Reimbursement Procedures

[COMCHAIR]

Just curious to know what kind of process and forms your boy scout troops use to reimburse volunteers for expenses for outings - e.g. gas or mileage to/from outings, food (typically expended by grubmaster parents), etc. If you do mileage, what rate do y'all use per mile?
Thanks in advance for y'all's input!
:)

[1st Mate]

Rather than reimburse mileage we encouraged leaders and parents to keep a record and deuct it as a charitable donation.

Food money is collected prior to the shopping being done. It is unfair to a family to make them use their own money because the troop or patrol failed to plan well.

Any other items for reimbursment must be approved in advance by the unit leader or the committee chair and then either money is provided for the purchase or a check is cut on presentation of a receipt.

[Irmo]

On trips that are out of district we reimburse gas for the parents who drive. We ask them to fill up before we go, and again as soon as they drop off the last scout when we come home. Then they turn in the receipt to the treasurer for reimbursement. Gas reimbursement is part of the budget process so if funds are short in a particular year we just announce that we aren't reimbursing gas.

We used to do the charitable contribution approach, but it was always the same parents making the donations. We decided to give them a break.

Grubmaster funds are the responsibility of the grubmaster. If a parent lets their scout go over budget and kicks in cash rather than telling the scout to leave some treats behind, then they are out of pocket and the scout missed an opportunity to learn a valuable lesson. We have a set $13 per scout per weekend grub money policy. The scouts plan their meals accordingly. The money seems right. My son was grubmaster last overnight feeding a bunch of older scouts. The budget was fine, even for a bunch of food vacuums

[ScoutmasterJerry]

Well I think we can have thousands of ideas on this one.. so here is what our Troop does:

Money for food is built in to the dues for the year. The Patrol leaders give the Treasurer a list of the members of the Patrol that are attending the outing and the money is deducted from the Scouts account. A check is then cut to the Scout that is buying for that campout. He has all the money up front. This process also makes the Scouts commit. If they sign up and the check is cut, they are not reimbursed if they drop at the last minute. It is a tough approach, but so is life.

Adults deduct the money as charitable contributions when it comes to gas etc. Food on the other hand is "Pay as you go"...
And yeah its always the same adults, because the Assistant Scoutmasters and I are typically the only adults on the Campouts. The ASMs and I have made the committment to the Troop and feel its just part of the Program.
Write off what you can and chalk the rest up to providing a great opportunity for the boys.
Since we are Boy lead we typically don't have to many adults on outings..so it is pretty simple.. 4 adults is easy to keep track of.. and using the Patrol leaders is an effective way of managing 26 Scouts.

The SPL reminds the PLs to get their rosters in to the Treasurer at the PLC meeting.

We budget annually and try real hard to stick to it. The Treasurer uses Troop Ledger software and reports on our status at the committee meetings. So we have an idea of where we can shift money if need be.

Just our two cents... hehe

[COMCHAIR]

Thanks for everyone's comments. I have a question about the Troop Ledger software - is that part of TroopMaster? I have been on our treasurer to get the committee a treasurer's report since I took over and I know the committee chair before me tried as well to no avail. But last week I had a long heart to heart talk with him and I think he will finally come thru with a treasurer's report before school gets back in session in mid-Aug. I want to meet with him and our outings chair, our advancements chair and our scoutmaster to devise a budget that the committee will vote on & hopefully approve at our first committee meeting.

I have come up with a form that all parents can use to attach their
receipt(s) and then give to the particular outings chairperson (another parent) so he/she can fill out the outings spreadsheet of income and expenses. I volunteer in several other organizations besides scouts and having reimbursement forms makes the treasurer's job much easier overall.

We had some parents who did not get reimbursed in a timely manner (some were waiting over 8 months!) and when I learned of the problem, I stpped in with the treasurer and ensured these folks got reimbursed asap. They were not happy about the slow reimbursment and I only found out because I was helping the summer camp chair get parents to help with driving and a couple of parents I approached happened to mention their reluctance to help since reimbursements still had not happened for their previous volunteer efforts - one parent was owed almost $500 and another was owed nearly $150!

I don't think we do not have too many parents willing to make gas or any other outing-related expense a charitable donation and I would personally not want to suggest that. Many in our city (and troop) have undergone serious pay declines or job losses in the past year or two...one dad even took a job in Saudi Arabia after he lost his job here and was gone for over a year; he is now back in the states - unfortunately his job is 4 hours away so he is only home on weekends. Another dad has been unemployed for nearly a year. My husband has had a 40% paycut in the last two years. So even though we do get pretty good parental involvement, the charitable donation idea vs reimbursements will have to wait till more prosperous times.

Food for our outings has typically been $3 per meal per boy. The money is reimbursed after the fact - e.g. when the receipt is presented. I am not a fan of that method myself because our troop outings typically come near the end of the month when money can be tight...I have told my sons NOT to volunteer to be grubmaster when I know I will not be able to front the money to buy food.

Our boys have accounts from popcorn sales - our sole fundraiser - but any money in their accounts just goes towards summer camp or Philmont fees.

Would appreciate more comments and ideas! And thank you all who have piped in so far!

[ScoutmasterJerry]

A couple things:
Troopledger is in the Troopmaster family and the program "talks" to Troopmaster. It has been great for us. Pretty easy to use and you get lots of information with a couple clicks. Reports are not a problem and it is easy to track individual Scout accounts.
Food for Campouts:
We budget $6 a weekend. That covers 4 meals per Scout. The patrols plan their meals around that number. If they go over budget, it comes out of their pocket. If they com in under budget, it goes back to their Scout accounts.
$6 a weekend feeds them real well.. Last campout one of the Patrols did Dutch oven ribs and two other patrols baked chicken. Ramen in not allowed in my Troop unless it is the noodles that are part of a meal.
The Patrol leaders use a meal planning guide. We used to have them have it approved, but they do a good job about eating well so we leave it to them now.
The $6 is part of the annual dues, so the Scouts pay for their meals annually. It works real well, the parents do not get the feeling that they are "Nickled and dimed" to death.

