Can "Friends of [local Scouting]" (i.e., new CO after split from church CO) solicit funds for the CO, which then get donated to units?

[ramblingfam 6]

Question is in the title.  If a Pack and/or Troop or multiple units come together to form a new "Friends of" corporation to act as a CO for the units, can that organization solicit funds for itself, that it will then use for the units it charters?  How could this work?  Could parents solicit from friends/neighbors/hold events to raise money?  To flip it around, if a church that was the CO for a unit held a "gala to benefit our chartered units" would that run afoul of BSA's solicitation rules?  How could this work or would it not?  What would the counterarguments from Council or National be?

[InquisitiveScouter 1656]

5 minutes ago, ramblingfam said:

to act as a CO for the units

That's the piece that kills it...

If this new organization signs a Charter Agreement with the Council, and acts as the CO, then no.  Well, at least not without some coordination with council.

Para II.A.4. of Chartering Agreement states the CO must "Refrain from soliciting financial support except as authorized for the benefit of the Unit or the Local Council."  https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Annual-Charter-Agreement-Charter-Organizations_Short-Version_8.26.2022.pdf

So, the "as authorized" part there (I believe) means you'd have to follow all the BSA Unit Money Earning Guidelines... https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34427.pdf  ... and get approval from council before launching the fundraising operation.

Would the council approve this kind of money-raising??  Around here, no... well, not without at least 10% for the big guy 😜 (Probably more than 10%...)

NOTE:  "At no time are units permitted to solicit contributions for unit programs."  So, technically, the "Friends of" might be able to solicit, but certainly no one in the unit could.  (They can ACCEPT donations, but they cannot SOLICIT them.)