eagle scout project grant money?

[mom2scouts]

My son is going to be 15 in Feb. He is life and is ready to start an eagle project. He's been life for about a year. (was trying to finish up those last merit badges!)

His project (the one he wants to do) is building a memorial/serenity garden for our church/cemetary. We are trying to gather information on how to pay for this. I spoke with our local council today and they said NO a family can not fund it. Like we can't just hand him 500 dollars (or whatever it will cost) and tell him to go to it.

Who pays for it? How do we do fund it? I have heard that there are grants available but can't find information on line about them? Anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you so much...

[SemperParatus]

Welcome to the forum. Hope you stay awhile.

 

The materials could be funded via a combination of fundraising efforts, church sponsorship, donation of materials from local building supply business, possible organizations with an interest in the project (e.g., historical society, Knights of Columbus, etc.). You could also consider 'selling' bricks with names of donors (church congregants) to be placed in the garden.

 

Sounds like a good project. I wish your son success in its completion.(This message has been edited by SemperParatus)

[OldGreyEagle]

You might call your council again and ask where it it written that a family cannot fund an Eagle project, expect alot of hemming and hawing as there is no documentation that a family cannot fund it. That being said, I think its an overall better experience if the scout does find funding other than family.

 

You mention this is for the church/cemetery, will they provide materials if you son provides the leadership? Other than repeat what Semper said let me just say "ditto" to his suggestions.

 

I don;t know about "grants" but what the heck, where did you hear about them? Let your scout hunt them done, just because I havent heard of them doesnt mean they dont exist

[Trevorum]

Semper and OGE have good ideas (as always).

 

Let me add that even though the Eagle requirements do not explicitly prohibit a family from donating the entire budget, approval of a project must always be obtained from council, and what they say usually goes. In our council, there is an unwritten rule of thumb that a family "should not" fund more than about 20% of a project budget. I suspect they want the scout to get the experience of fundraising and designing and sticking to a budget rather than having all supplies being magically provided by daddy.

 

Our scouts have been successful using a mix of tactics. A letter writing campaign to the "Christmas card" list is often very productive of many $10 and $20 donations. A yard sale can be organized and managed by the scout and can yield hundreds of dollars. Often the building supply mega-stores will donate up to 20% of the materials.

 

The fundraising effort is sometimes a mini-project in itself. It's good experience. Good luck to your son!

[mom2scouts]

THank you for the warm welcome. I had heard of the grants through a lady at our council. I didn't press the issue as it seemed she wanted him to find this info on his own or I'd have thought she would have just told me where to go. I never thought about Knights of Columbus that is a great place to start! He had first planned on asking like a Lowes/home depot to donate the wood for the bench but then heard that sometimes those stores do not want to donate to church organizations? I dont' know if that's true or not as we have never done this before.

I thought about the bricks and mentioned that to my son when we all sat down as a family to help him plan etc. my Husband immediately thought that it may be too expensive to do something like that? Not sure.

trevorum you say about "christmas card list" do you mean ours? I know his grandparents and family members would be more than willing to help him out but not sure if that is ok either? It seems there are alot of "unwritten" rules to these things and it takes sometime to sort through it all.

My son wrote a letter to our nun and hoping she will be ok with him putting a letter in the church bulletin asking for help with donations or even physical help too.

I just am amazed that this is more difficult than I had anticipated...

[Venividi]

Welcome!

 

> I just am amazed that this is more difficult than I had anticipated...

 

And you will be even more amazed at the growth in a young man that pushes and stretches himself to overcome the difficulties. You have gotten some great ideas. My son's experience with the big box stores was that the local store had minimal latitude to donate material. The big box home building store sent his eagle project request to the home office. Later, they donated wood and hardware for a patrol trebuchet project. It won't hurt your son to ask; I think he will benefit if he hears some "no's" along the way. That is real world. So let him ask at a few places where you as an adult think would not be productive.

 

Best of Luck to your son.

[Lynda J]

When I was directing our districts day camp I had great luck with both Lowes and Home Depot donating things. I was getting some mismixed paint one day at Lowe's and when I got ready to check out and gave them my BSA tax Id card the clerk called the manager over and told him this was for Cub Scouts. He gave us the paint them ask if we needed any tarps. They has 8 that had been slightly damaged. He gave them all to us and let me go through the scrap wood pile and take anything we needed.

 

He called me a couple of days later and told me to come by. I went by and he had 6 sheets of plywood that had the corners chipped off. He gave them to us.

I think that most of the time it may depend on the store manager themselves. Some are great and some aren't worth a plug nickle.

But you don't know until you ask. They can either say yes of no. But you won't know until you ask.

