Recharter and paying dues

[clydesdale115 10]

It's time (actually PAST time) for recharter around here and we're still struggling to get some Scouts and leaders to complete their paperwork. Seems like every year, we are making calls and sending emails at the 11th hour to get folks to pay their dues and update their records so we can turn stuff in. New Scouts (who joined in August) can't understand why they are paying again - current Scouts dilly-dally - leaders act like it's the first time they've ever heard of this. There's gotta be a better way! Anyone else have similar problems? How about fantastic solutions?

clyde

P.S. With August Round-up, we jumped to about 115 Cubs - looks like we'll recharter about 60.

 

 

[Cubmaster Randy 10]

We collect the money from everyone in August at the beginning of the school year. We register the new scouts then, but when it is time to recharter we have their money ready for our December recharter date and don't have to chase them down again.

Returning scouts pay then too. Most folks are used to paying at the beginning of the school year, so it gives us a few months to collect even from the stragglers

 

[FScouter 24]

Recharter need only involve one person, the committee chair. Boys and adults need only let the CC know if they plan to quit. The recharter fees come out of the pack treasury. Part of the dues boys pay every week at their den meetings goes to pay their individual $10 annual recharter fee and $12 Boys' Life subscription.

[Lisabob 13]

We also collected the full fee in August/September rather than trying to collect twice. This, however, results in charging "new" scouts a higher fee (to cover the period Sept-Feb) than "returning" scouts, so it still needs to be explained in a clear manner.

 

As for your leaders, how about telling them that the paperwork will all be completed at the Sept. or Oct. committee meeting each year, and they need to come prepared to fill it out/hand it in at that time.

 

As an aside - wow! 115 cub scouts! I think that would give me a headache. But I'm curious to know what happened that the pack lost almost half of them since August. Maybe you split into two packs?

 

 

[Eamonn 61]

Not sure how things work in Middle Georgia?

I'm also a little puzzled by :

"we're still struggling to get some Scouts and leaders to complete their paperwork"

What paper work?

In our Council. Packs recharter in January and Troops in February.

When a new member joins he or she is charged the full membership fee. In our Council we add $1.00 for insurance.

As a rule most new members are Cub Scouts who join in September.

The Council Registrar prepares the re-chartering packets. As a rule these are ready by the end of September.

These are given to the District Commissioner.

He really doesn't want them and will do what he can to get rid of them PDQ!! He gives them to the UC or if the Unit doesn't have a UC he tries to off-load them to an Assistant District Commissioner.

The UC meets with the Committee Chair and goes over what is needed to "Do the paper work" As a rule all that is needed is the print out that the registrar down loaded from Scoutnet, which shows who are members of the unit. Anyone who is no longer a member can be removed by putting a line through there name and other information. We provide an Overflow Sheet for new members.

There is a Sheet for Quality Unit and a sheet for the unit budget.

All of this is left with the CC. The UC reminds the CC that the Executive Officer does need to sign the paper, tells them that checks are needed and makes a date when he can pick up the completed packet.

The CC is now left holding the packet.

He or She contacts the unit leader and asks for a membership inventory of both Adults and youth members.

After the list of who the members is received, the treasurer is asked to cut the check.

The CC gets all the necessary signatures.

Some units do ask that adults pay their own membership fee, so that might slow things down a little.

There is also the matter of 83 cents per month for people who signed up early. But we charged them the full amount so we are still about $2.50 per member in the hole!!

The Council popcorn sale is in November and we take the money from there.

Rechartering fees and in some units Boy's Life Magazine are budget items, after asking for the first fee we never ask again.

Some Councils now do this entire thing on line. We are changing next year.

Back when I was a District Commissioner, I tried to get everyone to think of the packet as a "Hot Potato". Something you want to get rid of as quickly as you can.

I really did everything I could to make sure that the packet was never ever in 1000 years given to the Unit Leader.

These people are busy delivering the program and they lose stuff!!

My goal was to get the charters in a month early, so that we (the commissioner staff) could go over the names that had been crossed out and invite them to rejoin.

