KISMIF_Works

As I see it, accountability is the problem. I think most parents in a Pack recognize the CM as "upper management", and hold the CM accountable if something goes wrong with a Pack event. They don't want to hear about how the CM delegated something to somebody else, and it's that person's fault that something went wrong because that person didn't take care of it. I think the parents see it as Basementdweller put it...it's up to the CM to "keep an eye on things".

In this type of program that is entirely volunteer-run, we expect that when a person volunteers to do something, his/her own sense of accountability will drive him/her to deliver. Otherwise, what can we do? We can ultimately "fire" the volunteer, but not until after the fact. Seems like a common problem for many different volunteer-run organizations.

We can "keep an eye on things" but this is a touchy subject for a few reasons. First, the CM may not know the volunteer very well, and so a personal relationship isn't already established. This makes interaction awkward at first, just like getting to know your coworkers when you first start a job. Also, people have differing opinions of what constitutes "keeping in touch".

So some volunteers may be awful at communicating with the CM during the process, but ultimately deliver. Those volunteers may be offended at what they perceive to be too much "checking in" on them by the CM. However, without feedback how is the CM to know that the volunteer will ultimately deliver? Often times we've heard about how X delegated something to Y, X asked Y for an update but hasn't heard anything, X is hesitant to ask Y again because X doesn't want to "be a nag", and meanwhile the event is approaching fast and before you know it Y better come through because there isn't time for a plan B.

The ultimate accountability falling to the CM combined with the "touchiness" of delegating to others often times encourages a CM to take on more, not less responsibility.

In late summer we hold a program planning meeting where we try to flush out events and dates for the upcoming year. The output is our calendar for the year that we present at our fall recruiting night and our September Pack meeting.

I disagree that a Pack must "keep coming up with fantastic and fun new ideas" to keep the boys engaged. Our annual program is pretty much cookie-cutter:

- Fall family campout (Halloween)

- Halloween party at October's Pack meeting

- Raingutter Regatta (November's Pack meeting)

- Winter cabin campout (December)

- Holiday party at December's Pack meeting

- Pinewood Derby (January's Pack meeting)

- Blue & Gold Banquet (February's Pack meeting)

- "special" Pack camping event (spring)

- Graduation ceremonies at May's Pack meeting

- Summer family campout

- Summer day camp

- some kind of summer event

When my older son joined 5 years ago the entire Pack was about 20 boys. This past fall we swelled to 70+ and are sitting close to 60 heading into summer. It's my belief that the program we have is good and doesn't need to be continuously reinvented. Instead, the key is *executing* it. We've greatly improved our planning, coordination and execution over the past couple years to the point now where events run on-time or even end early!

There are a few events that aren't already "dedicated"...the March and April Pack meetings, the "special" Pack event, and the summer event. This is where we do some creative thinking to try to make the event fun. If we come up with something that really works, we'll likely repeat it.

For our "special" event we've done the Buffalo Naval Park overnighter, a science center overnighter and a zoo overnighter. These have all been well-received and attended, so we'll do them again but in some kind of rotation.

We've done a Pack bowling party in March the past couple years, and since it's well-attended and feedback is positive we'll likely continue to do it.

At last year's April Pack meeting we did a "field day" type thing, and that was OK. This year we did a compressed air rocket launch instead, and that was a big hit, so we may repeat it next year.

We don't worry about budget planning at this meeting. We have a dedicated "finance subcommittee" of about 5-6 people who are interested in finances, and we keep in touch throughout the year to monitor the budget and determine Pack contributions towards events as they get closer.

We usually have about 50 people at a Pack campout, and spaghetti is one of our easier and cheaper meals to prepare. I agree with an earlier suggestion to use penne instead, since it holds up better. You can buy a very large bag of frozen, pre-cooked meatballs at Sam's Club or Walmart that can be warmed up in the sauce. We dish out the pasta and sauce separately because it seems some like lots of sauce, some like little and some like none.

