How to offer a free scouting program to your scouts.
Show Notes:
- Boy Scout Fundraisers (boyscouttrail.com)
- Fundraising Ideas (Scout-o-rama)
- Popcorn Costume (Amazon)
- Cover Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
Transcript:
When popcorn was first being offered in our area and eventually became the preferred method of raising funds for the program they touted the concept of the free scouting program. They offered a simple calculation based on the number of scouts, the cost for program fees, camping, even food and they came up with a number that each scout would be responsible for raising through popcorn.
While this was really more of a marketing gimmick to sell more popcorn, the general theory has always been sound. If each scout earns X and the program costs X, then it’s a free program.
Our troop does very well with popcorn each year. I know of other troops that have much more success with candles, or wreaths or running a food truck during a yearly event.
Over the years we’ve had animated discussions about trying to offer a free program. One of the downsides of this is that without a price tag attached the boys don’t have a concept of the cost of things. If it’s all free then it loses it’s value.
So, while we don’t offer the boys a free program, we have been able to manage the costs of the program we offer. Through popcorn and yearly dues of we are able to offer low cost trips. Most of our trips cost $10, plus any specific activity costs. If we’re going to location we pass cost that along, but only to cover the direct costs.
Our camping trips of $10 go back to the boys for food. If there are 5 people in a patrol, they get $50 to shop with. If the cabin we are going to costs $500 to rent, we use the dues and popcorn to pay for this and don’t pass it along to the boys.
As councils and venues tighten their belts, their fees even for campground sites has gone up significantly, but to date we have kept the cost of these elements from the boys. To put it in perspective, we will be spending about $1500 for site rentals this year, which equates to about $40 a boy. While this isn’t our only expense, that’s a story for a different video.
In our troop we’ve opted to sadly abandon the goal of a free program, but pass extras back to the boys in the form of food for events where no fees are charged, and further supplementing trips that might be a little more expensive, like our historical or white water trips during the year, But this is what works for us.
Take what you like and leave the rest, and as we say in Woodbadge, feedback is a gift, leave yours below in the comments, with the hope we can all learn together.
I’m Scoutmaster Dave, and this was a free scouting program.
