SRLoper764

What aboout the Bull Knot, Either a white or black bull, for those that are full of it.

Chief Decorah you asked: When your unit does fundraising, do you have specific fundraisers for the unit's treasury and specific fundraisers for the Scout accounts, or do you take the proceeds of every fundraiser, regardless of type, and split it, say 80%/20% or 60%/40%?

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Im still learning the ropes in my troop, Im a fairly new ASM. However I did have an interesting discussion with a friend that became popcorn chair my district.

According to her one of the things most people forget is that there are three components to raising money and most people only focus on two, they are:

Money for the Boys

Money for the Troop

Money for the District

The two you hear about the most are the boys and troop, not district.

Popcorn money is generally divided 35% for the Trop to disperse as they see fit, typically for the boys. The next 35% goes to the District and the remaining 30% goes to Trails-End. Any other fundraiser as far as I know is typically done for the boys or troop and not District.

I think that the reason for raising the money should indicate where it is to go and everyone know up front why they are having a fundraiser.

YIS

Bill

First off, thank you to all that have responded. I knew I wasnt the only one that faced these kinds of problems. Well let me address some of the replies.

LisaBob you wrote

As for getting the boys enthused about participating in your fundraisers, I think you need to look at their understanding of what the money pays for, and how the money is used.

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Excellent point, matter of fact we had a Canoeing Merit Badge class and I discussed some of that with the boys in my car. Interesting to see their side.

Does your troop have individual scout accounts?

I havent asked that question yet although from what I am hearing I believe we do.

When your troop plans its annual calendar, do you include a discussion of cost with the boys?

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In the last year I have been with the Troop I have not seen that.

Do most the parents in your troop accept, or complain about, paying out of pocket for everything?

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Cant really say, we have pretty much taken care of the financial end for my son so far. Id like to see him work more for the trips and campouts than he has.

OK I guess what I'm suggesting is that you include in your printed material an overview of how to set budget goals, how to determine where, how, and by whom the money will be used (in advance of doing the fundraiser), and maybe some specific examples of popular troop activities, their cost, and how fundraisers might be used to meet that cost. The latter might be a real eye opener for some boys and families.

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That is some of what I am looking for to put into this outline.

scoutldr you wrote:

each activity, as part of the planning process, should include a budget and a plan for how to raise the money.

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That is also part of what I see I need to include in my outline

The troop committee's input should include the operating expenses: registration, training fees, camperships, awards, etc.

And t158sm wrote:

First question I'll have to ask is - Does your troop have a functioning troop committee?

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Best answer I can give on the Troop committee is that in the last year I have been with the troop I have only been able to attend 2 of 4 committee meetings. It is something that they desperately want to do on a regular basis but unfortunately I think life gets in the way too many times. That is my perspective of whats going on, might not be theirs.

Glad you enjoyed the course, Jon (your course SM) and I went Through SR-33 together in 1994

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That is the year my son was born, Jon from what I have seen really has a heart for scouting and made the experience Better Than Good.

funscout you wrote:

I wish the Packs and Troops didn't both sell popcorn. It gets frustrating to hear people say, "I already bought from another scout, or my nephew/grandson/etc. is in one of the other units, so I'm buying from him."

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Believe me I do understand what you mean, just in my neighborhood there are 8 scouts that I know of and of those all but two are in the same pack or troop with the same charter org. We too have heard comments like that.

Personally at work I just hang the popcorn list in my office and those that want to buy will ask. I used to work where I could not ask others and this way I stayed out of trouble. Not to mention one of the dads where I used to work sold a lot of popcorn for his son every year.

All thank you for your comments and advice. I will take all into consideration while working my ticket for Wood Badge. If you have any other comments ideas please post away, Im not the smartest person in the world but I have learned to use OPE (Others Peoples Experience) to make things easier.

YIS

Bill

ASM 412

All,

I've been reading through the posts on fundraising and have enjoyed the feedback to questions poised.

Now its my turn to toss one out there and see what happens.

First some background:

Since I have been with the Troop, my son bridged last year, I have noticed that there really is not much effort put into fundraising. This surprised me since the Pack with the same charter organization usually raised enough money on popcorn to meet the needs of the pack for the year. Believe me it was quite a bit since the pack provided almost all the boys needed with the exception of uniforms.

I have asked about popcorn sales and the adult leaders seem rather nonplussed about the whole thing. What few fundraisers there have been I have not seen much effort put into them from either the adults or the scouts. Maybe I just wasnt in the right place to see what happened.

Additionally I recently finished Wood Badge training; now that was FUN. One of the items I want to work on is fundraising for the troop. We have a new scout that just joined that cannot afford some things like summer camp. Believe me if it was not for our uniform locker Im not sure his mom could have bought a uniform. But I digress.

I want to teach the scouts what is needed to plan and execute a fundraiser. To do this I will run a fundraiser such as the popcorn sales, which I plan to do this fall, but I also want to develop a printed manual they can use as a guideline in planning other fundraisers

Now to my Real Question, what should I put in the guideline? What I have so far is:

Timeline

Forms

Sponsors

Advance Sales

Thank You letters to Sponsors

Evaluation of activity

Whatever suggestions you can provide will be very much appreciated. In addition any info on an existing guideline that I can glean info from would be helpful.

I of course would be happy to share the finished product with any that want or need such a resource for their units as well.

YIS

Bill Duran

SR-764

I used to be an Antelope a good ol Antelope too

Just finished my WB course SR-764

All of the WB participants noticed the staffers with their cups hanging from their cup dongles the first weekend.

As far as the stuff goes:

Part of the course was

* Hat with the course number on the side

* Participants notebook (well Duuhhhh)

* T-shirt with the course logo

* Woggle (they gave us the cord and we made our own)

* Neckerchief

* Hat/Cup dongle

* Stave

* A carabiner with course number and theme engraved on it, after I had my ticket approved a WB coin

What did I buy?

* A Leather Belt (Pre-ordered

* A WB buckle for the belt (With our council on the buckle)

* Another t-shirt (Pre-ordered)

* Other memorabilia and

Drum Roll please...

* Maple Colored Coffee cup that we ordered at the end of the first weekend, my patrol had our Patrol Totem put on the cup, we could have had the course logo if we wanted also. We did have to buy them ourselves.

Bill

I'm an Antelope from SR-764

Just finished my second weekend of WB, WOW what an experience

To continue with THE SONG

I used to be an Antelope a good ol Antelope too

But now I'm finished Loping, I don't know what to do.

I'm growing old and feeble and I can't Lope no more.

So I'm going to work my ticket if I can.

Back to Gilwell Happy Land, I'm going to work my ticket if I can.

Now where are the Staffers????