At last year's summer campout we had sloppy joe sandwiches and mac-n-cheese for dinner, and that went pretty well. We prepared the sloppy joe in advance and just warmed it at camp.

We usually offer hot dogs, chips and s'mores on the first night of a two-nighter since they are easy to fix individually and families are arriving at different times.

I've been wanting to try the walking taco for lunch. Any guesses on the average number of tacos I can get from a pound of hamburger?

At our dedicated sign-up night in the fall (when about 80% of the families in attendance are planning to join) we hand out a folder with the following information:

- BSA Cub Scout Parent Information Guide (linked by ScoutNut)

- a 2-page info sheet for our Pack

- a 1-page uniform info sheet describing our Pack's uniform policy, anticipated costs, basic patch placement and nearby stores

- calendar of events for the year

- youth application and medical record form

- parent talent survey/volunteer form

Our 2-page info sheet gives some background on our Pack, how it works in very basic terms ("Pack" versus "Den" organization and activities), when/where we meet (our dens meet at different dates/locations), costs (upfront vs. actual, with discussion of our fundraiser) and what they include, and contact information including a link to our website.

We do a break-out session of about 25 minutes where the kids are off doing an activity and then I launch into details about how the program works, trying to cover all the important bases without getting too in-depth. While I am doing this there are several other Pack parents milling around the event to field questions. We find that to be very effective for question-answering because it seems people prefer to ask their questions 1-on-1 rather than raise their hand in front of a group (the fear of the dumb question).

If we were to expand our info sheet into a starter guide I would include the following items based on questions I typically hear:

- the Pack's policy on sports and missing meetings...for instance, our Pack is very flexible on this (as I'm sure most are?) and I find it helps to be proactive in communicating that to ease concerns for those parents who would rather not join than cause a conflict with sport X

- how advancement works (that parents can sign off for requirements at some ranks, that achievements/electives can be earned outside of meetings, etc.)

- level of family involvement and when the family is welcome...I can see how this is a point of confusion for new families. For instance, den meetings by nature are meant to be more intimate, focusing on the scout and his adult partner, but pack meetings are meant to be family events. Who can attend the camp-outs? For families who are used to sports programs where the families are primarily spectators, Cub Scouts is a bit different.

I'm going to chime in now, having come fresh off of the Webelos trail with my older son. Many great ideas have been posted here already, and I'll be echoing some of them. These are merely my opinions based on my 20 months with my Webelos den of about 8 boys.

- Go camping as a Webelos den! The best fun the boys (and parents) had during these past couple years was camping as a den. Discourage siblings from attending for two reasons: 1) helps prepare the Webelos for Boy Scouts, and 2) allows you to keep the activities age-appropriate to the Webelos.

- Try to get a Den Chief from a nearby Troop. I tried unsuccessfully but saw how much fun the den a year ahead of my den had with their Den Chief.

- Mix in the "active" badges with the "classroom" badges to keep the meetings fun. For example, the Athlete and Sportsman badge requirements are pretty easy to sprinkle in to meetings where you are working on Fitness and Citizen.

- Try to arrange for outings or visits from other adults to help achieve some of the badges. We toured a nearby Art Museum when working on Artist, visited City Hall for Citizen, and had a local EMT come to our meeting to help with Readyman.

- Keep in contact with nearby Troops and try to arrange a few different opportunities to meet with them, both in meetings and outings.

Thanks for elaborating on the situation.

I guess one positive thing to keep in mind (unless he has a younger son) is that since the current CC is also the Webelos DL, then he should be expected to move on some time next year. Depending upon when your 2nd-year Webelos typically cross over, this could be as early as next February. So my first suggestion is to see if there is a way to keep things friendly and ride it out.

