Fundraising Ideas

[amkari]

I would like to pick some brains about pack fundraising. :)

I have just come on board as an assistant cubmaster and am trying to encourage the rest of the pack leadership to consider and plan some ongoing fundraising events to pay for scouting activities. I had some issues over the year with what WASN'T happening so I decided to volunteer so I could have a voice in changing what I felt could be improved upon... you can't legitimately complain about something you aren't willing to step up and try to change. ;-) To be fair, our cubmaster was mostly doing everything on his own for the last year with no assistants and minimal participation from den leaders so it wasn't all bad. I just truly feel there could (and should) be more after experiencing my son's Tiger year.

I personally see no reason why I should be out of pocket for day camp, scout retreats, awards, or pack activities when we ought to be able to raise enough funds to pay for our boys to do these things as a group. I was rather disillusioned to have to pay almost every penny of the fees for summer camping activities (will be nearly $600 by the end of the summer) when my son sold several hundred dollars in popcorn at the beginning of the year and was #2 in the pack in top sales. I was led to believe that most of the amount he raised would directly benefit his activities... the boys will be getting just $40 each towards one specific outing - if they participate. Of course, this was after nobody at the pack OR district level ever contacted me regarding an inquiry in signing up so I was already frustrated. lol

What are some events or activities (besides popcorn... I hate popcorn lol) that other packs do to raise funds? How well did you do?

How do they work and do you have any 'instructions' or timelines that you could send me?

Does your pack pool all monies raised in one lump sum and divvy it out equally or do you apportion it based on level of participation and effort from each individual cub family?

Thanks a bunch!
Amber

[Westergaard]

Our Pack sells popcorn and for the Christmas season they sell wreaths.
Both are equally successful provided that all scouts and the families get behind the programs.
All of the money raised goes into the general pack fund and those that participate will receive funding to help pay for day camp or other cub events.
On the boy scout level, we sell booyah twice a year and that money goes strictly to the troop to pay for updating the troop's camp equipment.
They money that the boys receive in their escrow accounts come from pizza card sales and wreath sales for Christmas.
The pizza cards have the highest profit margin for the troop. The cards sell for $5. and the troop receives $4 where upon a dollar is taken by troop and placed into the troop fund and the remaining $3. goes into the boys' escrow accounts to help pay for any scout related items the boys need.

[Nuts4Scouts]

First, do you have a Committee Chairman(CC)? Do you have a working Committee with members other than Den Leaders?

Money earning is not the responsibility of the Cubmaster or Asst Cubmaster. It is a function of the Pack Committee. Usually it is the Treasurer who handles that function, but your CC could appoint a Money Earning Chair to do it.

Second, since you have decided to take this on, you first need to become a registered and trained BSA leader. The training will help you to learn how a Pack & a Pack Committee should work. It will also give you the rules & regulations you should be following in any Pack activity.

You can begin your training at BSA's Online Learning Center with Cub Scout Fast Start & Youth Protection.

http://olc.scouting.org/

A Pack's money earning starts with a yearly Pack budget plan. This is where your Pack Committee gets together, decides what activities they want to do for the year, what the Pack would like to pay for & how much it will take to pay for it all. The BSA supplies a great resource to help you do this.

http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/resources/packbudget/index.html

If you are planning any money earning activities, other than a council sponsored sale like popcorn, you will need to fill in a BSA Unit Money-Earning Application and have it approved by your council. You should also be sure to follow the guidelines on the back (last page) of the form.

http://www.scouting.org/forms/34427.pdf

Also, if you do not participate in your council's popcorn sale, in my opinion, it is only fair that you increase your Pack's Friends Of Scouting (FOS) contributions to compensate. The popcorn sale is usually a BIG part of your council's operating budget.


What my Pack does - We cover our entire Pack budget from the annual popcorn sale. We do not use Scout Accounts at the Cub Scout level. Although I know of some Packs that do use them, I personally, do not like the idea for Cubs.

