Troop 23 is fortunate to have a highly successful fund-raiser, which provides all monies needed to operate the Troop, provide scout scholarships, and allow for rainy-day investments. This necessitates a clear investment policy that balances the desire for providing long-term financial security for the Troop with the desire to reward the scouts and families that are currently working to raise these funds.
The Troop shall have three primary goals in allocating its funds.
1) Maintaining sufficient funds to enable the Troop to continue to have an active and successful scouting program;
2) Providing scholarships that will enable all scouts, regardless of family financial circumstances, to have the opportunity to participate in summer camps and High Adventure trips; and
3) Investing sufficient funds to protect the Troop from financial hardship should the Christmas tree fundraiser either require up-front funding or become no longer viable.
1. Maintaining an active scouting program. The first priority of Troop fund-raising shall be to provide sufficient funds to enable it to continue to operate as a high-quality and active scouting unit. This includes providing funds for Troop meetings, camping expenses (transportation and Troop equipment), training programs, and rank insignia. This requires between $2,500 and $5,000 per year, and is readily achieved through the current fundraiser. This need is currently met. The Troop currently has excellent camping equipment and enough funds to provide a wide variety of scouting experiences.
2. Providing meaningful scout scholarships. The second priority for troop fundraising shall be to continue to provide merit-based scholarships for all scouts. Scouts will earn points throughout the year for attending meetings in full uniform, participating in Troop activities such as camping trips, and achieving rank and merit badge advancements. The Troop Committee allocates funds each year to these scholarships, and the funds are awarded to scouts based on the number of points earned in the prior year. In addition, any funds that would otherwise be received by the Troop through scout popcorn sales are deposited into the selling scout’s scholarship account. Scouts may roll over unused scholarship earnings from year to year until they reach the age of 18.
Scouts may use scholarship funds to (a) pay for Troop camping expenses, including fees for monthly campouts, summer camps, and high adventure camps; (b) cover the costs of materials used in Eagle projects; and (c) cover the costs of Eagle ceremonies. Any scout who earns the Eagle rank shall receive any unused scholarship money when they reach the age of 18, providing that they have remained active in the Troop after attaining the Eagle rank.
The Troop believes that participating in summer camps and high adventure trips are an outstanding opportunity for scouts and should be accessible for all Troop 23 scouts regardless of family financial circumstances. Hence, the amount of scholarship that scouts may earn shall be large enough to provide substantial funding for these opportunities. However, to provide an incentive for good scouting and moral development, scouts must earn the funds through participation and advancement rather than receiving them simply based on enrollment in the Troop. Thus, our goal is that if a scout is active, makes good advancement progress, aggressively sells scout popcorn, and saves their scholarship money over time, then they should have enough scholarship money in their account to attend summer camp and substantially pay for one or more High Adventure trips during their tenure in the Troop.
This need is currently being met, but scholarship allocations should increased in the future to meet the Troop’s aggressive High Adventure schedule. Over recent years, active scouts who have made good advancement progress have earned enough scholarship funds to pay for summer camp. However, the Troop is planning a Florida Keys sailing/scuba trip in 2002, a Northern Tier canoeing trip in 2003, and a Philmont Trip in 2004. Prior to 2001, the Troop Committee allocated $3,000 to the scholarship account; this was increased to $4,000 in 2001 plus forfeited scholarship earnings (from scouts who left the troop or reached 18). As High Adventure trips will cost between $750 and $1,200 each, scouts will need the opportunity to earn increased scholarships to have the ability to attend these events irrespective of family need.
The Troop Committee will annually determine the amount of funds to allocate to scholarships based on the need to cover Troop expenses, provide meaningful scholarships, and meet investment goals. As the troop’s investment goals are attained over time, it is expected that the amount allocated to scholarships will continue to grow.
3. Invest for the future. The Troop has the opportunity to protect its future through the investment of a portion of its current fundraising proceeds. The Troop’s goal is to provide enough investment balance that basic Troop expenses (see #1) can be met for the foreseeable future should the Christmas tree fundraiser become no longer viable. While KUMC has been very supportive of this fundraiser, it could become problematic to continue. For example, we could lose the ability to continue our current arrangement of selling trees on a consignment basis, which would necessitate paying substantial up-front costs (e.g., buying the trees for resale). Alternately, KUMC could need the space used for the tree lot for future church expansion. Further, market conditions could change that could make selling Christmas trees much less profitable.
The Troop’s goal is to attain a sufficient investment balance so that its basic needs could be met with a reasonable rate of return. Based on current Troop expenditure, this would require about $55,000 to $60,000 in investments. To date, the Troop has attained about half of this balance. We invested $10,000 from the 2000 Christmas tree sale for this purpose.
The Troop’s investment policy must balance the need to reward the scouts and families who are working to earn these funds with the need to protect the Troop’s financial future. Accordingly, the amount to be invested in future years will likely be somewhat smaller than in 2000, depending on the net fundraiser proceeds, with approximately 50% of the proceeds being invested and the remainder used to fund troop operations and scholarships.
Once the Troop has achieved its initial investment objective ($55,000 to $60,000), the Troop Committee will review this investment policy.
The Troop will place the investment proceeds in a Trust when the initial investment objective is attained, with the stipulation that only investment earnings will be accessible for annual expenditure. The Trust shall establish that all monies will revert to KUMC should the Troop ever cease being an active scout unit.