As a rule I took over the Council Service Center for a night and used their phones!! (They have more phones than me!!) I did spring for the pizza and as a rule a good many of us got waylaid before going home to enjoy an adult beverage. This of course was not a uniformed meeting.

Eamonn

[cyboji59 10]

We recieved our recharter packet in October, due mid-Jan.

Took a count of boys from Den leaders then set up a table at the next pack meeting to collect all fees. Gave us two months to collect the rest. Worked pretty slick until Dec roundtable - district wanted new aps from all adult leaders who changed positions. 23/30 registered leaders needed new aps. Major headache!

Boys Life is not required with our pack of 72. Did notice a huge drop in Boys Life this year. Parents said the boys were not reading it. We buy it and my son barely looks at it. Down to about 25% - any ideas?

[Lisabob 13]

Around here we now do all rechartering on line so it can be started a bit earlier (December - due Feb). But when we were still doing it with the packets as Eamonn describes, it wasn't uncommon to get the packet with about 3-4 weeks to get it all filled out.

 

Boys' Life - at the cub age (esp Tiger/Wolf) many boys will need a parent or other person to read some of it with them to get them excited. In some cases due to their reading level, in some cases just to spread the enthusiasm about reading. Or build it into your den/pack meetings in some manner (have them tell what their favorite story was or share a joke or game from the back part, have a reading contest and hand out a BL rocker patch or other book-related special patch to boys who participate, etc.). When all else fails, the goofy jokes almost always get their attention even if they don't read the articles.

 

Take a look at the parents too. Encourage them to view reading with their child (whatever age) as both a fun and even a powerful experience.

[Novice_Cubmaster 10]

What I cant figure out is why don't Packs recharter

in September or October? We get new scouts at the

elementary school roundup in Sept. & we get our returning

scouts back in late August, just before school starts. We may pick up 2-3 boys after Sept., but that's not the norm.

 

Every January, we get our recharter packet. It contains

a primitive report of all our scouts & leaders. Everyone's paid status is marked on the report by hand with red pen. The only group thats nearly 100% right are the scouts picked up at that year's roundup. And, as others have mentioned, there's always this bizarre time lag/prorated Boys Life situation.

 

In our area, it looks like things would be simplified if all the returning scouts & leaders were re-registered and paid for in the Sept/Oct time frame. Then all the "personnel", Boy's Life and money issues are done by November.

 

Then, as a separate function, do recharter in January - February. At which point, it should be mostly a verification process.

 

NC

[Lisabob 13]

I think it may have to do with how councils report their numbers - using year end tallies. Consequently, the #s will be higher if recharter occurs after December because (at least, around here) that means packs are still carrying the webelos II boys who crossed over last Feb/March/April on their pack roster in December. Those boys typically aren't removed until the following year's rechartering. One year, when our pack refused to do it that way any longer, we caused a good deal of consternation. Doing recharter in Jan/Feb also allows for all the boys you pick up at round up plus any few who straggle in thereafter to be counted. Around here starting in mid Nov and running through late Dec. there is always a big push to get those last few boys signed up before year-end so that district and council can meet their recruiting goals - and it really is usually a matter of getting the additional 5-20 boys throughout the entire district or sometimes council, that makes the difference for them so stretching it to the last minute makes sense (in this view).

[devaney_scouts 10]

OUr pack runs a Feb 1st to Jan 31st charter year. Programming runs August to June. When we register parents are given a letter that give the following details.

 

Cost now, Just to register scout until recharter.

Boys life now, Just to subscribe until recharter.

 

Our dues are payable by October 31st. No dues, no rockets, no pinewood cars etc. Dues are $45 and we give them a list of what that covers. We also note that den dues are additional and for den activities above and beyond what is covered by the pack dues. Some dens have minimal dues, some have a system where everyone takes turns providing items.. We have found that this eliminates our need to harrass everyone when recharter fees are due. We also announce REPEATEDLY that if there is a family that needs to make payment arrangements or have a scholarship, they need to speak to our treasurer and cub master. Those are the two people who will make those arrangements and we can keep them confidential.