Paying for Trips

[CNYScouter 46]

I see that most of you are back from Jamboree.

I have a question about how you paid to go.

 

How many had fundraisers to pay for the trip and how many had to pay out of their own pockets?

If you did fundraisers what percentage of the cost did you end up raising?

Also, along these lines how many do fundraising to attend places like Philmont or Seabase or other High Adventure Trips?

 

It seems that most Troops in my area expect the parents to foot the whole bill for these kinds of trips (along with summer camp).

Im not poor but the cost to attend Jambo through our council was $1300 and about that for Philmont and Seabase.

 

Having to come up with $2600 for both of us to attend there was no way I could swing it.

 

[theysawyoucomin' 10]

This may cushion the blow.

As an adult leader you are allowed to deduct the travel portion of your involvement in Scouting from your Federal income taxes.

You are giving your time, they require adult supervision.

Please consult the IRS before trying this but I have been told by more than one leader that they do this.

It won't make $2600 any easier to come up with but it could help on the back end.

[morainemom 10]

My 17 yr. old Eagle Scout son just got back from his 2nd Jamboree. He also did a Philmont Trek in '03.

 

He personally has paid for ALL of these trips, including 4 years of summer camp. Each Jamboree and Philmot Trek cost $1,000.00.

 

He sells a lot of popcorn. A lot..... He also has sold T-shirts, and helped operate a Troop Lemondade stand at a festival. They've sld Christmas trees. He also works many truck shows passing out newspapers.

 

His Troop has individual accounts set up for the Scouts and everything they earn is put in their name.

 

He's always been proud of the fact that he earned and paid his way to these events on his own. It also motivated him to go out there and do all that he could, activity wise.

 

He just bought a Mustang Convertible, and yes, he paid for that himself as well and is responsible for half the insurance (we'll pay the other half as long as he continues to be on the honor roll and do school and outside activities.)

[Eamonn 61]

The Committee in charge of the Council Jamboree contingent had promised that there would be fund raising events to help Scouts pay for the event.

The price tag was $895 plus the cost of whatever extra uniforms and equipment the Scouts needed. Uniforms were sold at cost from our little Council shop.

What ended up happening was each troop did its own thing.

We had four sales and the participation was not that great. The Scouts were also allowed to use the money from popcorn sales and the commission was at the highest level the Council offers, but without having to meet the level required. This did upset some of the home troops as they use popcorn monies to pay for rechartering.

The Scouts kept 100% of the money earned and any money over and above was given back to them before the Jamboree as spending money.

I had a couple of families that said they would have liked to see more fund raising events and some Lads that said they were happy to not fund raise and use the money they earned from paper routes and other part time jobs. One Lad did raise enough to pay his fee and cover the cost of extra uniforms as well as getting $200 back for spending money, then there were families who were just happy to write one big check when their son signed up for the Jamboree. One Lad is the top pop corn seller in the Council and has over $6,000 in his account that is managed by his home troop, he just asked the Troop Treasurer to cut checks for what he needed..

I haven't done the math and a lot of the uniform costs depended on if the Scout came from a Troop that was or wasn't a Troop that wore full uniform. Most of the checks I seen for uniforming were in the $200 -$300 range. Many of the Scouts had to buy a cot. I ordered a lot from Alpine, these cost $37.50, but some opted to get them as Christmas presents, sad to say the ones they got from Dick's Sporting goods were no more than metal kindling and Dick's will be dealing with some very unhappy parents of campers.

The total cost of attending the Jamboree was approx $1,200.

Eamonn.

[CNYScouter 46]

morainemom -

 

This is awesome. It sounds like you have a great son.

 

I fully agree that a Troop should encourage and give a good deal of opportunity for a Scout to pay his own way to these functions.

The old Troop we were in did not use individual Scout accounts. When I tried to get the unit to use them and the SM told me he did not believe in them and would not allow them. He expected that every parent to foot the bill for their son(s).

 

The new troop does have individual accounts but I have found that after the Troop takes a portion for troop expenses, there is often very little left to split among the scouts. Most years it only puts $50 or so into the scouts account for the year.

I am a little worried that there seems to be no clear-cut fundraising policy and it changes with each fundraiser. I dont think its a problem, but no one has just bothered to get around to setting and writing down a policy and it is handled on each case basis.

 

I know that our council Jamboree Troops did no fundraising on their own. Each Scout had to come up with there own way to pay for the trip. I know of only a few Troops that have individual accounts and allow scouts to use this for these types of trips.