Putting Back Fun In Boy Scout Troop Fundraising - From Troop 333 Huntersville, NC

May 17, 2011 - PRLog -- Boy Scout Troop 333, http://www.thefamilytroop.org, is more than just a flexible homeschool troop. The scouts come from a variety of local cities, and what motivates them more than anything motivates other scouts - fun. As long as you present fundraising as a chore it will be perceived as such, and this does not mean just introducing an activity or event with inflection in your voice.

How To Make Fundraising More Fun For The Scouts
First, you have to imagine what creates fun and excitement in fundraising. Success. Reaching goals, not being bored. Loving what they are doing. So what are the key components of those ideals?

Those are the most basic questions you need to ask BEFORE you commit to any fundraising activity. Now, granted, some of us can take washing breakfast dishes and make it seem like a day at the circus. While others can dampen spirits of a lottery winner. A lot depends on attitude. Presentation. Research.

Did He Just Say Research? What’s To Know? You Get The Product and Sell It.
Hold the horses adults. Scouts don’t see it like that. They want to achieve, sure, but they want to have fun doing it. If a long-term commitment is required, such as in annual popcorn sales, the scouts must be able to visualize the hourly, daily and monthly outcome or they become disenchanted. This requires research, and some math.

Before Johnny Jones sets out on the first day to sell a product, a camp card, or work a concessions, they really need a clear picture of what they want to achieve. If they tell you, I just want to make some money. They will. And that’s all they will do.

If you sit with the scouts as a group and again individually to review their goal plans you can motivate them by helping them motivate themselves. Smaller targets are easier to hit, so in a large fundraising opportunity help the scouts break down the goals. First, find out what it is they want to earn. Then help them divide up the primary goal into the actual number of days they project they can find time to sell, door-to-door, at businesses, in school, at events, shopping centers, wherever.

Once a scout realizes that to make $1,000, for example and they have ten days to do it, they need to earn $100 daily. If they spend four hours per day working on the task that becomes $25 per hour profit. Calculate how much product they have to sell to get to the hourly mark. This will help dictate where, when and to whom to sell product in many cases. Focused direct selling door-to-door can net more income if your technique is good. If you are more passive and just want sales to come to you, then sitting outside the grocery store (with permission of course) is a better way.

BUT, either way requires the scout to engage the public. Once they learn what their hourly goal is and can continuously track their own progress they will be encouraged. Most scouts can hit their goals, but never know that until the sale is over. They get discouraged by all the “No’s” they’ve heard along the way and efforts tend to trail towards the end of sales periods. By visualizing each day separately and having them see they are meeting targets they can confidently continue to sell with enthusiasm.

Each scout in Troop 333 is given a detailed survey to create a purchase plan for everything they want to buy in their scout career, and then the written plan for how to achieve this goal. We have them crunch the numbers and then show them it is entirely possible.

Knowing the Product
Scouts will need to either research the product themselves or ask for adult help. Scouts should be able to define the key benefits and attraction of what they are selling. Find at least five good points to bring up in conversation about each product. It’s easy. Think about what attracts you. Why would you buy something? Make a list, and then compare with your friends.

Having a mental arsenal ready also helps you turn “Nos” into yeses. Here’s how - a customer says they can’t eat the caramel corn. It’s too sweet. Steer them to the light or buttered microwave popcorn. Each product has benefits. It is the scout’s job to discern them for customers to help them make a choice and thus a sale.

There Is A Lot More To Selling
Briefly, there are dozens of topics to cover in direct selling that will help scouts. As leaders the best way to begin down the road of making fundraising more fun, is to establish these primary goals, determine sales effort required and have scouts gain product understanding. As scouts gain clarity of purpose with targets in mind they will stay more enthusiastic during the process. And a happy scout is a productive scout.

Troop Committee Recommendation
Troop 333 also does something a little different from other troops. We give the largest percentage of sales profits to the scouts, not the troop. The troop can and will survive on less income. It is most important for the scouts to see the accelerated growth in the Personal Scout Accounts to realize their efforts during the year have the potential to pay for summer camp, equipment, clothing and more. This fosters greater fiscal responsibility too. As scouts, not parents, have to make choices about where to spend limited funds they are far less likely to waste the money. They know how much work it took to earn it. The troop eventually does earn more because scouts set higher goals. So while the percentage might be lower, the income is higher.

A little about Us: Online efficiency at our troop!
Troop 333 encourages interactive online meetings through our unique private scout server. Meal, menu, duty roster and camping planning can all take place in live chat, forums, with complete forms upload and editing capabilities. This way scouts can concentrate on more fun physical activity during meetings and hold administrative meetings online in off hours.

To learn more about the flexible homeschool troop visit http://www.thefamilytroop.org.

Serving the counties of North Mecklenburg, South Iredell and West Cabarrus, all families in Charlotte, Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, Mooresville, Kannapolis and surrounding areas are invited to make inquiries at friends@thefamilytroop.org.

# # #

Boy Scout Troop 333 is in the Hornet's Nest District, Mecklenburg Council based in the Charlotte, NC metropolitan region serving Huntersville, Davidson, Cornelius, Mooresville, Kannapolis, South Iredell County, West Cabarrus and North Mecklenburg county.