Youth Camp Registration - Artificial $150 Contribution Cap

[fernsten]

Our stake youth camp fee is $350. Is there a reason why donations to the Youth Camp Registration account are capped at $150?

[eblood66]

There has been no official statement about the cap so we can only speculate. My guess is that it is either:

1. To discourage large 'donations' for camps - this category is intended only for actual payments from youth or families not for general membership to just 'help' out with camps.
2. To encourage local units to keep camp payments low and to use budget as much as possible.
3. Because general youth leaders just assumed camp payments wouldn't need to be more than $150.

Or some combination of these. Or I may be entirely in left field and the reasons are completely different.

[russellhltn]

I'm wondering if somehow the rules got implemented ahead of a policy announcement.

[fernsten]

There has been no official statement about the cap so we can only speculate. My guess is that it is either:

1. To discourage large 'donations' for camps - this category is intended only for actual payments from youth or families not for general membership to just 'help' out with camps.
2. To encourage local units to keep camp payments low and to use budget as much as possible.
3. Because general youth leaders just assumed camp payments wouldn't need to be more than $150.

Or some combination of these. Or I may be entirely in left field and the reasons are completely different.

Sadly, we live in the bay area. A $150 camp is not feasible, even at Church-owned properties.

[benhallbenhall]

Same $150 limit issue. Would be good to have this cap lifted. I have multiple kids in camps this year, so my total will be much more then a single camps dues anyway.

[BrianEdwards]

As mentioned, it seems nobody here in the Forum has any reliable knowledge about why this cap exists (intentional? programming error?), and no connections to anyone inside the Church who would know.

Beyond submitting this as a Feedback issue, really the only other option is to work through the Stake President. Perhaps if your Stake YW and YM Presidents are made aware of this issue, and then speak with the Stake President, he could use his leadership path connections to get traction. It may not be an ideal option, but it's about the only other choice.

[ambldsorg]

Same $150 limit issue. Would be good to have this cap lifted. I have multiple kids in camps this year, so my total will be much more then a single camps dues anyway.

Does the same limit exist if you submit payment either in cash or by check?

[sbradshaw]

I don't know the reason for the cap, but an observation is that I've seen a lot of wards ignore the part in 20.6.2 (repeated twice in the short section) that says to look to ward or stake budgets first, and only ask families to contribute if ward or stake budget is not sufficient. There is also an allowance for an annual fundraiser to help pay. We shouldn't default to the family paying, without considering budgeting or fundraising. To me, $350 per person for a few days at a camp sounds excessive for some families to pay out of pocket – especially families with multiple children – even if that's what the camp charges. It becomes even more of a challenge when camps happen in the same year as FSY.

[russellhltn]

It becomes even more of a challenge when camps happen in the same year as FSY.

Curious that the Handbook mentioned both conferences and camps as if they're separate things. I've never thought of it that way.

The handbook does say not to hold local conferences the same year that FSY is scheduled.

[BrianEdwards]

I'm reminded of the saying that "Members do not exist to make things easier for the Church, rather the Church exists to make things easier for the members" (there's lots of variations of that phrasing). I personally feel it would be amazing for local leaders to counsel with parents about upcoming youth events, and make sure that Church programs and family desires are discussed, including financial aspects. Just because a ward/stake is able to support certain expenses, doesn't mean it necessarily should continue that way. And just because stake youth events have always been done a certain way, doesn't mean there aren't alternatives to consider.

I'd also note that GHB 20.6.2 states that fundraisers should only be considered if budgets and parent contributions are not sufficient. My experience is that in practice, many places view parent contributions as the final fallback, and essentially consider fundraisers as secondary budget funds they expect to utilize each year -- and if they can avoid having families need to contribute, even better.

The Church has shown an example of simplifying/eliminating some really great events (pageants, etc), after evaluating if there were other (read: more cost effective) ways to accomplish the underlying goals of those events. Each Stake President has stewardship for these funding decisions, and perhaps certain locales will indeed be required to bump up against this contribution cap, and a family with 3 youth will have to find a way to pay more than $450 for their children to attend a church event. So in the context of this discussion, I think the key word is what is "excessive", and different leaders will have different ideas about what that actually means.