Personalities aside, it seems like a majority of the issues stem from all of the leaders not being on the same page. Like ScoutNut mentioned, many discussions are best held in-person at the Leaders Meeting. I will use email discussions at times for the same kind of thing you did, but when doing so I spell out a few options and ask for a vote. I find it helps keep the discussion from going off the rails.

Have regular (monthly) Committee/Leaders Meetings. The DLs should be included because it sounds like they are helping to execute the events (e.g., auction, PWD) that are being planned at these meetings. Send out an agenda in advance so that everyone knows what will be discussed. This is the opportunity for each person to voice his/her opinion, *not* at the event itself.

Make sure there is buy-in for event plans, and that assignments are clear after discussing a topic (e.g., "OK, so just to wrap up the discussion, V and W are in charge of setting up the track, X and Y are handling car check-in, Z is taking care of snacks."). The Secretary should be doing this, or handle it yourself if you don't have a Secretary.

After the meeting and before the event, send out a short update describing the plan and assignments. This benefits anybody who wasn't at the meeting while at the same time repeating the assignments to avoid any confusion.

If it is the case that the current CC should be moving on within a year, then start the discussion at the next Leaders Meeting that the committee should begin looking for candidates to succeed the CC. Describe it as an opportunity for the next person to "shadow" the current CC during this next year, and suggest that the replacement help "share the load" with the CC as a way of off-loading some tasks.

A bit more background about the difficulties the DLs are having with the CC would be helpful.

It sounds like your COR involvement is similar to ours. For us he just signs the paperwork when necessary. He is supportive of our Pack but doesn't have the time to be involved in the planning and execution of the program.

So far I see that you are in your first year as CM and he is in his first year as CC. Changing the top two leadership positions simultaneously can be a big adjustment for a Pack. How much experience have you both had with the Pack prior to these positions, and how much experience have the DLs had?

Is it possible that one or more of the DLs had an eye on the CC position and is bitter now? I witnessed that type of situation a couple years back, where one of the DLs "didn't have time" to be the CM, but was constantly making things difficult for the guy who did step in to the role. He thought he could do a better job and wanted to make sure everyone else knew that.

Training could help everyone involved, if it's missing currently. It should help everyone understand what is expected of each position, possibly clearing up some misconceptions.

I understand your frustration from experience. I was in the 'peacekeeper' role for a couple years, and I hated it. I simply can't stand for any adult politics in this program. This year has been our first full year since a couple of the 'personalities' have moved on, and it's amazing how positive the vibe is among our leadership.

Your situation does need to be diffused, though...I was surprised at how parents who were attending our Pack events could pick up on the tension between leaders, and it made them uncomfortable.

That sounds like great news! Hopefully together you can generate some positive momentum for your program.

In my experience, positive leadership combined with good organized events seem to be key in getting other parents to want to pitch in. During my earlier years in the Pack, when it was more dysfunctional, I could see parents distancing themselves from the "sinking ship". Now that the program is humming along it seems we have more help than ever.

This might sound weird to an outsider, but I think others here can relate to what I'm about to say...just be careful not to get too emotionally invested in the outcome of each event. Some events might not execute as well as you had hoped, but don't get too discouraged if that happens. Don't get discouraged if things seem to be taking a while to turn around. I start each Committee/Leaders Meeting with a critique of our last Pack event. I find that it helps us not only for when we go to plan that event the following year, but to help us anticipate issues that could arise for our upcoming events.

I believe that a Cub Scout program that is repeated annually but well-executed is superior to one that mixes things up but is poorly executed.

Repetition is not necessarily a sign of complacency. If the leadership still gets excited about planning and executing each event, and the events are popular with the boys, then everybody benefits. It's easier to plan and to identify where help is required in order to recruit volunteers. It's easier for new leaders who are transitioning into the program to succeed because they know what to expect from the events they are now helping to execute.

Kids seem to enjoy repetition. They will watch the same TV shows or movies and listen to the same songs repeatedly. They will play soccer or football or baseball each year even though the game is always the same. My sons and I go swimming just about every week, and they look forward to it every time. It seems like we've barely finished doing something fun and they are already asking when we can go back and do it again.

