how organizations like that rely on folks in the community steppin' up as volunteers. The point is to build connections to their community, eh? And understandin'. Not to tick off 8 hours with their head down not payin' a lick of attention or cross-countin' hours unrelated to da purpose of the badge." That's exactly the view the Citz of Community MB counselor. That's what he should communi

Brewmeister wrote: "I also predict that, sooner or later, the BSA is going to say it's ok to be untrustworthy, disloyal, unhelpful, unfriendly, discourteous, unkind, disobedient, surly, unthrifty, cowardly, unclean, and irreverent as well." Democrats ???

Nights of camping - Also if you define the activity as having ## number of nights of camping, you can over-ride that for individual scouts. Very necesasry if the scout did not stay both nights. ScoutNet - We've been using this continually lately. We treat that as the master. Our TroopMaster is just for the lower details. i.e. who was on what camp out. what activities did we do. etc.

basementdweller: ".I was look for a single sheet summary for a scout...." Troopmaster -> Reports -> Awards/Advancement ->Individual History. - Get used to TroopMaster paging feature for multiple pages. It looks underwhelming if you don't page between pages. - Play around with the options. I like to include everything and ALSO CHECK "Omit details on completed ranks". That gets really long. Troopmaster is a piece of software that we've used for years. Hasn't changed at all except minor features. I would love for us to switch to something else. But I have not found

bnelon44 - I probably was unclear. If the scout is 2nd class (or what ever class) and working on the MB, fine. I'm just saying that the MB counselor should pay attention to the words in the MB requirement as written. The troop pays attention to the advancement requirements as written. If the service matches the requirements, I'm okay with it. If anything, it's a coordination issue the scout needs to take care of solving. Describing it as "double dipping" or "gaming the system" is just poor sportsmanship.

I just re-read the MB requirement. It says "While working on this merit badge, volunteer at least eight hours of your time for the organization." That puts a boundary saying you can't count hours before you started working on the MB. Other MBs fall into the basic GTA rule stating that you can't credit work done before becoming a Boy Scout. ... IMHO, this comes down to the MB counselor is responsible for the MB. The scoutmaster and unit are responsible for rank. The MB counselor is not responsible for rank advancement and the scoutmaster/unit is not responsible for MB requireme

Our "approval" is more like .... SCOUT: Scoutmaster ###, I'm going to work on ###### this weekend. Okay? SCOUTMASTER: Sounds great. Look forward to hearing about it.

Focusing on no double dipping is just noise. I agree with previous comment that most scouts have performed service many times over. I know that if I say "There's no explicit rule saying you can't count the same service for both rank and the merit badge", someone will respond that of course not every single possible rule combination is documented. Or that it should be obvious you can't do both. Or why have such low standards. Or .... one of many other dozen rules .... But if we apply the no double dipping rule, it should be done consistently. ---- Camping nights used for

TAX IMPLICATIONS - I've read on this repeatedly. Generally, the whole topic is clear as mud. As with many legal issues, it is an argument of nuances. How much is the private benefit of scout accounts necessary to achieve the public good of the exempt status? http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-wd/02-0041.pdf Gosh, we had eight eagles who did a total of 2400 hours of community service for their projects. Plus we do service projects at camp (i.e. for a non-profit). We help in the community thru food shelters and local service. We help keep kids from being delinquent. Plus selling grows character

I think the viewpoint is wrong on this. It's absolutely great if the pack can choose, prepare and switch den leaders. But, from my experience, that's rare. It's just too hard to find spare leaders who are just waiting for new responsibilities. Instead, view it as you just got a group of new scouts joining as Tigers. They have parents. One of the parents needs to step forward. If none of the parents step forward, you don't have any new Tigers. Hand them back their applications and thank them for inquiring into the pack. Sort of like the youngest leagues of sports. Parents si