We do not pay for Day Camp or Summer Camp for our Scouts. That is up to the families. Day Camp is fairly cheap & if they wish, boys can choose to earn Council Scout Bucks in lieu of prizes in the popcorn sale. If enough popcorn is sold it is possible to pay for Summer Camp with earned Scout Bucks.

Our popcorn sale pays for handbooks, scarves, slides, den number patches, patch vests, all awards/patches/pins/belt loops/etc, leader training, leader position patches, decorations/supplies for Pack meetings, Scout costs for Pack outings, School bus for Pack outings to baseball & hockey game, reduced cost for Blue & Gold Dinner, special entertainment for B&G, Pinewood Derby cars for Scouts, Christmas treat for siblings, special speakers for 2 Pack meetings, compass for 4th grade Webelos going into 5th grade, Boy Scout handbook & red shoulder tabs for 5th grade Webelos crossing to Boy Scouts, rocket kit for boys making their popcorn sales goal ($350), all costs for Pack Family Camping Overnights, dogs/burgers/drinks/freeze pops for Pack Picnic, rocket launching supplies for Pack Rocket Launch, plus some things I am sure I am forgetting.

Our wonderful Charter Org pays for our recharter expenses & religious emblem handbooks & awards. They have also recently helped us purchase a brand new Pinewood Derby track.

Den expenses are up to the individual den. Most charge den dues of some kind to cover. It does help that we have a couple of Cub Scout cabinets at our meeting place with supplies used (& refilled) jointly by all dens.

Hope this long-winded reply has helped!

[1st Mate]

Nuts4Scouts raises some excellent points! Fundraising should be driven by program and not the other way around.

Until you know what you want your annual program to be you cannot set a budget and without a budget to know how much money you need you cannot successfully fundraise.

A scout units fundraising goal should be to be able to afford the program they want not to see how much they can raise and then decide what the program could be.

Learn the BSA money earning rules. Remember that you cannot sell a name brand product while in uniform and using the name or symbols of the BSA programs unless you have specific permission from the council to do so.

Also be aware that you must sell a product or service, things like a bike-a-thon (or any a-thon) are not permitted for unit unit fundraiseres. Nor is soliciting businesses for cash donations.

Do not be quick to abandon your council's popcorn program because of personal dislikes. I have yet to find anyone who has found a program with as many benefits and as much profitability as popcorn sales. Especially at the Cub level.

The ship is doing boat washes every weekend and a couple pancake and sausage breakfasts this year.

[amkari]

I have completed ALL of the online training (in fact, I did so before I was even registered as a leader because I like to know these types of things and I like to be involved in the process. lol) I am waiting for a council training to be scheduled... and have turned in my resume for a vacant Scout Executive position in my district. I do have a pretty good understanding of the structure and process as well as the guidelines and limitations. However, I am also the only one that I have met in the last year that wants to put ideas out there and take the time to plan anything beyond next month. Our committee seems to be non-existent - the 'chairperson' is the cubmaster's wife and he told me that he put her down simply because he needed a signature from a committee chair for some things. Even participation from the Den Leaders in planning pack activities is minimal. I've got activies and trips to suggest for the next 2 years that coincide with the monthly themes already listed on a calendar.

As far as the popcorn - I do think it is a great fundraiser... I just don't like to eat it. I think it is gross. lol Like I said, my son was #2 in top sales... but even as a pack, we only earned about $900. Certainly not enough to pay for an active year. My employer was nice enough to contribute to Friends of Scouting in my son's name since I could not afford to.

I am the one who introduced the belt loops and pins - when I submitted them to our den leader, my son was literally the first cub in the pack to do so. NOBODY else even knew they existed. Same with the Family Activity Program. Only after seeing them awarded the first time to my son did any other parents inquire about the requirements.