Put that in the context of an annual program and I can't imagine the boys thinking that Pack events are repeated too often, especially if they enjoy them.

Hi and welcome to the forums! I have found this place to be a great source of information and ideas, and I hope you have the same experience.

I read and then re-read your post, and could still have missed this already but how many scouts do you currently have in your Pack? How many Den Leaders do you have?

This is my experience only, it may not follow the ideals presented in the BSA materials, but here goes...

When I first volunteered to be the Den Leader for my older son's Wolf Den 4 years ago, I was informed by the CM at the time that I should attend the monthly Committee Meetings. I was excited to be a part of the program planning. However, it turned out that I was in the minority. It wasn't uncommon during that first year for just 3 people total to be in attendance at a Committee Meeting. Our Pack's only Committee Member that wasn't CM/DL was the Treasurer, who wasn't able to attend the Committee Meetings.

Fast-forward to now and as the CM I chair Committee Meetings with around 15 people in attendance! We have 6 Committee Members who aren't CM/DL, and they regularly attend the Committee Meetings. All of our leaders are parents with boys in the Pack. Our COR never attends any of our Committee Meetings as they are pretty hands-off.

I've seen the BSA organization chart and I know that the CM isn't the head of the Committee, but for us it works out that way. It just turns out that I really enjoy planning and organizing the program, and the people I have around me are very supportive and helpful but don't want to be the "leader". Really I don't think it matters as long as somebody is willing to be the "leader", present a vision, be positive and enthusiastic, and encourage participation and feedback from others.

Think of your current DLs as the basis for your "functioning" Committee, and after that in my opinion focus on a Treasurer first and Advancements Chair second! I am kind of paranoid about finances and think a Treasurer is essential to maintaining financial transparency. The Advancements Chair is pretty much required now by the use of online advancements and its dependency on a single person maintaining that information.

Recruiting those two positions shouldn't be too hard in my experience because they are "background" positions that don't require the adult to wear a uniform or get in front of a crowd. The tricky part is identifying individuals to fill those roles, which is where the existing DLs should be valuable. I find that DLs know quite a bit about which parents in their Den are and *are not* good candidates.

Next you need to focus on making Committee Meetings efficient, effective and enjoyable in order to get adults to donate some of their free time to attend:

- Prepare an agenda and stick to it! I email a rough copy out in advance of the meeting to give people an advance opportunity to think about what we'll be discussing. I find it really helps me keep the meeting moving so that we finish business discussions within 1 hour.

- For each topic be prepared to present your vision for how it should work, and then present options when you think a consensus decision is required. I find it helps us keep things moving if we are discussing options a, b and c versus just open-ended deliberation.

- Keep things loose and lively! Make the meeting enjoyable and upbeat so that it feels less like work.

This year I've focused on keeping the meetings to within an hour (they used to drag on for close to 2 hours!), and have observed that the adults are willing to hang around for another half hour or so afterwards just to chat.

We have done this type of survey the past two years now. We offer a paper version at the Blue & Gold Banquet in February, which seems like a good time to reflect back on the scouting year and has a great percentage of parents in attendance already.

Last year I replicated an online version of the paper survey using zoomerang. We had about 30 paper entries and 10 online entries. What I noticed last year was that the paper entries were overwhelmingly positive feedback, so much so that perhaps none of them were negative. We received a few negative-type online entries, however. Perhaps the online option gave a parent or two who had basically dropped out of the program an opportunity to voice their opinion about why, which is a good thing.

Unfortunately zoomerang scaled back the features for the "free" service this year and I didn't have the time to repeat the online survey creation process using another service, so we went with just the paper version.

