Pack18Alex

Also, if you are doing a fundraiser where the scouts are using their labor and the tax free nature of the CO, but it's more clear the benefits, you're probably going to be clearer. I mean, if the "Philmont Patrol" of 6 boys run a Car Wash every other month, and raise $500 to cover their trip to Philmont, and it goes into the Troop Account and 100% goes to the Philmont trip, there is ZERO problem, right? They are raising money, as a Scout group (even if it's an ad hoc patrol for this trip), for a Scouting trip? As pointed out by qwazse, if the Scout is getting a really private benefit

Funds are not inherently boy led. Funds are the property of the Charter Organization entrusted to the Scout Unit. The Funds are supposed to be allocated based upon the designees of the Charter Org, which is the Unit Committee. The Scouts set the program up, but the Unit Committee is ultimately responsible for the funds, making sure to fulfill the values and expectations of the Charter Org. Now, if the CO is a "Friends of" organization, and the "Friends of" CO wants the boys to have control over the funds, that's a different matter. But for the 70% that are operating under a religious

If the unit leadership WANTS to get boys to philmint, you subsidize it out of troop funds. If the boys want to go, they figure out how to fundrAise to go. Philmont patrol car wash, etc. If a scouter wants to go to wood badge, sign his form. If the committee wants to send a scouter to wood badge, offer of troop funds and find a volunteer to go. Either way, troop funds should go to further troop goals. Our pack committee set a goal of more people camping, because scouts that camp retain, scouts that don't camp are hit or miss. As a result, we budget to spend pack funds on campouts, which

I agree with BD though. When someone buys our fundraiser, they are supporting Scouting in general, and POSSIBLY our pack in particular (when we fundraise in our neighborhood). So the money for Council is fine, the money that goes to our Unit is NOT intended to go to my son, we're not panhandling, it's to run the neighborhood/community scouting program. Now, if you WANT Scouters to go to Woodbadge, than the Unit should pay between 10% and 100% of the cost to encourage them to go. If you want boys to go to Philmont, than the Unit should pay some of the costs to go. I don't overly object

Down in my Council, at least in the few districts I know people in, EVERY pack has a trailer (we were one of the last to get ours), some have 2 (one that's storage), a pack kitchen, Webelos Tents, etc. But here, because the weather is good, all the non-LDS Packs camp 3+ times/year… one camps 6 times/year. But we have good camping weather from October to April. But very common for a pack to have 1-3 Stoves, 1-2 grills, a few other packs have ovens. We all have fire pits for camp fires. Our Webelos tent in Pack supplied tents, etc. HOWEVER, this may be selection bias,

I don't see how you can "guide and support" the den programs if you don't monitor them... Cubmaster should be running activities for the boys when it's not den meeting times. That is a serious pack job. What else do you want to do?

An Individual Scout Account is not a drawable stack of funds like a bank account, it's an account in the accounting term. If you use a GL program like quickbooks, every Customer (the scouts), has a Scout Account, every Vendor (Council, places you camp, Wal-mart, etc) has a vendor account. You have income accounts (dues, fundraising, donations), you have expense accounts (camping, registration, food, etc), everything that money is tagged with in accounting is called an account. When we experimented with ISAs, we put them as credits on the Scout's Customer Account. When they had a bill c

Was at Target last night and found red plastic (dishwasher/microwave safe) red plates, 2/$1.39. I now have 50 red plates for around $40… Walmart has bowls in Blue/Red at 4/$2 that I'll probably pick up. Party City has washable cutlery in colors (210pc set of red and/or blue) are each $10… I'm guessing that in the $150-$250 range, I can outfit out Mess hall, and build storage boxes. This will actually enhance the duty roster, because we can't cook on Shabbat, there are few tasks for the boys to do around meal times, this will let us assign one Den to cleaning pots/pans, one

Philosophically, any scouts personal observances should be based on his home. However, as a group, we encourage observance during the camp out. As adults they will make choices in life. I want them to know that they can be as observant as they want. Well have dads donning Tefillin and praying with their son's Sunday morning... The same dads that are helping back the trailer after breakfast (or lunch, whenever we break)... That's a hugely important life lesson. I try to undermine this strange lack of self confidence amongst American Jewish men about their manhood.

Pack has never done disposables in 5 years of existing, it's always been mess kits, so I see no reason to do disposables now. We camp between 3 and 5 times/year, really does average 4 (this year was 5). It's not like they don't get lots of opportunities to camp. Also, the Cubs (and the Cub Sisters), LOVE having the mess kits and cleaning up the mess kits. It certainly makes it feel more like a camp out and less like a picnic in the park. It also does get them ready for more intensive camping. My reason for going to the Pack Model was to remove a hurdle from new families camping, at t

The Mess Kits is one of the things that seems to overwhelm new families. We have disposables for those that don't bring, but generally after a camp out or two the families get them. Given the cost of a tent, sleeping bags, and mess kits (kosher requires separate kits for meat and dairy mess) can be prohibitive, so it's not something generally pushed so hard in the beginning. I have one family that's a pain in the neck about mess kits and some other food related issues, and deciding if the individual mess kits make sense or if place settings should be part of the Pack infrastructure.

