InquisitiveScouter

What were your recharter fees this year, compared to last? Wanna place bets now on whether those fees will increase with a future-payments-victim-compensation-fund? You can bet your sweet campfire they will. You and I and our future Scouts will be the ones paying into this. That's the connection...

There is a Chesapeake Bay Sailing Adventure offered thru Rodney Scout Reservation in Del-Mar-Va council. https://www.delmarvacouncil.org/high-adventure-opportunities/high-adventure-sailing-on-the-chesapeake/9297 Cost is less than Sea Base. You can cut costs even more if you plan for and procure your own meals, which, according to my sources, is really all the Rodney provides for you....so, camp food. You can charter with the Captain directly, provide your own meals, at substantially lower cost, and still get a High Adventure program, including merit badges. DM me if yo

How is it a disadvantage to lawyers and claimants, unless the settlement includes mandated future payments into a victim's compensation fund? If that is the case, then who has to bear that financial burden?

Just thinking about this...and please help me flesh out these thoughts... The IRS allows individuals to receive monetary gifts, up to a certain amount, tax free. I have often thought units might give (even anonymously) gifts to value-added council employees to support them directly. 2020 & 2021 exclusion is $15K. Give privately, so council doesn't reduce their salaries. Having done Lone Scouting in various locations around the world (registration and support processes through electronic means), and with Scoutbook and Scoutshop on line, I can see a future for unit-level Sco

https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2014/03/13/interpreting-under-the-auspices-in-national-outdoor-awards-requirements/#:~:text=If it's part of a Scout's work on merit badges,state park wouldn't count.

Lol...at the unit level, concur...and IMHO, this should be the case for district and council level events for units. This is a great role for the OA! And as I shared in a previous post, our PLC had planned and geared up to staff/run several stations at two separate district events, and were waved off at last minute by district committee volunteers who said ,"We have enough adults to run things now." Our PLC corporate memory still bears a bit of scar tissue from that. I don't blame them...

Not at district or council level...right?

A tool, of course, but one of the best in the tool box of things to attract, recruit, engage, and retain youth.

Nor do they have to provide you copies. This was a speed bump, but I understand they don't need to spend time making copies. So, I asked if it would be scanned to a file. No, definitely not, was the answer. Now the speed bump is a road block. So I just wait until items are available on Charity Navigator or GuideStar and then distribute for public information. This is part of why I am blacklisted. I see it as just facilitating transparency

Awww @MattR, the occasional rabbit hole is fine, right?? Council fees should help fund professionals who go out and recruit and train (or see that training is provided to) adult volunteers (Commissioners included) to run the program. Tracing it backwards, bad program is usually a result of poor adult volunteerism, which is usually a result of a lack of recruiting/training by professionals, who get paid by the council fees... I firmly believe, if the program was the focus, the fees and fundraising would fall into place with no issues. That does not seem to be the mindset here (i

Barry, The observation on our program is mine, when looking at other units, and speaking with volunteers and parents at multiple events. And, I totally get that Commissioners' attention should be first and foremost to units that are struggling. My point is just what you sussed out: our council/district/unit Commissioner apparatus is broken, and I believe it directly affects the quality of programs at each level. The secondary point is that, if we did experience an issue we needed help with, I'd have no idea who to call directly. We do not have a Unit Commissioner assigned, nor ha

This is one facet of the problem. Thanks. And I am not the only one...there are quite a few around here who are in that boat. It seems our council board is really out of touch with the volunteer base as well. We are a perfect example of where leadership is cutting off its nose in spite of its face.

And only good for two years? Whereas a NCS certification is good for five?? For me to volunteer to be your Short-Term Camp Administrator? I'll pass. Instead, I think I'll apply for the National Office job of Short-Sighted Camping Program Demolisher

If it is virtual, and required by National, could it be done through https://training.scouting.org/?? Or is it tailored to your specific locale??

Sometimes you wonder if they are trying to put themselves out of business...

@MattR and others... Spot on! A council (or any organization) must be of value, be able to demonstrate that value, and advocate for their value-added to Scouting. Our council is dysfunctional, for many reasons similar to those some of you see in other councils. That was my challenge to our council. "If you want our money and support, please tell us what value you give to our program." - Our district events are not fun or interesting for our Scouts, therefore not well attended. If our PLC does not wish to do District events, I CANNOT veto them. I only veto their dec

FOS = Fund Our Salaries??

Ours, National fee $66 plus council fee $60 (service $48 plus insurance $12) = $126 total for youth. National $42 plus $5 council (insurance) = $47 for adults. Does not include the $25 first time fee for youth... Our troop dues, $49...so Scouts in our unit paid $175 to recharter for the year....not including Scout Life. I will remain council-anonymous

You cover airfare and rental car, and I'm in!! I have relatives in SA and Fort Worth areas...which is closer?? So, if you can recruit someone to do it for your unit/council, here's what I did... Week long course at Philmont Training Center to be a certified WFA Instructor. Includes certification to teach CPR/AED and Standard First Aid. Cost for me back then was about $400 for the course. We made it a family road trip, and the wife and kids did a week long program there too. If you haven't been to PTC, highly recommended. They did a great job. Then you have to purcha

When I do these, I assess a small fee to cover the cost of my qualification and materials (instructor certification, curriculum slides, projector, computer, CPR manikins & bags, practice AED, bandages, etc.) that I paid out of pocket to start up the operation. Still less than half the cost you'd see by council or on the market. CPR/AED costs about $110 and WFA costs about $200 in these parts. I do CPR/AED for $35, WFA for $60 (includes both). When I offered to do these for council at bare-minimum cost, and the professional training advisor said "No." The reason given was that

I do see microfiber shirts with canvas pants a lot around here....

@sunshinescout, @CynicalScouter knows, as I do, that any monies raised for an Eagle Scout Service Project (ESSP) belong to the beneficiary of the project. If any Scout, unit, or organization other than the beneficiary, keeps money raised by an Eagle Scout candidate for purposes of funding an ESSP, then that is tantamount to theft. Now, if there is money left over from a fundraising effort, and the Eagle Scout candidate gives it to the beneficiary, and the beneficiary chooses to give it to some other organization or individual, that is their prerogative. Yet another reason Natio

knots, interpreter strip, service stars, trail and other medals, jamboree patches, honor patrol stars, troop veteran number strips, OA flap, Powderhorn emblem, JTE patch, Trained emblem, Emergency Preparedness pins (retiring)... Now we are talking, BLING!! But wait!!! Doesn't the G2AI say "Excess Insignia With the exception of the Cub Scout badges of rank, members wear only the insignia that show their present status in the movement. Members should make every effort to keep their uniforms neat and uncluttered." (emphasis added) And didn't BP say, "A Scout should not u

Yes, and official pants come in three different materials, each with advantages and disadvantages, as @KYScouterbegins to point out. Canvas, polyester microfiber, and polyester/wool blend are your choices. Each material has its devotees. I am a devotee of polyester microfiber. Light, quick dry, converts to shorts, cargo pockets, does not fade as quickly as the canvas stuff. Disadvantages of poly microfiber? Wind whistles right through it in winter (you need good under-layers), it snags on brush and threads get pulled out (canvas is more heavy-duty), and even small sparks from the