If you are interested in seeing our survey just PM me and I can email you a copy. For the most part I think it is similar to what you are using. In general we try to cover three categories:

1. Program - feedback on fun and value for meetings and events. This section is most like yours, I believe. We also ask a general question to get their feel for if there are not enough/just right/too many events. I always expect the feedback to lean towards "too many", but it's overwhelmingly "just right". I suspect my impression may be skewed by the fact that I'm not just attending events but also organizing them!

2. Communication - we try to find out what method parents rely on most (phone/email/web/handouts), and how our different methods are working. Last year we launched a website using the SOAR service with weekly email "blasts", so we want feedback on how parents like it (they love it). However last year we found that a considerable percentage of parents rely primarily on phone communication, so this year we piloted a "phone blast" service (CallingPost) and then solicited feedback about it in this year's survey.

3. Funding - here we are looking for feedback about current funding methods and potential changes. Last year we broke it all down for the parents on the survey and then asked a few questions. We typically ask for a modest amount of annual dues ($35) and do just the popcorn fundraiser, and for us it has typically been on a voluntary basis. We broke last year's popcorn sales down with a pie chart showing the percentage of scouts who sold (a) nothing, (b) something, and © at or above our suggested goal. We spelled out the popcorn revenue generated by the scouts as two numbers: (1) the average per scout who sold at least something, and (2) the average over all scouts. We then asked if they were happy with things as they currently are, and what they thought about a couple proposals. Proposal #1 was to charge more for annual dues ($65) but refund part of it back if the scout reached his popcorn goal, and proposal #2 was to keep the annual dues the same but award a certificate to each scout who reached his goal that he could use as payment towards Pack events. The feedback for proposal #1 was about 50/50, but was more like 80% positive for proposal #2. Based on that feedback we rolled out proposal #2 this year and used this year's survey to get feedback about how parents liked it.

Our website has the ability to accept PayPal payments, so we got feedback about that opportunity in this year's survey. Based on the feedback we received it seems that few parents would use PayPal, so we probably won't go any further with it. In this case the survey saved us some time setting up and promoting a payment system that people wouldn't use.

Another vote for Grand Prix Race Manager here. We purchased this package this year and used it for the first time at our Derby a few weeks ago.

Pros (in my opinion):

- Current (installs/runs on modern operating systems, including 64-bit Windows 7)

- LOTs of configuration options

- Decent set-up wizard

- Roster import option

- Interfaces to many hardware packages, but also allows for manual results entry (good back-up plan option for technical difficulties on race day)

- Lots of scoring options (points vs. time, tiebreakers)

- Pretty nice Racing and Standings screens that can be run through a projector

- Price is very reasonable ($60 new, $10 upgrade, regardless of Pack size)

- It can be used for Raingutter Regatta or Space Derby also (we do Regatta and Derby both each year)

Cons (again in my opinion):

- A bit overwhelming (but then that goes with being very configurable, right?)

While it is fee-based, our Pack uses SOAR and the bang-for-the-buck ($99 flat annually for all the bells & whistles) value is so great that I'm sure our committee would consider cuts in other areas of the budget before this!

We use it for the following:

- Announcements

- Pack Roster

- One central calendar with events that are filterable by den

- Weekly email newsletter

- Customizable email lists

- Event sign-up

- File/photo storage

- Den-specific pages

- New member recruitment

Having email lists is nice, but the weekly email newsletter is fantastic because it automatically gives parents a reminder of upcoming events that is filtered for the den(s) to which their son(s) belong. We use the email lists mostly for communication among leaders/committee.

It does an excellent job of protecting privacy by requiring account log-in for much of its access, while still allowing some public content to support recruitment. I had several new parents this year who visited the site and printed off a new application and medical form and brought them to me.

At a relatively low cost, it is hands-down better than what we were trying to accomplish before using the free Yahoo! Groups.

Twocubdad made some excellent points.

Change the criteria upon which you are deciding success/failure. Is your son(s) enjoying himself? Do you have healthy-sized dens at each rank level, with enthusiastic leaders? Are you putting together a program that you are proud of?

