Who gets the money?

[mrkstvns 486]

I was reading an article about Scouting for Food...
http://www.newstribune.com/news/local/story/2019/mar/10/scouting-food-nets-more-10000-pounds-goods-samaritan-center/769227/ 

The last line of that story jumped out at me:
"He said someone also gave away a $100 bill Saturday, adding the amount of cash received in total was "pretty substantial," though he did not have an exact count."

If your scouts are participating in a Scouting for Food activity, and someone hands them a "pretty substantial" donation, who gets to keep the money?  Is it a donation to the scout unit, or a donation to the local food bank?  

What do you think?

 

[HashTagScouts 435]

The food bank

[qwazse 4342]

Unless otherwise specified, everything goes directly to our local food bank. (Which our scouts help maintain since it's at our meeting place.) Money is also converted into vouchers to a local grocery store.
That food bank will also purchase tickets to our spaghetti dinner fundraiser for their current clients. I was impressed when some of the clients were grateful that they could come to the dinner. I would not have known they were clients if they had not introduced themselves. Being food-poor is isolating. Helping folks regain some dignity by being part our the community breaks that isolation.

[walk in the woods 888]

I concur, food bank.

[mrkstvns 486]

Makes sense.  

That's also in line with the guidelines for Eagle projects: a scout who doesn't spend all of the raised funds for a project is supposed to turn over the excess cash to the beneficiary organization.

[Tatung42 24]

Out local Walmart lets us setup our homebase in their parking lot.  So if we get any money donations, we buy caned food from the Walmart and then add those to the food that we collected.

Edited March 20, 2019 by Tatung42

[mrkstvns 486]

On 3/20/2019 at 3:43 PM, Tatung42 said:

Out local Walmart lets us setup our homebase in their parking lot.  So if we get any money donations, we buy caned food from the Walmart and then add those to the food that we collected.

You might want to actually talk to the people at your food bank to see if there's a better, more effective way to handle donations.  Food banks are often FAR more effective at actually addressing hunger using cash donations than handling food that you would buy at retail prices. Events like Scouting for Food do provide some limited benefit to the community, and it's a visible effort, albeit one that's more about PR and "feel good" than it is about actual bang for the buck.

Giving the cash directly to the food bank can feed 20 times more people than buying those cans from Walmart.

Read more here:  https://www.npr.org/2011/11/22/142661882/a-case-for-cash-donations-instead-of-cans 

[Tatung42 24]

Ya I am sure that giving the money directly to the food bank is way more efficient.  But for us, it is more a way to show support for the store that lets us take up part of their parking lot for free (even if it is a Walmart).

[John-in-KC 311]

Tatung, I must agree with @mrkstvns .  Buying at any store gets you retail.  Your local food bank is most likely a member of a regional food bank.  In turn, THAT organization is part of Feeding America, a nationwide umbrella organization.  These organizations have contracts with manufacturers, who are either outright donating, or selling food at production cost. 

The better way to thank the place that lets you set up is to encourage the adults to shop there. 

[karunamom3 28]

I know this is an older post, but this is what we do... 

We run our own food drive twice a year that benefits 3 local food pantries. We get quite a bit of cash donations usually between 800 - 1200. We buy $25 Shop Rite gift cards with the money and split the cards between the 3 locations. The folks that run the 3 food pantries all like the gift card system we established, but it was discussed with them first.