How Much ?

[Eamonn]

I'm a little surprised to read that District Camporees are making so much money.

I understand that some Districts are bigger than others! But if we had an event that made $100.00, the District Committee was upset! They didn't think that Camporees should be money makers!

During my term as District Chair. We noticed that having Troops go and cook lunch got in the way of the program, so we included lunch, the program and a patch for $10.00.

Now I'm out of the way I see that things have gone back the way they were and the cost is down to $5.00.

Eamonn.

[evmori]

I always thought if a district camporee made money that was a bonus! The big challenge was just covering expenses!

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[Trevorum]

Our DE informed us that our camporee had to return a minimum of 15% back to the district. With our $5k budget, that meant $750.

[OldGreyEagle]

I wonder how the 15% rule fits in with the phrase "not for profit"?

[Fuzzy Bear]

From what I have seen from several districts, the 15% may not be enough to make ends meet when considering several overruns due to poor planning.

[nldscout]

Trevorum

What happens if you make less that 15%? Does the Uniform Police strip your uniform of insignia and send you home?

 

Camporees should be break even events.

[Eamonn]

" With our $5k budget, that meant $750."

So how many Scouts attend?

While I know that we are a small District and we think 100 Scouts at a Camporee is great! But $5,000?

How much do you charge and what do the Scouts get for their money?

Eamonn.

 

[Trevorum]

Our event had slightly more than 500 campers. Early registration was $8, but most units registered late at $10; our planning budget was $4.5k. I wasn't on the logistics team, but from what I remember of the budget, insurance ran about $1200, patches, awards and shirts were about $1000, sanitation was $800, rental of other equipment including water buffalo maybe $300-500, misc costs were probably $200-400.

 

I think we returned about $1,200 to the district; they were VERY happy. I'm not sure what would happen if we returned less than the 15% target; they probably just wouldn't allow us to host a camporee again. (hmmm ...)

 

The district is a non-profit, because no individual makes any profit, of course. Income in excess of costs are used to pay for other district activities, like training, rather than being paid out to owners or shareholders. That said, I have not seen the district budget; I trust the committee to spend our $1200 wisely.

 

Trevorum

[VentureRobb]

I'm doing a Klondike Derby right now and I have been given a $1000 buget which I was happy with till I found out the Patch guy in our distict needs $500 and the council wants 10% for the snafu buget we didn't have much to work with so we came up with a adult event for the event and are charging for that to make the difference up. After all that I hope to be ahead $35 and I think that for a Good event that the kids will enjoy if were in the black at all it's a good thing.as long as we don't go crazy events are for the kids not the wallet.as for paying for training and other behind the scene things thats what FOS is for.

[Eamonn]

" I have not seen the district budget; "

The District doesn't have a budget.

Events are budgeted and the money made goes to the Council.

It would seem that the District over charged the Scouts who attended the Camporee by about 25%.

I have to wonder if this is helping teach ethical choices?

I also question how this fits in with A Scout is thrifty?

I thought the role of the Council was to support the units and making money from the unit members seems a strange way of supporting them.

Eamonn.

[EagleInKY]

Our camporees are break-even events (hopefully).

[jr56]

We try to break even on our Camporees.

[AvidSM]

I agree in principle that District Camporees should not make a profit. But, having run several of these events myself, I would ask how do you do this without taking on too much risk?

 

If I knew exactly how many people were to attend, and exactly how much money I would be spending, then I could easily divide the one into the other and set the attendance fee to result in no profit.

 

But when I planning out the event, I don't have either of these numbers -- I can only guess at them. And to cover myself, I set the attendance estimate low and the cost estimates high. In addition, there is a 10% built-in contigency in the budget and council requires 10% be included for their admin costs.

 

If the interest in the event is low and we have low attendance, I am covered. If the event promoted well and enough people show up, a small profit is made. If the event is really popular and a whole bunch of people show up, a big profit is made!

 

In no way am I ripping people off or overcharging for my events. All participants get their patches, use of the camp, sanitation, and water, etc. They all get a good program for their money. No one is hurt by the fact that high attendance at an event has more than covered the fixed costs.

 

So, I am not suprised that District Camporees are making so much money. Council is not going to turn away a profit. And I certainly don't want to have to deal with them if my event loses money. As long as things stay in the black, they leave me alone.

[Trevorum]

AvidSM, Yes, in retrospect, the DE instructed us to include a 15% contingency line item in our budget. If we did a poor job of planning the event, we might well need that cushion. If our event went according to plan, we wouldn't spend those funds after all and they would revert (where they might cover other events where the budgeting did NOT go according to plan).

 

Eamonn, with respect, I'm not understanding your problem here. Are you implying that someone was unethical and pocketed the after-event balance? What do you propose event organizers should do when expenses are less than income - should we issue $2.27 refunds to all participants? Or should we use those windfall funds to help out other activities?

[FScouter]

A surplus of 25% is not a windfall, its more of a poor budget plan. Either that or a thinly veiled plan to turn a camporee into a money-earning event. Id be not happy if our unit paid an extra $2 a head simply so that the a event director could cover his fanny. In fact the final report for the event should have a long detailed discussion about why the final income and expense results were so far off from the budget.