Eagle Question in terms of $

[NickP412]

hello everyone, my name is Nick. im from troop 412 ans have a few questions. i just got my eagle project approved and can begin to collect my money for the project. i have plans on contacting buisness and setting up donation jars around town with my picture and short description of my project on the side of the jar. my real question is though what if i dont get all funds raised through donation? is it true that its looked down upon to use my own $ or my parents and grandparents for money?

 

 

my dad already said he will pay the rest of the bill if need be but the eagle rep in my area said its looked down upon.

 

so i guess the real question is what is one to do if i can raise the needed money? should i jsut take the hit and risk being looked down upon?

 

thanks

-Nick

happy 4th!

[gcnphkr]

What are you raising money for? How much are you needing to raise? Was your method of raising funds approved as part of the project?

[Hal_Crawford]

Nick:

I don't know if this will help as I don't know what your project is. You should consider talking to the businesses from which you plan to buy your needed supplies. Explain your project to them and ask if they can help by donating or discounting the materials.

 

Have you talked to the organization benefiting by your project about the materials? Often the organization will provide some or all of the materials since you and the scouts are providing the labor. A lot of scouts in our district do projects in the county parks with the Parks Division providing the materials and sometimes assistance with things that scouts can't do like using chain saws.

 

Happy 4th of July and best of luck on your project.

Hal

[NickP412]

oh sorry, my project is building a fence at a church along with adding a few bushes.

[kenk]

My son is working on his project right now - making bat houses for a local park, so I've learned some things recently.

 

You are exactly correct. The goal is to fund the project through some means other than getting money from relatives.

 

My son's district advancement chair - who signed off on his project - told him that one source of money could be from his Scout account - money earned during troop fund-raisers.

 

My son has been collecting aluminum cans and plans to turn them in and use the money as a source of funding his project.

 

In the last few days he went to Home Depot and Menards asking for donations. HD said they had to talk to "corporate" first and would get back to him. Menards gave him a form to fill out and send to corporate. My son was not happy - thinking it would be easier to get donations from them.

 

On Monday I'll take him to local lumber yards (smaller - non-corporate) to see if they'll help.

 

My wife found a candy sale fundraiser that looked promising, but it would certainly take time.

 

Good luck!!

[OldGreyEagle]

To answer a straight question requires a straight answer:

 

There is no provision/Requirement that a scout or his family cannot fund his Eagle Leadership Project, to say that a scout cannot use his own or family funds is adding to the rules and may not be done.

 

OK, that's the straight BSA answer, the reality is, be sure you understand your enviroment and what it takes to complete Eagle. The last thing I would want is for you to tell your District Advancment Committee that this guy on the internet says I dom't have to follow your directions. I am not saying that at all

[NickP412]

thanks OGE. ive only got to get roughly 250$. however thats considering that i dont get discounts, i own all the tools except for the Sod Cutter and 1 man post hold drill. then i gotta buy the fence, so maybe i wont have to raise much at all.

 

 

thanks for help!

[ghermanno]

NickP412,

 

Part of the Eagle Project is NOT seeing if you can fund/do the project yourself. It is to see if you can arrange people/materials and LEAD a group of people to accomplish a task.

 

I know it sounds strange but it is about LEADERSHIP not funding/doing yourself, otherwise it would be mostly the wealthy that achieve Eagle (as they can pay for a crew to do the work).

 

Good luck on your Project and let us know how you came up with the materiels vice having your parents/family pay for them.

 

YiS,

 

Rick

[gcnphkr]

Thank you. That helps. Likely construction companies, hardware stores, tool rental companies can help. Finding the post hole drill should be simple. Likely someone in the troop or church owns one. If not, check with rental companies. Explain what you are doing and there is a shot they will just loan it for the day. Depending on the fence, you may be able to get the materials donated as well. Home Depot and Lowes will generally only give a gift card. You need to make the request at the first of the month. They only have a limited amount to give each month and it is generally gone very quickly. Locally owned hardware stores will generally give you more, they also don't get as many requests. Ask to speak to the owner if possible. In either case, if you know that they have something you need that is shop worn you will more likely be able to get them to give it to you. They will end up writing it off at a loss anyway so they'd rather give it to you and include it into their charitable budget. Ask for specifics, ie. "Can you donate 20 fence posts?"

 

Keep in mind that you are not requesting donations for a Boy Scout project. You are getting donations for your church. If someone asks for a receipt it should come form the church. The church will also have to have a record of larger donations. Speak to the person who handles the churches finances to find out if there is anything special you need to do.

 

If you still need money. Rather than just putting out cups for change you will likely do better having a fund raiser were you sell goods or services. I rarely will leave change at some store, I will often buy an overpriced candy bar or pay to have someone to pull weeds at the house.

[theysawyoucomin']

A life Scout in our church built an outdoor meditative area. He called Outback Steak and held a dinner. Sold 400 tickets.

For $9 each my family all had a great meal and he earned more than enough for his project.

 

 

For both projects (his and yours) why isn't the church paying for the materials? It is a capital improvement to the church. Heck they are getting service hour labour at least they could buy the raw materials.

[NickP412]

i dont know why the church isnt paying for it. i did however put a donation jar out in the church rotunda.

[nolesrule]

Did you ask?

[scoutingagain]

Hopefully this will be of some assistance. I've listed some of the funding sources our Eagle Scouts have used to fund projects.

 

Donations of materials from local businesses.(Local businesses seem to be a better source than larger national chains. You can usually get in to ask the owner/manager directly for assistance who doesn't need to check with someone in "corporate" to make a decision.) Over the years local businesses have donated thousands of dollars of materials to Eagle projects. We do our best to acknowledge those businesses at ECOHs, Unit COHs and in news articles about Eagle projects.

 

Donations of materials from the benefiting organization. Our scouts have done a couple of project for the public schools. On at least one occaision the Principal had the school purchase some materials from the school's petty cash. A couple of yards of mulch for landscaping.

 

In the cases above, scouts have called ahead, made appointments with the decision makers, explained the need and have asked what the businesses or principals can do to help. Takes some initiative. Nearly all our Eagle candidates have been older scouts, comfortable speaking with adults.

 

Scouts have also run, pancake breakfasts/spaghetti dinners to earn funds to support an Eagle project. A few have used personal funds to finish off projects. If these cases it's amounted to a few 10's of dollars for something like a can of paint or a box of finish nails.

 

In our council, to get a project approved at the district level, you pretty much have to be able to show you have the funding in place, or a fundraising plan to get the needed $$, to get approval to proceed.

 

SA

[theysawyoucomin']

Nick,

Nobody is browbeating you about the church paying for this, it's just we know that organizations that want improvements to their property have funds earmarked for fencing and asphalt, shingles and such.

 

Maybe a visit with the Scoutmaster and you and the board of the church could get this back in track.

 

Communication is key.

 

Best wishes, and I hope you make the Eagle rank happen.