Learn a lesson from this summer and apply it towards next summer! Take advantage of that down time to recharge your batteries.

Our Pack offered 6 events over this past summer, but we wouldn't come close to earning the Summertime Pack award because participation at each of them varied greatly. I'm not going to stress that, though. The important thing is that we offered the events, and that the families who participated in them had fun.

My wife and I worked at one of our schools' open houses last week, doing the recruitment thing. It was her first time doing so, and she was surprised by the number of parents who pulled their son past our table rather than let him stop and look at our display. For whatever reason, for some parents it's just not an attractive program. I'm not going to be discouraged by that, though. We'll follow through with our typical recruiting process and let the results be what they are. I'll leave the numbers game to somebody else.

I also just used CallingPost for the first time this past week, after learning about it here. We first began using SOAR last year to establish a great website with email reminders, but it of course misses those parents who either don't use the web or rarely use it. CallingPost is going to work out great for getting out those last-minute phone calls for event reminders or change in plans.

Learning about new things like this is why I love coming to this site!

Webelos are allowed to build a fire (Outdoorsman badge), and you can use the coals from the fire to cook a simple dutch oven cobbler.

I have a few questions for those who use the opt-out:

#1: Is the opt-out voluntary, or is it required if the scout does not reach his sales goal?

#2: If the opt-out kicks in when the scout does not reach his goal, is it implemented on a sliding scale (e.g., if he sells 40% towards his goal then the opt-out is reduced by 40%)?

#3: If the parents opt-out then is the boy eligible for any of the incentives (e.g., pie in the face)?

Just curious how this is handled. We have kicked the idea around for ourselves, but I struggle with how to implement it.

The boys in my den really enjoyed playing "Citizen Jeopardy". Inform them about the activity beforehand so that they can (a) watch an episode of "Jeopardy" to learn how it works, and (b) study the relevant section of their Webelos handbooks in advance.

CubsRgr8 - agreed, and I've witnessed it myself.

We have an adult leader who stretched herself waaaaay too thin last year, and the result was that she became unreliable in the areas for which she was taking responsibility. One of those responsibilities was securing advancements, and failing to come through there simply won't do.

This year I recruited a new adult volunteer to serve only as our Advancement Chair. This was met with resistance from the other leader, but I spun it as:

- Isn't it great that we have another adult willing to help out?

- The pack needs as much help from as many adults as possible (shared responsibility)

- Now you don't have to be burdened with that job anymore, and can focus on your titled position instead

Now whether or not that actually smoothed things out with her, I don't know. But in my opinion it was a much more diplomatic explanation than "you did a bad job last year so you were replaced".

scoutldr - that is an interesting way of looking at it. My question is what exactly are parents paying for? It seems to vary from pack to pack. In my opinion the $10 (soon to be $15) registration fee alone certainly doesn't cover a year's worth of *activities* - it doesn't even cover advancement costs.

In theory, I understand the importance of offering a year-round program, and in practice our pack holds a single event each month during the summer to offer the boys something to do. However, these events tend to be loosely-organized because the volunteer leadership is trying to take a breather from the whole scout program for a couple months. It could just be me, but I find it hard to be an enthusiastic, gung-ho volunteer leader all 12 months out of the year. It's much easier being a volunteer coach for rec soccer or basketball.

In my opinion the Cub Scout program can be tricky for new parents to understand because it appears at first to be something they can simply enroll their boy into, like soccer or baseball or karate, etc. The devil is in the details, however, as they are enlightened to the fact that the entire program is parent-run and will not succeed without significant volunteer effort. I went through the same experience as JimWhiteLongBeach when my son first signed up as a Tiger, and remember being totally surprised.

Cub Scouts appears to be some national program, but in reality at the pack level it's just a bunch of families planning and conducting activities so their boys can have some fun. The experience can vary WIDELY for each pack.

