Fundraising proceeds

[Chief Decorah 10]

When your unit does fundraising, do you have specific fundraisers for the unit's treasury and specific fundraisers for the Scout accounts, or do you take the proceeds of every fundraiser, regardless of type, and split it, say 80%/20% or 60%/40%?

 

Take popcorn, for example. Maybe that's your unit's primary way of earning money for the treasury. Is it hard to motivate boys (and parents) to go out and sell when they're not getting any of the money? (I realize there are units that give prizes, etc.) Is there a problem with "Me First", and if not, how do you accomplish your fundraising goals when there isn't a monetary reward for the Scout?

 

Maybe you have a food stand where all proceeds go to the unit's treasury. How do you get everyone to work willingly when the "only" reward is filling the unit's checking account?

 

On the other hand, what about smaller fundraisers, maybe selling candy bars. The specific purpose of this fundraiser is for the boys to earn money for their Scouting accounts. Does your unit take any percentage for their own treasury, or do they let the boys keep all they earn?

 

My apologies for the long, multi-pronged question, but I'm really interested to know how others do it.

 

** This is the edit: I now see this probably should have been placed in the fundraising forum. Moderator, please feel free to move this post to that forum if necessary.(This message has been edited by Chief Decorah)

[kittle 10]

My troop my son is with had 2 fundraisers last year: Krispy Kreme doughnuts and popcorn. I know with the doughnuts, my son kept all the profits from the sale. I am not sure what the split on popcorn is, But I do know that between the two sells that we did not have to pay for summer camp so that would mean that $120 of his $500 popcorn sale went to the cost of summer camp.

[Lisabob 13]

My son's troop does both types. The pack we were with previously only did unit-wide sales. A couple of observations:

 

Unit-wide sales aren't usually problematic unless you have way too many of them, or you have a product that doesn't sell well.

 

Unit-wide sales work better when the boys and parents know what the money is used for. At the cub level you need to target the parents. At the troop level, assuming that your PLC is choosing the activities that the troop participates in, you need to make sure the PLC also understands the costs involved. Also at the troop level, unit-wide sales often seem to be aimed at buying new gear; something that the boys will probably understand very well since they're the ones using the gear. Just make the benefits as tangible as possible. (ie, "we need new tents because you've told us that the ones we have are full of holes and leak when it rains"; not, "we need new gear")

 

Unit-wide sales should come with an explicit expectation that most of the boys will participate most of the time. I personally don't like making them "mandatory" but many units do, or at least try to.

 

Unit-wide sales will work better (at troop level) when the boys have input into what will be sold and how.

 

Our troop does not give prizes to the boys (we don't sell popcorn). But there are some other benefits. Both of the major troop fundraisers are service activities (cleaning up at two community events). At one the boys get pizza and drinks, and at the other they get a free pass (and parking) to the event.

 

All of the profit from the two fundraisers that the troop does for individual scout accounts goes directly into the scout accounts; no cut off the top for the troop. These are more traditional sales (wreaths and plants) and interestingly enough, most boys don't sell that much stuff.

 

Lisa'bob

 

 

 

 

 

 

[EagleInKY 14]

Ours is handled on a case-by-case basis. If there is a strong individual component (such as selling an item like popcorn), the scout usually gets a portion or all of the profit. If it's more of a group activity (selling donuts at an event, car wash, etc.)then the money usually goes into the troop account.

[eagle90 125]

Our troop has three fundraisers. We have a Rummage Sale in spring, the porfits from which go into the toop treasury as operating expenses. At our Pancake Breakfast in fall, the scouts receive $2.00 for each ticket they sell to pay for Summer Camp, High Adventure, or weekend camping. The Popcorn sale is optional, with 100% of the profits going to the scout's individual accounts, but the popcorn profits are reserved for High Adventure Activities when the scout is eligible. Seems to work well for us.

[SRLoper764 10]

Chief Decorah you asked: When your unit does fundraising, do you have specific fundraisers for the unit's treasury and specific fundraisers for the Scout accounts, or do you take the proceeds of every fundraiser, regardless of type, and split it, say 80%/20% or 60%/40%?

 

Reply

Im still learning the ropes in my troop, Im a fairly new ASM. However I did have an interesting discussion with a friend that became popcorn chair my district.

 

According to her one of the things most people forget is that there are three components to raising money and most people only focus on two, they are:

Money for the Boys

Money for the Troop

Money for the District

 

The two you hear about the most are the boys and troop, not district.

 

Popcorn money is generally divided 35% for the Trop to disperse as they see fit, typically for the boys. The next 35% goes to the District and the remaining 30% goes to Trails-End. Any other fundraiser as far as I know is typically done for the boys or troop and not District.

 

I think that the reason for raising the money should indicate where it is to go and everyone know up front why they are having a fundraiser.

 

YIS

Bill