I am trying to look beyond the summer and start planning pack activities and trips through NEXT summer so that we do have an idea as to how much money we need. The minimal amount left in the account after the next planned activity certainly won't cover much. Not even awards for the September pack meeting which is the next meeting any of the dens have planned. Personally, I would prefer a full 12 month schedule of den and pack meetings. But that is an argument for another day.

I will admit, some of my desire for improving on the results so far is a little selfish. I'm a single mom who doesn't receive child support or any assistance from my son's dad. I had to start planning and saving last September to be able to afford Scout Day Camp, any of the Scout Retreat Weekends, and summertime overnight activities. I just made the last credit card payment to pay off the child's uniform this month no less... and now I am making payments to the card for my uniform shirt. lol There is a lot that I have sacrificed financially to make sure he could fully participate in scouting. I'm still not sure I will be able to pay for the biggest overnight event of the summer because it will be over $200 by the time I figure in time off from work, gas and travel, and the fees to participate... and I only have a month to figure it out.

I posted this to get IDEAS... concrete things that I could take and propose that had already been tried and found successful... not the assumption that I was clueless in regards to BSA guidelines. If we had a pack functioning like it should in terms of the leadership according to those guidelines, it would be a moot point. Instead, we have a cubmaster (with little to no committee) who has been doing nearly everything on his own for a year now and he will be leaving the position after next summer. I am seeing a need... and rather than wring my hands and whine about how somebody needs to handle it, I am trying to make something happen... sooner rather than later. Then, once the ball is rolling, it will be easier to find someone to keep it going because then there will be clear instructions to follow.

I do appreciate all the points that were raised though... quite often people don't make themselves fully aware of what they should before volunteering for something. lol I just tend to get frustrated when I get answers (or instructions) that do not apply to the question that I asked. I have a tight enough schedule without having to wade through uneccessary or redundant information. Speaking of... lunch hour (and semi rant) is over and I have to go back to work. Thanks again.

[Nuts4Scouts]

Wow - I must say, I would have thought the budget info would at least be helpful. I did not realize that I was wasting your time.

Well here are some more time wasting comments -

I would hazard a guess that 99% of BSA Scouters work full time.

Not all Scout families are rolling in money. Most of us who are also leaders pay out a LOT of our own money for Scouting. Much of that money is NOT free mad money.

Our Scout families have a LOT of other fundraising that they are doing, on top of that for Cub Scouts. That is why we refuse to add multiple fundraisers for Cubs on top of popcorn & everything else.

Popcorn can be a GREAT fundraiser. It has to be promoted properly. It has to be WORKED. We do both Show-and Sell and Take Order sales. We are working at selling popcorn for 2.5 months. We sold almost $8,000 in popcorn this year.

To get ideas of other things to sell, check out the back of Boys Life & Scouter Magazine.

Won't waste any more of your time.

[1st Mate]

Without knowing what your program budget was or how many scouts you had selling it would be hard to say if the $900 was a successful campaign or not.

I can tell you that as a Cubmaster of 96 Cubs in a small rural community (and 4 other packs in town) we regularly netted $8,000 to $12,000 in popcorn profits each year. In addition we sold trays of flowers and hanging baskets on Mothers Day which usually made about $1200 in one weekend.

We then charged each scout $1 a week for den dues, to buy glue scissors, paste, paints and the other stuff routinely used in Den Meetings.

With the money we raised the only thing that families bought were:
The full uniform
The first year of membership
food
1/2 of day camp

The pack paid for
The neckerchief and handbooks
Pinewood Derby Cars
All membership fees after the first year for scouts who advanced a rank
All awards and recognitions
Adult training
Adult membership fees for trained adults
BSA Program Resource Library for each Den
A professional program at every other Pack Meeting
1st year Webelos got a Compass
Graduating Webelos got a Boy Scout Handbook

The Chartering Organization paid for 1/2 of day camp for every Cub.

[amkari]

Nuts4Scouts...