I'm the committee chair and a den leader. During den meeting nights, the CM opens the meeting (we do a joint opening then break into dens). During pack meeting nights, he directs the activity. During pack activities, he runs then if he's there, I run them if he's not there. The other den leaders jump in on activities because were used to running things. My in the background committee members help with some of the overall planning. A more active committee and Trainjng my replacement are near the top of the list. Den meetings are a time for you to gather notes and help share ideas between

So here is our current plan… We did a special, if your family sold 150 Camp Cards ($750), your family attended our Council Camporee for free (depending on family size, this benefit was between $65 and $190)… This was an attempt to help sell more camp cards (and fund our Pack and Council), and to encourage families to come to the Camporee. The incentive was small for a small family, but some of our larger families struggle to pay for the camp outs, bringing 4 or 5 kids with two parents makes for an expensive weekend. Was this a private benefit? I'm not sure. I know we have

For us, Friday night was hard, Saturday night easier… Jewish Pack, so no camp fire Friday night, no flashlights, etc., just overtired elementary school kids super excited and NOT wanting to go to bed. My kids were amongst the worst and got in trouble with me. New policy… Friday afternoon is insane getting ready, cooking, etc., parents are wiped. Friday evening, prayer service, Sabbath dinner, after dinner prayers. We then do Cub Scout Vesper and TAPS. Any children that do not want to go to bed join us for a night hike. The night hike ends when they are willing to go to

You should always be trying to Earn the knots, JTE patches etc. The anti adult recognition people are wrong. The recognition is nice, but each award comes with a checklist of things that makes you run a better program for the scouts. My leaders all got their training completed because I hounded them while we pursued JTE. We hit JTE Gold, and everyone being trained made a huge difference in our program delicery.

One nice thing about Camp Cards is that 100% of the money goes to Scouting (in our Council, 50% Unit, 50% Council). If a Unit puts half the money is an ISA and half in general treasury, that's only 25% for an individual benefit, which seems to be below the threshold ruled substantial. We generally keep the private benefit part to under 20%. Patrol Accounts would let the Scout get closer to private benefit without it being actually private.

Internet Advancement won't let you register for both positions. Your Council Registrar can do it manually. Fill out an extra Application with the other position, bring it to Round Table, and tell the DE what you need (stick a cover letter on it that they need to ADD the registration). Get yourself the Den Leader Knot f you want. It is VERY hard to step back and let other people lead when you think you'd do a better job. It is very frustrating to see poorly done Den Leadership, when it is a relatively easy job. (Two Den Meetings/Month isn't that hard. It does require some prep wor

The most important thing (and hardest for us to remember as Scout Parents) is that the GOAL of Scouting isn't to amass recognition, that's a method. The goal is boys growing into self sufficient, self reliant men. As parents, we are always torn between our desire for the best for our children and our need to help them grow to make their own decisions. As one gets older, the responsibilities get harder, and more lasting. So if you meddle in the OA elections with the SM, you MAY get your son into the OA, which will get him some bling and an opportunity to do some OA activities, but y

We got flack for it a few years back, link off the site. That's why it's a support role, and it will be to support the CO's Youth Scouting Program. We'll word it carefully, it'll be to sponsor the Blue and Gold Banquet, not soliciting donations.

Internet Advancement is a royal PITA. It's slow, slug gist, and poor. Councils are hit or miss on recording the paper copy. Helping on Go See Its would be huge. Training sessions for Advancement Chairs, with Webinars, etc., might be helpful. One reason we're recording everything (or trying to), is if its in the record, and the boy sticks with Scouting, it'll show up at their EBOR... won't matter, but it'll show up. Cub Fun Day here featured Planet Bobcat (the theme was space). The boys went from station to station, did the Bobcat, and left with a certificate to turn in. We

A low GPA and application to elite schools may end up with automatic filtering by computer, but once you get past any automatic screenings, you get read by a person. Those people are trying to fill out a well rounded class. Look at the most selective schools in the country. There are enough 4.0 high school students (unweighted) to fill up the entire freshman class at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, etc., yet students without 4.0s get in. State schools may use automatic scoring (GPA + SAT scores), but you can attend one if you are a decent student, maybe not you state flags

In our Council, Camp Cards are 50% Council, 50% Unit. Therefore, 50% of the revenue is going towards Scouting (Council), regardless of anything else. If the Unit gives 100% of the money to the now banned ISA, you might have a substantial problem. If some of the money (even if Camp Costs), is going towards Troop costs (i.e. Camp costs $250 and you charge $300/Scout to cover food, gas, etc., whatever), then 60% of the money is going to Scouting, 40% to individual benefit, probably fair as far as "substantially" is concerned. We charge annual dues/Scout, we do NOT charge a separate re-cha

Technically speaking. Charter Organization names a Charter Org Rep. The COR (or the IH) names the Committee Chair. The Committee Chair then names all other leaders with the approvate of the COR/IH. In practice, there is nothing wrong with an Election that determines this, as long as the COR and CC are in agreement to honor those results. If you are doing an election, this would be my suggestion: 1. All candidates for positions fill out an Adult Application, COR approves them (they can't run without COR approval) 2. Outgoing COR or Committee Chair should call the meeting to orde

Of course, you fight a war with the army you have, not the one you want. We have management personal, no skilled tradesman. It had advantages, but a ton of drawbacks. Of the 50 or so packs in my district, the only one with this setup is mine. So when I'm at Roundtable and they are discussing things and gloss over the business side, I think it's a disservice. If my district is typical, 2% management side, 98% teachers and tradesmen. Talking to other leaders, they are all drowning on the paperwork side, so I think that BSA would do well to have professionals help on the paper