Also consider spinning it as a positive - another parent in the den is so excited about the program that she wants to be an adult leader, too! How could anyone possibly have a problem with another parent wanting to be involved as well?

jblake47 - that was a great idea, and I bet it helped with retention within your den. I especially like that you didn't put the parents in a "Scouts vs. X" dilemma, which I've seen another Webelos leader in our den do.

I think an approach like that works best at the den level rather than the pack level, because you can plan age-appropriate (read: fun, exciting, challenging) activities for your Webelos boys.

As a Den Leader, I can quickly group the other parents in my den as:

- Not present (usually drops the boy off and picks him up at the end)

- Present, but not really there (prefers to chat with the other parents)

- Present and hangs back with other parents, but will help if specifically asked

- Present, jumps in to help without being asked

- Uniformed assistant, but does not want to plan/lead

Finding somebody willing to help out as an assistant has been difficult. It sounds like you have a part-time assistant, and if it were me I would avoid forcing her to "step down" ("stepping up" is unlikely, right?) unless she was doing something to negatively impact the boys' experience.

I was thinking "Two-deep leadership" during your original post, as a rational way of explaining why you need to take on another assistant. I can't see a reason why she would feel slighted by that explanation when she surely knows she can't be relied on for perfect attendance.

Hi JMHawkins, and thanks for the valuable feedback!

Our pack does a separate recruiting night in September, and it is usually the week before our pack meeting. Our leadership has put a lot of effort into improving our recruiting (both advertising beforehand and the recruiting night itself), and it paid off - this year we more than doubled in size to 70+ boys!

However, the problems came at our first pack meeting. We had planned to introduce all of the new scouts and present them with their neckerchief, slide and book, and stuck with that plan, but it took forever (in boy time) to get that done. Not only that, but we had several new sign-ups that night, which diverted the attention of some of our leaders away from the meeting. We did have a snack for the boys to work on while we did the Popcorn Kick-off, but still I have to believe most new parents came away hoping all pack meetings are not like that. I plan for us to address that next year.

I agree the timing of the popcorn sale is bad, but for our pack it is our only fundraiser, and it accounts for a vast majority of our funds (we collect only about $30 in pack dues). We make a point of telling the parents about it at our recruiting night, because we feel it best to be up-front about it.

I've been a Den Leader for a few years now, and in our pack each den is on its own with regards to all meeting supplies, outing fees, etc. Each Den Leader decides on his/her own how to handle den dues to cover those costs.

In my opinion the problem with this approach is that each leader must always keep meetings 'on-the-cheap', or else ask parents for additional money to pay for supplies (dues), or else fish around for donated materials. In practice for me it's been a combination of all three.

One year I tried $1 per meeting (half of which was meant to spread out the cost of a bowling party), the next year I tried a flat $5 fee (we didn't have an outing to pay for), and this year I am back to $1 per meeting. I estimate that I have collected about 80% of what I have asked for over the years. There are a couple families in our den that are struggling, and I end up letting it go rather than ask yet again for the dues. Either way it puts me in an awkward situation (play collections officer or pay out-of-pocket myself).

This week we are having a Halloween-themed Pack meeting, with games to play and prizes to win. I am on the hook for bringing prizes to hand out for my den's game, at a cost of around $10. Not a big deal, except if I wasn't the Den Leader then I wouldn't be expected to bring them, so in a way it's a small fee I get to pay for being a volunteer.

Sorry to ramble, but this is actually an issue I've been thinking about as I prepare to take over Cubmaster duties next year. My conclusion at this point is that moving forward it is in the best interest of each den if the pack budgets some money for den supplies.

In our experience the Den Leader holds on to the den dues, since he/she is using them directly for the den meetings. Personally I wouldn't take offense to his not telling you about it. He saw an issue within his den, and addressed it in a reasonable manner. If he charged an excessive amount or something, that would be another story.