[1st Mate]

Your problem is a budget...you don't have one. The unit appears to be doing activities they cannot afford.

First you need to have a program plan for the year and then determine what it will cost and then either raise the needed funds, have scouts or families subsidize the short fall, or change the plan.

The receipt program you suggest seems far more involved and adult centered than it probably should be, or needs to be.

For many years as a scoutmaster we had each patrol responsible for getting themselves and their gear to camp. How they got there was their responsibility. They could get a parent to drive, hike, bicycle, whatever the patrol chose. This was with 6 patrols and not one parent ever complained. They took turns helping the patrol their son was in. The reason it worked was that everyone knew from day one that we used the Patrol Method. Everything was done by patrol.

The Scouts and their families knew at the beginning of the year what the program plan was and what we expected it to cost. The Scouts could earn the money selling popcorn or spaghetti dinner tickets, or the patrol could have a garage sale or do whatever the patrol wanted to raise the money, or they could choose to do fewer or different activities.

Whatever money was not raised the patrol could choose to subsidize through their own funds.

This got the junior leaders at the troop and patrol level intimately involved in program and budget planning. It also took the work of finding parents to drive off of the adult leaders "list of things to do" and gave it to the patrols.

But it all started with a plan and a budget first.

[Nuts4Scouts]

For many years as a scoutmaster we had each patrol responsible for getting themselves and their gear to camp. How they got there was their responsibility. They could get a parent to drive, hike, bicycle, whatever the patrol chose.


How on earth did you fill out the Tour Permits doing it this way?

How could you ensure the safety of the Scouts?

[1st Mate]

That was really quite easy. Each parent in the troop willing to ever drive filled out a simple form with their required insurance info and a copy of their drivers license. Our Committee had a position of outdoor activities coordinator (OAC). The scribe gathered the names of the drivers from the patrols two weeks to 10 days in advance and gave them to the OAC who completed the tour permit and took it to the scout office. Done. If a patrol could not get transportation then they missed the event. I can only think of one time that happened.

We helped to keep the scouts safe by following the safety rules and having a planned program. There is nothing in the Patrol Method that endangers a scouts safety.

[ScoutmasterJerry]

1st Mate is dead on...
Put it squarely on the youth leadership and they will get it done.
Adult supervision of course and not side stepping any G2SS issues.

I whole heartly concur with 1st Mate on this... 1st get a Plan and a Budget to support the plan... then go from there.

[COMCHAIR]

Thanks again 1st Mate & Scoutmaster Jerry - you guys are partly right...we don't have a budget but we do have a plan that the boys develop every year for what outings/activities they will do. We stick to the plan with rare exception (e.g. last year we had an outing planned for the Okefenokee that had to be canx'd at the last hour because the crocodiles were out of the swamp more than normal) We apparently have sufficient money in the check book because the treasurer has never said otherwise. Our parents pay troop dues annually ($5 month) and then the scouts who go on the outings pay for those outings based on whatever fees/costs need to be covered (actually the parents pay);-) I am going to see about getting the Troop Ledger program mentioned earlier. It sounds like it should help. Our treasurer knows we need to have a budget (and it's not just because the last committee chair and myself have been nagging him to draft one) but he just has not made the time to develop one. I can't wait to see what he comes up with!

[1st Mate]

Consider having the Patrol Leaders Council develop the budget based on the the activities they planned. The treasuruer can teach them how and then check over their finished product.

"Never do anything for a boy that a boy can do for himself."

[ScoutmasterJerry]

Just some friendly advise.
Budget BUdget budget...
I find it hard to believe that a Troop can operate on $5 a Scout per Month.
We spend that in food alone.
Things that need to be in the budget.
Camp fees (Staying at state parks etc... not summer camp)
COH Supplies (rank badges, merit badges, merit badge cards, Moms pins etc)
Repair of Troop gear
Ink, Paper
Canoe Rentals
Recharter fees
Membership renewal
Boys Life renewal
Special outings that require fees (Horse rentals etc)
Misc awards

All of these items are contained on our Troop budget (and More).
We run on about a $5000 a year program.
We charge $160 a year per Scout that covers everything except Summer Camp. They pay it in 3 payments over the year and we never ask for another penny.
At the end of the year we typically have nothing left.
12 campouts, plus Summer camp. Activities each month, meetings every Monday, a service project each quarter, and on and on... takes money.
They boys come up with a great plan, they fundraise (which all goes to their Scout accounts to help pay their dues and Summer camp). It is the committees job to make sure they can support the Troops plan.

I agree in total with 1st Mate... get the boys to plan then help them come up with a budget to support it.
In the long run it will help with their planning down the road... to include budgeting for their Eagle projects. (just went through that last night with a young man)

good luck to ya!

[1st Mate]

Our Budget was $150 per person annually and excluded summer camp and any food cost for any event. It covered all recognitions, camp fees, and equipment. The money was raised largely through Popcorn sales and an annual spaghetti dinner.
Patrols who exceeded their fund raising goal were given money in a patrol account that they could use toward patrol equipment or use for a special patrol activity.

We also covered recharter fees. The Scouts decided that Boys' Life should be paid by the families.

The only other real expense for the families was the first year's membership fee and a complete uniform.