Wow - I must say, I would have thought the budget info would at least be helpful. It was helpful... when I saw it posted elsewhere and downloaded / printed it. ;-) It was certainly eye-opening and made me realize that our pack needs much more money than we had earned to really create a quality, active program that would not only allow more families to participate.

I would hazard a guess that 99% of BSA Scouters work full time.
Not all Scout families are rolling in money. Most of us who are also leaders pay out a LOT of our own money for Scouting. Much of that money is NOT free mad money. I never inferred that any Scout family was "rolling in money" although I envy those that might be. I also envy those boys whose fathers are the ones involved since my son hasn't seen or heard from his on nearly 4 years. I know that involved parents often pitch in their own funds for supplies and whatnot... I did too, when I had a little extra. I just feel that with a little more effort that it might not be necessary.

Our Scout families have a LOT of other fundraising that they are doing, on top of that for Cub Scouts. That is why we refuse to add multiple fundraisers for Cubs on top of popcorn & everything else. Unfortunately, fundraising has become a full time activity for many communities... expecially when school budgets become so strained that textbooks aren't even supplied. It has reached the point of being ridiculous. I pick and choose which ones I allow my son to participate in because I hate being in people's pockets trying to get them to buy candy bars, cookie dough, wrapping paper, and other stuff that is way overpriced for what you get. I would prefer activities that do not involve kids going door to door.

Popcorn can be a GREAT fundraiser. It has to be promoted properly. It has to be WORKED. We do both Show-and Sell and Take Order sales. We are working at selling popcorn for 2.5 months. We sold almost $8,000 in popcorn this year. Unfortunately, the popcorn comes right after everyone has been hit up for cookie dough from every school in the area. Few people have any more money to spend on these things by the time it rolls around. If our pack would meet in August and start popcorn right when it comes out at the beginning of September instead of meeting in September and starting popcorn at the beginning of October we just might do a lot better because we would beat the school fundraisers... but people also generally don't want to wait so long for their stuff either. None of the other leaders wanted to meet in August so we will end up with roughly 3 weeks on popcorn sales again. Parents don't want to commit to a night of show and sell (I assume you are talking about setting up with a display of inventory for instant delivery).


1st Mate...

I don't think we even have a written budget, much less one extending further than a couple months. We currently have about 35-40 cubs and are one of only 3 packs in town. We have a population in the city of around 150 thousand and most parents I talk to about scouting tell me that they don't participate because it is too expensive. The pack pays for awards (although the other leaders want to implement a $20 award fee per cub for next year)... and some of the decor for B&G and the Pinewood Derby. Usually the dens provide food for meetings and all project supplies at our own expense. If our pack was able to provide even half of what you listed I would be ecstatic.

Our charter organization is one of the local elementary schools... their representative rarely shows her face. Needless to say, there are no funds forthcoming from that direction. I've asked.

My son and I were the ONLY people from our pack to participate in the Memorial Day Scout Retreat. The reason for those I asked... families could not afford the $25 per person fee. I spoke with people from several other packs from various districts... every single one had at least half of their cubs and families there. It was discouraging to say the least.

__________________________________________________ _____________

Part of my earlier post was a knee-jerk reaction to the feeling that I was being "talked (typed?) down to". Especially as I have seen similar responses to others in different posts and have experienced a similar response from local dads as well simply because I am female. Slightly defensive - you bet. lol I'm tired of 'suprising' people because (as a woman) I go camping, bowhunting, fishing... and I shoot handguns for fun. I have already realized that I have more experience in these areas than all but 2 or 3 of the other dads in our pack.

Believe me, if I hadn't already read every single post on this site as well as most of scouting.org and several other sites my search engine picked up while I was looking for infomation to improve upon what is currently happening I would have found much of the info to be very valuable. If you got offended, I'm sorry, it was not intentional.

[Nuts4Scouts]

Part of my earlier post was a knee-jerk reaction to the feeling that I was being "talked (typed?) down to".