Slusher - Quick clarifications. - He was BSA employed in Germany. I don't see any record he was employed by BSA in US. - Could not bring 1972 issues to local USA police attention as it was not in the USA. - The 1972 case was discussed with the scout parents. The parents didn't contact the police either. - He was registered in a different troop then his original troop when he returned. That troop was probably not notified about him. - Later he was unregistered / removed in early 1976. Police arrested him in 1977. Given how old paper records were handled, I could s

... Mind you all the events surrounding this discussion are sad and creepy.... I am fairly pleasantly surprised with the detail in the files and the effort to handle. It's still creepy stuff, but it does look like BSA was trying to do something. Not always making the best decisions, but clearly making the effort. I was also pleasantly surprised at the timeline included in the documents. http://documents.latimes.com/boy-scouts-youth-protection-timeline/

Gotta admit.... I felt a slight thrill hearing we have a new insignia guide.... I need to get a life. Then ... I started looking for the PDF. At the scouting.org web site I found the following: "A printed copy of this essential reference may be purchased online at http://www.scoutstuff.org or through your local council Scout shop." Why can't documents like this be available? Why do we have to purchase them? Why re-write extracts as a series of web pages that are often out of date compared to the official published document. Just make the PDF version available online. Or save

Another discussion point. http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2012/08/03/task-force-proposes-moving-to-one-oath-and-law-for-all-programs/comment-page-2/#comment-11017

Beavah wrote: "Average troop size nation-wide accordin' to JTE materials is 14 boys or so. " Yeah, I just don't believe that number. In retail sales, you compare store sales on existing stores and excluding stores that are new or closing down. I think that should also be applied to troop size. Exclude troops that are essentially dead or dying. Exclude troops that are less than three years old. It would be easy to exclude new troops. It would only be possible to exclude dead or dying troops by waiting a few years and then looking backward. ... Part of being a healthy troo

twocubdad wrote: "But given the relationship between the troop and pack, for the Webelos to pretend they then have to give every other troop in town an even shot offends my sense of loyalty. " I fully agree. It also helps from another direction. Right now, families flock to the most successful troop. In our town, the most successful troop will get 20+ new webelos. And then lose 50% of them in the next year. I'd rather see the pack/troop linkage stronger such that there is a continual set of new families that feed into each unit to help refresh it and make it a good program. Ri

- 25 is not a large troop. It's an average troop. - 5 to 7 is a "starter" troop. It's a troop with one patrol and no SPL. It should have a goal of getting to the ideal of 32 scouts. Avoid the troop if it doesn't have that goal and a plan and a candidate pool of future scouts. - 50+, 60+, 70+, 80+ is a large troop. The trouble with a troop of 5 to 7 scouts is... - If a few quit, you don't have enough scouts - If a few scouts don't go on a camp out, you can end up canceling events. - Every parent needs to help. Not enough families to just have a few families help. - Not

ParkMan wrote: "Personally, I'm a big fan of the Webelos being Webelos - an almost separate program from the Cubs or the Boy Scouts. " Me too. Webelos need to viewed and structured as separate from both Cubs and Webelos.

Horizon wrote: "When I was growing up, Jane Fonda movies were not allowed to be shown in our house. My father despised her for her actions during the Vietnam era. I don't think that hurt her much." Jane Fonda's career took a HUGE HUGE HUGE hit because of that incredibly insensitive picture she took and all the surrounding comments etc. And rightfully so. Our soldiers were getting killed every day in Vietnam. And she (i.e. Hanoi Jane) was sitting on artillery aimed at our soldiers. There are multiple generations that remember that picture. http://www.iconocast.com/07-10-2012/74/Jane

I remember the Dixie Chick controversy back when it happened. I had to look up the details. Then read about their 2006 tour. Wow. Adding concerts in Canada. Canceling and downsizing concerts in the US. Now touring as an opening act. Not as a headliner. Hmmm.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidents_%26_Accusations_Tour It's also interesting in that they've won multiple Grammies (plural of Grammy???). Shows a disconnect between sales and awards. Interesting.(This message has been edited by fred8033)