Who gets donations?

[5yearscouter]

so use the money to set up a super duper small pack campership to help boys go to camp who might not be able to come up with all the $. my pack has one and everyone that needs it can ask for $10. it's not much this year, of course the amount does change based on fundraiser amounts we get each year.

 

or does the $ help pay for the awards earned at camp (belt loops or patches or wahtever) then there you go, how to tie it into camp funds.

 

of course, if you are standing in front of the grocery store asking for $ to help boys go to camp and you don't use any of the $ for summer camp, but use it for the pack family campout, that counts too. but if you don't camp at all and are asking for $ to help boys to camp, rethink your marketing strategy or go have a pack family camp out in the fall.

[Basementdweller]

Yep, never ever discuss money at a fundraising table.....EVER.

 

Committee decides the fate of the donations.

 

 

Far as dues or program fees, always collect them up front....Have an application for assistance available, but never ever give a free 100% program. parents must come up with 1/2 of the fee.

 

 

Here is a suggestion on dealing with greedy parents......Make sure they understand that if there son receives individual benefit from donated or fund raised money it is taxable as income and it may jeopardize the tax exempt status of your Charter organization. It is a bit of a bluff, mind you.....I really doubt the IRS would pursue someone or an organization for $100.

 

Please see this thread

http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=326602

[CalicoPenn]

Family signs son up for Cub Scouts - gives Pack a check - Pack submits paperwork with everyone elses and pays Council. After Council is paid, the family's check bounces. Council isn't going to refund the money, and if you can't get the family to make good on the bounced check, the Pack is now out money that could have been used for their needs - the Treasurer is right, the donation to the Pack will come in handy to help make up for the Pack's loss due to the bounced check.

 

The donation is extra - above and beyond the fundraiser. Your selling an Applebees breakfast to help with camp. You aren't asking for donations to help with camp. You have a pack policy that whatever donations are received, it goes to the Pack, not the individual "scout accounts". There was no need for the Treasurer to consult anyone - she was stating Pack policy.

 

The parents that yelled at the Treasurer, in uniform, in public? They need to be told to call the Treasurer and apologize - and if they refuse, you pull all the money from their son's "scout accounts", post it to the Pack accounts, and inform them that you will help them find a new Pack for their sons because obviously, this is not the Pack for them.

 

[boomerscout]

"We actually don't help with any boys or leaders camp fees"

 

If the specific purpose of the fundraiser (all fundraisers should have a specific purpose) was to help the boys in the unit go to camp (as previously stated), then any donations go to the unit as a whole to be used to plug any camp shortfalls - either in general or individually

Any other use by the unit, such as covering bounced checks, is thus highhanded and disloyal.

This should have been explained up front -- that money from ticket sales goes into individual accounts, but that gifts to the unit are kept in & used for the camping account

Did the Cubs get to keep the tips from waiting tables?

 

[ScoutNut]

A big question is what was this fundraiser advertised to the public as?

 

Was it advertised as "Send our Pack to Camp"?

 

Send little Jimmy, and Johnny here to Camp?

 

Or was it "Buy tickets to help Pack 1234"?

 

Big difference.

 

Also, when you say "We actually don't help with any boys or leaders camp fees.", that is not entirely accurate. By providing these money earning activities, and putting profits in Scout Accounts, you are allowing individual Cub Scouts use of PACK FUNDS.

 

Remember, this is Scouting, not a mini business for each Cub and his family. Any and all funds raised in the name of your Pack, belong to your Pack.

 

BTW, just curious, have all of these Camp money earning activities been approved by your council?

 

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34427.pdf

 

[SSScout]

And let's not forget the CO owns the Pack, ultimately. Therefore, if the debate causes great angst among the Pack adults, let the COR and IH decide things.

[qwazse]

This is only partly about allocating funds. It's mainly about toning down rhetoric.

 

- The treasurer was indiscreet talking about the cancelled check. The poor dear learned the hard way why those issues should be brought up at a pack committee or even only an executive committee. Betcha she won't do that again.

- Fund shortfalls are everyone's problem. It is impossible to divy responsibility for them evenly. In your case, one family winds up $90 ahead of all the others. But that problem was resolved the minute you all decided to move forward with your program.

- In effect, what you did was adjust your budget or let it run deficit and spend down your general fund. When one person doesn't pay dues, a portion of everyone's dues is automatically covers that loss. In the likely event that that family never pays, Every other family now must make up that loss (by doing without a program feature, paying more dues, fundraising more, or passing it on to next years committee).

- Now, you've had a fund raiser and got a few donations. Last months foibles are so much water over the dam. But you would like the kids who stood out there and worked tables to get some benefit of the donations. What do you do? I would suggest a two-step approach:

1. Sit with your committee and determine how large the general fund needs to be before y'all head off to camp. Only put in from your fundraiser that which is needed to meet that target.

2. Use the rest to pay a lump sum for camp fees for the entire pack, lowering the cost of camp to each scout participating. Print each camper an invoice with line items for what was paid from the scout's account, what was paid from donations to the pack, and what is still owed.

 

That way everyone feels the pain of a deadbeat equally, but they also feel the blessing of charity.

[acco40]

Read the UNIT MONEY-EARNING APPLICATION you filed with your local council before the fundraising began. It should answer your questions.