Information was being given to someone who stated they were just ending their very first year in Tiger Scouts and had just taken on their very first leadership position. Your level of expertise was unknown at the time.


Believe me, if I hadn't already read every single post on this site as well as most of scouting.org and several other sites my search engine picked up while I was looking for information to improve upon what is currently happening I would have found much of the info to be very valuable.

From the information given in the opening post I had to assume that you were a brand new leader looking for information. Perhaps, if you had stated the above in your opening post, you would not have gotten redundant information and none of us would have had to waste our time.

[Cubmaster Chris]

We did a show about fundraising at the beginning of May. Maybe it will give you some ideas beyond the ones you've found online...

http://www.leaderscampfire.com/archives/27

---------------------------------------------------
Cubmaster Chris
PTC Media
Podcasts by Scouters, for Scouters
Listen at www.ptcmedia.net
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[WB Bear]

Wow, this turned out to be a hot topic. I guess I better put my 2 cents in.

Popcorn is an excellent opportunity and program BSA has made available. I believe it is about 66% of the profit made says locally. Far better that most programs. There is a college scholarship program and also advancement opportunities for Cubs, Webelos and Scouts. So it’s an awesome program for the Scout, Units and Councils.

I also want to confirm what 1st Mate stated about popcorn funding basically everything except full uniform, registration etc. Our Council has both an inner city and rural area units and I have seen units in both areas, some with 40+ Cubs, fund their entire program including uniforming and registration from their popcorn proceeds. So it can be done! It is much better then multiple fundraisers or parent’s “out of pocket” funding.

Speaking on “out of pocket” expenses I have also found that it is much less then most programs, including sports!

It is really sad to hear that parents are not able to participate in Scouting and related events because of money. I do realize that many parents do not have the fund available, that’s just a fact of life. Money should never be an issue to keep our families from reaping the benefits of Scouting. A successful unit fundraising program such as popcorn can alleviate that issue.

Sorry, maybe that was a little more than 2 cents worth.

[egomez]

We are seling glowsticks at the fireworks.
They are about 8 cents each and you can sell them for a dollar.

[1st Mate]

I don't think we even have a written budget,

Big problem. You need a 12 month budget before the program year begins.

We currently have about 35-40 cubs and are one of only 3 packs in town. We have a population in the city of around 150 thousand

You have ample population and opportunity to easily sell enough popcorn to fund your program year.

and most parents I talk to about scouting tell me that they don't participate because it is too expensive.

It is expensive because you do not have a plan to make it inexpensive.

The pack pays for awards (although the other leaders want to implement a $20 award fee per cub for next year)...

Depending on the awards you PLAN t present that is probably twice the amount you need.

and some of the decor for B&G and the Pinewood Derby.
Have the scouts make them as a den project.

Usually the dens provide food for meetings and all project supplies at our own expense. If our pack was able to provide even half of what you listed I would be ecstatic. Don't do food at pack meetings, it is a poor filler for a real program, it's messy, its expensive. Save food for the Blue and Gold. All it takes to do what we did is make a plan like our plan.

Our charter organization is one of the local elementary schools... their representative rarely shows her face. Needless to say, there are no funds forthcoming from that direction. I've asked.

Why would they give you money if there is no sense of a relationship. You you give much money to someone you diod not know? Do not ask for money...build a relationship and the money will be offered.

My son and I were the ONLY people from our pack to participate in the Memorial Day Scout Retreat. The reason for those I asked... families could not afford the $25 per person fee.
If the unit had a budget plan this would not be an issue.

I spoke with people from several other packs from various districts... every single one had at least half of their cubs and families there. It was discouraging to say the least.
Never worry about what other packs or troops are doing. The scouts you serve are in the pack you serve. What YOU do is what is important!

egomz
How many light sticks do you sell in a night?

[jhankins]

Our new pack has 35 boys, and about 12 leaders. Our Tiger parents have been added to the fold as new leaders and supporters.

