Recharter Issues

[briantshore]

Our Charter is due in a little over 2 days, and we still are waiting for parents to pay next years memberships fee. Rough guess of the 54 I show on the roster, only 38 have paid.

Any ideas on how to improve this. I've made anouncments at the last 2 Pack meetings. I have send many e-mails, I have asked Den Leaders to send reminders over the past 2 months. I have thought of sending a bill in the mail to see if that will work, but I kind of hate having to use the postage. Does anyone have any other idea?

[moosetracker]

Does your unit set up Scout Accounts? The scout Account would be tapped if there was anything.

 

Don't know what to tell you about improving payments in future years though.. Our unit started about a month in advance, and usually got fully paid by those we knew were active, those who did not pay were questionable if they were continuing or not, and lack of payment meant to us they did not want to continue.

 

For this year:

 

It may hurt your numbers, but you could simply not register them until they pay.. Our unit will not.. It may hurt your J2E numbers if calculated from your recharter form, but so be it.. Don't know if they have to fill out new apps because they aren't in the recharter when sent in, but if they do it will keep them from being late next year..

 

Some units do not recharter on time, biggest reason is because of those who they are waiting on to pay up.. Drives the DE crazy because now they have to call and pester and chase.. But I just saw the signup for our district (which is also this weekend, Do you happen to be in the NH area? All districts in our council is this weekend.) Anyway, only about half the units are signed up.. Don't know if not rechartering on time is a ding to your J2E though.. Should be..

 

Now if you could care less about J2E, either solution will work for this year.. If you do care about J2E my only suggestion is to call your DE and have him give you advise on what the proper procedure is when you know you have active scouts that will recharter, but you cannot/willnot put them on the recharter until they pay.. See if they have advice on how to work it so that your J2E is not effected, other then the unit paying for them..

 

 

[Eagle92]

Don't recharter them until they pay. May sound cruel, but trust me on it.

 

In the past my CO actually paid for everyone's registration, we just had to pay for BL. The rest of our dues went towards pack expenses. That changed last year when the CO began construction of a new youth center, so we had to pay out of the budget. We rarely have everyone meetings, except maybe the Christmas, BnG and "Graduation" at the end of the year. So we'd contact folks who were not may not be attending due to sports or whatever to see if they were still interested, and keep them on the charter if they were. Long story short we paid for folks who said they were still interested, and never came back once the season was over. It cost us a pretty penny.

[shortridge]

"Rechartering" in the abstract means nothing to 99.99 percent of Scout parents. It has to be linked to something concrete - like no participation in meetings or campouts until it's done. Plan a cool pack event for January, with the boldfaced uppercase underlined note that only registered Scouts can participate. Then they'll get the picture.

[Tampa Turtle]

(This is not my area --just overheard) I think my Troop takes it out of the Scout Account if their is no response.

[Basementdweller]

Accessing scout accounts with out permission is very bad policy and should not be done.

 

 

As pointed out send an email out or have your den leaders call and tell them effective January 1 their scout may not attend any more den meetings until their registration fee is paid and a new application is filed. OR they can pay their registration fee now and avoid the application.

 

 

If you pay their recharter fee chances are you will get stuck with a few and also register a couple of boys who are no longer interested in being members.

 

 

Far as the Journey to excellence goes......Who flipin cares???? It is a way for your District Executive to earn his bonus. Besides it is only one line on the form.(This message has been edited by Basementdweller)

[moosetracker]

As Basement said, you should get verbal consent.. With our troop, the Scout account went to the troop funds if the scout does not renew, as you can't hand them the money, or have them buy anything that could be used outside of scouting.. But technically it is their money until they don't recharter so they should have say in it's use up until they don't recharter, and it then when they don't recharter and it becomes troop money, it then becomes throwing troop money away if you use their account money to recharter them and they didn't want to be rechartered..

[Jeffrey H]

We send out a notice to parents by e-mail about a month before the re-charter is due. We will send additional reminders during that month if needed. Our Pack does not pay for anyone who does not pay their annual registration since it is not built into our Pack Dues. We remind them of the importance of paying on time so they can remain registered members of the BSA.

 

We always have people that are late and it's always the same ones. We will make exceptions for scouts that are active and know their families will make good on the registration fee.

[Tampa Turtle]

In our Troop (in the Pack Den Leader shad to hunt them down) we do send out a CYA email that unless we get an objection we will access the scout account unless we receive a payment. Many parents prefer it.

[kari_cardi]

In our pack, we have built re-charter fees into our dues and ask parents to pay in September. It helps a bit. We have families who have not paid, den leaders will contact them and let them know that their boys will not be registered with the pack if they do not pay, unless they have extenuating circumstances. And that no registration means no participation. We do this primarily because the pack finances cannot cover re-charter for families who do not pay. The money simply isn't there.

 

I think you have done what you can, briantshore, and parents will have to deal with the consequences for their sons. I would put concerns about JTE last on the list unless your pack is well-off financially and can afford to charter scouts who are not paying their own way.

[Nike]

No payment, no recharter.

 

Teach the boys and train the parents.

 

(I'm in an anti-non helper-parent funk.)

[T2Eagle]

In the Pack, for the last stragglers, if we know they still want to be registered and we're confident they're good for it we'll pay the recharter fee and collect later. If they don't recharter they have to fill out new applications so it is ultimately easier on us to recharter and collect rather than get whole new applications. If there is a question about either their commitment or solvency we let them fall off and rejoin.

 

We recharter in January and our Pinewood Derby is usually late January or early February so we have a hard rule that you have to be registered to race, and we collect either checks or applications at the registration desk. In the Pack, if you're not doing PWD you're probably not really in the program.

 

In the Troop we usually have a much better idea of who is or isn't sticking with the program, and because we meet weekly it's easier to have a face to face chat to get the money in. I believe, for the troop at least, part of the recharter process asks if you have personally contacted either the scout or parent personally before you drop them from the charter. So there are some last minute calls or personalized e-mails for anyone I'm dropping.

[SeattlePioneer]

I'm facing this issues now.

 

 

Families that sold $200 in popcorn get their memberships paid, so as soon as the money for popcorn sales is turned in, they are good.

 

The rest of the parents know they will owe $60 to continue in the program. I will be sending out an invitation to pay at out December den and pack meetings.

 

Those who pay or sold popcorn will be on the recharter. Those who don't wont.

 

But here's the important issue --- they can pay the membership fee anytime to continue in Scouting. The District Executive will reactivate the membership upon payment of the fee without a new application.

 

And I wouldn't bar people from attending den and pack meetings --- they are my opportunity to collect the fee.

 

Similarly, signups for den and pack outings are opportunities to collect pack dues as well.

 

The real key is understanding that it's not especially important for a Scout to be re registered as part of the rechartering process.

[momof2cubs]

Huh..this never comes up. Charter dues are lumped in with registration fee that we have to pay in September. Some of us even do it in the Spring before school lets out (I do that because it eliminates one more thing I have to pay for during back to school when as we all know, we get nickled and dimed TO DEATH).

 

If we don't pay our registration when the Scouting year begins, we do not get the book, neckerchief, or t-shirt. We get dropped from the e-mail list. But that hardly ever happens unless someone intends to drop out. So by December, when recharter comes around, everyone that intends to stay in the Pack has already paid.

[MarinesWife]

We do like Momof2Cubs....our fees are due in September. The fee amount includes the amount needed for re-charter. A small portion is due upfront and the rest can be earned through popcorn sales.