 

One thing we always recommend that our boys do it put the project supply list in writting and have it on a letter head that indicates the troop and district and council. Ask if they can help with any of the items on the list. Also if you go to local business in your community don't ask for money directly. Give them the same list and see if they would be willing to purchase one item on the list for you. Make sure you give them a reciept and a letter of thanks. Also be sure that this information is included in your Eagle Project book that is turned in to the Advancement Committee.

[badgewearineagle]

A lot of great replied here so far, My suggestion is to definitely look outside of the family and church members if at all possible. If the church is willing to donate some materials I would definitely take them up on this but a scout should not expect to secure all their materials through one donor. This is where the true skills of potential eagle scouts are demonstrated and many lessons learned during the process. To secure the supplies form the community, Scouts first must Identify businesses within the community to approach and what to ask for. A scout must then develop how to request these donations ( My suggestion is a letter detailing the plans and what is needed, delivered personally to management/ Owner and most importantly followed up by the scout.

 

The process of securing the necessary tools, money, or supplies is not an easy task, nor is it always the fastest, but it is designed so that a scout must follow through with their requests. Many businesses are more then willing to help by making donations for eagle scout projects. Just keep in mind that if they are never asked then they can't help. Do not make the mistake in thinking large cooperation's will not be helpful because many of them have the money set aside for community type projects although the approval process is not always the fastest.

 

As a parent, or leader, sometimes it is hard to sit back and watch a scout who may struggle on his project but lending too much help could be detrimental to the experience. Keep in mind that the actual completion of the project should be the easy part because the most time involved is usually in the preplanning stages and getting the materials. Your Son has more then enough time to complete his project, and from the sounds of it has the beginnings of a great project

[FScouter]

"I just am amazed that this is more difficult than I had anticipated."

 

If it was easy, anybody could be an Eagle Scout.

 

The "rule" that the family may not fund the project is misguided. There is no support at all in BSA about that. However, a project plan must show enough substance and leadership such that it is worthy for the Eagle rank. If the boy searches out ways to pay for it, that demonstrates leadership and responsibility on his part. That would certainly aid him in getting the project approved.

 

If Mom and Dad write a check, that shows nothing and he will have to demonstrate leadership and responsibility through other aspects of the project.

[Trevorum]

great thread.

 

mom2, yes, your son could write letters (or even mailmerge if he is so inclined) to the people on your family's Chistmas card list (or "Holiday" card list. Whatever - that's another thread). Uncle Bob and Cousin Sylvia might be pleased to donate $20 each. As well as Mom's coworkers and the family friends across town. The fact that some of the money comes from relatives is perfectly OK, as long as the scout has to work a real fund-raising plan and not just ask daddy for $500.

 

Such cash donations are tax-deductible, as long as they are made to a non-profit such as the troop. He'll have to work this out with the troop treasurer (more good experience!). If he presents the troop with ten $20 checks made payable to "BSA Troop xxx", then the troop should be willing to cut a $200 check to the Home Depot (or wherever) for the purchase of his materials.

[mom2scouts]

My NOW question is this... from the last poster trevorum... I've been told because he's doing his eagle project for a church the scouts have nothing to do with the fundraising. Like if he goes and asks at home depot or whereever he has to have church letter head and NOT scout letter head as it's not a donation to scouts but to the church. Is this correct?

He has sent out his letters and has calls/emails in to our church so we're hoping to finalize exactly where the project is going to go... church or cemetary then we will know for sure what size the garden can be and what exact tools/supplies he will need.

So do you think he should put a letter in the bulletin or not? I'd hate for him to do something he shouldn't do...

[Trevorum]

Well, I suppose that technically you are correct. The donor's (say, Home Depot) materials are not benefiting the troop but the recipient of the project, in this case a church. Both are non-profits, so it really doesn't make a difference. If materials are donated to the troop, the troop then turns around and donates them to the church, along with project management and lots of labor.

 

However, I've heard of cases in which the troop does not WANT to be the middleman and directs the scout to obtain all donations in the name of the ultimate recipient. That's somewhat more difficult for the scout to coordinate but it's certainly OK. Just make sure you understand the wishes of the troop and those of the recipient.

[Venividi]

> I'd hate for him to do something he shouldn't do...

 

But that is part of the learning experience. Try something, and it works, or it doesn't work, or works only with continued effort. As long as it is not illegal or immoral, provide some support for his efforts, a little direction, and let him charge forward. Let him make decisions, and if he runs into a few blind alleys, he will gain experience and perseverence. And that is a huge part of the benefit.

[Trevorum]

Veni is 100% right.

 

A very large part of the value of a project are the things that don't go according to plan and how the scouts responds to them.

[FScouter]

Contributions to a non-profit organization are not tax deductible. Contributions to a charitable organization with a confirming IRS letter of determination are deductible. A troop is not a charitable organization and contributions are not deductible.