Our popcorn sales last year shattered the year before. We live in a poor military community that strives to support everyone it can, but money is tight. By exposing ourselves to other leaders in other packs, we have found some new ideas that inspire us to try even more.

Yes, we're looking at helping a local car wash for a day (nets about $300), a penny drive, and a garage sale to supplement our budget for this year, but it's going to be tight. Our show and sell is our biggest seller, and we're racing to raise the money to get that done.

However, we may not make enough money to support our pack as well as some of you. We paid for all our awards (and most boys earned 10-12 belt loops), the entire Blue and Gold Banquet (the leaders cooked), food for our first Pack Lock-In, training for the leaders, and a bowling night for the pack. Paying for camp, day camp and insurance? That would be our entire profit from popcorn sales.

[1st Mate]

Be aware that a penny drive does NOT meet the the money earning policies of the BSA and will likely not be approved by your local council. You will find these rules on the backside of the Unit Money Earning Application that must be approved prior to your event. It stipulates that a product or service of value must be exchanged with the donor. Penny drives, jump-a-thons etc are not considered valid fundraisers are are usually not approved or that are approved with the stipulation that you not display the uniform or any connection with Scouting.

[Eagle85]

We are seling glowsticks at the fireworks.
They are about 8 cents each and you can sell them for a dollar.
Egomez,
Interesting idea. Where are you purchasing your glow sticks from to get such a great price?

[dawnydiesel]

My pack didn't like popcorn. It wasn't very profitable for us AT ALL. We've had a lot of success with Butter Braid. Our last fundraiser, finished about a week ago, netted us about 1600 with the Butter Braid.

We'll also be selling candy bars/snacks at our local Walmart, car washes in the summer, booths at local fairs, etc... We're a brand new pack, less than a year old, and we've become really committed to fundraising to get some money in our accounts.

[WB Bear]

I agree that you can make some profit with other fundraisers. What about including popcorn as one of your fundraisers? There is definitely a profit to be made and Trails End has an excellent program set up for Scouts. They include a multitude of resources such as promotional help, safety tips, advancement opportunities, prizes and even help with your unit’s yearly budget. The best part is that at least 70% of the money raised stays in your community. About 35% stays with your unit and the rest your councils receive which helps with the camps and other activities.

It is really worth taking a serious look at popcorn as one of your fundraisers. I know of many units that make enough money to fund comfortably their unit and their boys. Visit the website at
www.trails-end.com (http://www.trails-end.com)

[dawnydiesel]

I didn't say that we didn't use the popcorn, I said we didn't like it. We've had more success with other fundraisers, considerably more than the popcorn. It doesn't mean we won't revisit it in the future, I was just simply stating that the popcorn didn't work for us this time around.

[WB Bear]

I am sorry if you mistook what I was trying to get across. As being a brand new unit and I am sure you are in desperate need of funding and some other fund raisers will work. But again as a new unit you might not have be familiar with the popcorn program and all the benefits of it.

[bigkid]

Not to get off Topic but.... I'm going to quickly.
Our District provides a campership to parents who participated in pop corn sales and are in need. It's usually 50% off. It can't hurt to check with your district.:)

[Den5Pack457]

Wow, that's awesome! Not to be a sour grape, but all of our Council and District benefits like camperships, uniforms, and the like are afforded to the Scoutreach Packs. Even though we live in a well-to-do District, most of my scouts are military... so I have some parents who are Colonels and others who are Sergeants with four kids.

[1st Mate]

Councils usually provide camperships based on individual need, so if you have someone in the pack you think would need a campership it would be a good idea to offer the program to the parents.

As far as other product sales remember that when selling a brand name item, that, unless it has been approved by your local council office, you cannot wear the Scouting uniforms, or display any scouting emblems, or mention Scouting, or even say that the money will be used for a Scouting purpose.

At best you can have everyone dressed in non-scout clothing and say that they are selling the products to raise money for the youth activities of _______________(fill in your charter organization's name).