Boy Scout Program fundraising

[terrybuck2]

Please forward this message to the Young Mens' General Presidency for response:

My concern is fundraising for the Boy Scout program - Please advise how the Scouts can accomplish adequate fundraising within Church guidelines - Boy Scout camp fees range $275 and up; uniform and equipment costs are up.
A neighboring ward had begun a successful fundraiser by selling and spreading mulch in their Florida neighborhoods, as we were about to copy, but some leaders in the stake complained that it did not meet their definition of Church guidelines, so all were denied this type of fundraising for this year and beyond. (We planned to purchase 2000 bags of mulch from a large home supply store at an agreed-to discount, and charge a small delivery fee to place the bags of mulch on the homeowners' driveway, and also offer a spreading fee for any who asked for it. This has a good fundraising track record for past BSA troop fundraisers - LDS & non-LDS, and was a well supported event and youth participation.)

In our area only one in four young men can supply the needed funds in our troop. Please help me to understand what is done in other LDS communities to support the needed funds. We don't want to exclude any scouts that cannot provide the expenses. Many of our young men have little parent support within the Church or as nonmembers.

I have been involved in Scouting in the Church for over 35 years, and have followed Church guidelines to the best of my ability. Please help to understand what other successful scout programs (Utah?) are able to accomplish to be able to raise adequate funds to sustain their Scout programs, summer camp, uniforms and equipment.

As for myself, it seems that our Scout program could simply adapt to use state parks and local merit badge councilors, and disregard uniforms, avoiding expensive BSA Summer Camp fees, but that is not the Boy Scout environment that is encouraged through leadership training. We are encouraged to attend and comply with both Aaronic Priesthood and BSA leadership training, and it seems that our hands are tied when it comes to fundraising to support these programs.

Thank you,
Terry Buck

[eblood66]

I'm sure that many here sympathize with you about the difficulty of running a scout program financially within the given guidelines. But no one here has the ability to pass your note along to anyone in authority. Everyone here are just other clerks and local leaders like yourself.

The only mechanism to provide this kind of feedback is through your priesthood line. Your stake president can talk to his area authority who can bring it up with the appropriate general authorities.

However, if you want to discuss ways and ideas on how to fund things within the current guidelines there very well may be others on the forums here that can give their own experiences and ideas.

[scgallafent]

This is a public forum and anything posted here is publicly visible. I have removed the personal contact information from your original message.

As eblood66 said, this feedback needs to go to your stake president. He can then discuss it with his priesthood leaders.

[lajackson]

On assignment from the stake president, I called and spoke with the Young Men presidency at Church headquarters about this very subject. My assignment was about a specific, generally recognized fundraising activity, but broadened into the general financing discussion you have raised. We spoke of Scouting in other areas of the world and the challenges that are faced there. We spoke of what was happening in the Great Salt Lake Council of the BSA and how they fundraise.

Because the discussion was many years ago and some things may well have changed, I will not provide specifics. But I will tell you two things. First, fundraising needs are very different in different countries, and the Church has policies that reflect that, known to Area Presidencies, though they are not in the Handbook. Second, it was a very discouraging discussion.

I finished the conversation with a broadened understanding of the problem, but also with the understanding that the direction our stake presidency wished to take was in complete harmony with the guidelines the Church provided, and that it could work. This is the approach our stake presidency took. You will recognize it from the Handbook.

First, local units planned and budgeted as much as possible toward the expenses of the Scouting program. The stake assisted in some ways.

Second, the Scouts were asked to contribute what they could, which usually also meant that their families helped.

Third, when fundraising projects were needed, they were based on services provided and not on sales of commercially available items.

There have been topics in this Forum where this subject has been discussed, and also where ideas have been presented for good fundraising activities that seem to meet the guidelines found in the Handbook. More importantly, things in our area got a lot better many years ago as leaders listened to the stake presidency and came to realize that fundraising was the third option for funding Scout activities. Yes, we still had fundraising activities, where truly necessary, approved by bishops and supported by the stake president.

Under inspired leadership, the guidelines in the Handbook do work.

[russellhltn]

This is the approach our stake presidency took. You will recognize it from the Handbook.

You didn't mention the expense side of the equation. I suspect there were actions taken to reduce the cost of the camp, but especially the activities (since only the annual camp is covered by fundraising).

[lajackson]

You didn't mention the expense side of the equation. I suspect there were actions taken to reduce the cost of the camp, but especially the activities (since only the annual camp is covered by fundraising).

If you use the BSA camps, you cannot reduce the cost of the camp. But yes, as you get into the Handbook, you will find that all of the Scouting expenses other than the annual camp will come from the budget allowance.

And if the budget allowance does not extend far enough to also cover the annual camp, you go to steps two and then the fundraising step three.

It's all in the Handbook.

[russellhltn]

If you use the BSA camps, you cannot reduce the cost of the camp.

I think some units forgo the BSA run camps and do their own to keep the costs down.

[lajackson]

I think some units forgo the BSA run camps and do their own to keep the costs down.

Some units do, or they go every other year. That is one way to reduce costs.

But we have always been able to send our scouts to a camp run by the BSA. It takes planning, prioritizing, and effort. And in some but not all cases, a little fundraising.

[JPalmer82]

This has nothing to do with the posting but I have been searching for a member of the church named Terry Buck and I wanted to ask TerryBuck2 if by any chance he was adopted by a military family possibly in Asia. If so I have a link. Thank you and I'm sorry for intrrrupting.