Re: Leaders paying own capitation?


"K" <mek@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:MPG.21ca09fa7904298e98973a@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In article <atqvl3tsu3pbpd087sa13fdsgqef11prfi@xxxxxxx>,
jrussell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx says...
If a leader is required to be at an activity (e.g. for supervision
purposes) then they don't pay the cost for being there, e.g. entry
fees.

If I took this line, our group would never go anywhere because there
wouldn't be enough Leaders.

As Paul says, I think you're misreading GAGS here.

No, I understood that he's saying that Leaders shouldn't have to pay the
cost (admission or whatever) of attending an event that they're really
not bothered about attending - or at least that they don't in his group.
I don't think Leaders should be expected to pay those costs - but in my
group, they do. And since we are so low on Leaders, that means that
either I go, and I pay, or I don't go, and nor do the kids - because
there aren't enough Leaders for me not to go.

But . . .

So I end up paying for spending my Saturday doing something I'd really
rather not be doing - I might get some enjoyment out of it, might not -
but it wouldn't be what I'd choose to do with my Saturday.

You cannot be serious! If taking the kids somewhere is something you'd
really rather not be doing then don't do it! The kids deserve better
than
to drag around a damp dishcloth who'd rather not be with them.

No no no, that's not what I'm saying. When I attend any event, I am
there for the kids' and I do my best to make sure they enjoy it, and I
do, always, enjoy their company, even if the event itself isn't my
thing. What I'm saying is that I might have other things I'd rather be
doing on that day - but I go, because I don't want the kids missing out
on the event.

Quite often it's not even my own section - I have children in three
different sections, and as a family we support all of the events in all
sections, as much as we can. (I can only think of one event in the last
two years that we didn't attend, and we've driven more miles than I'd
like to count.)

But since I'm already giving up my Saturday (or my Friday night or
whatever), I'm not very happy about also forking over my money so that I
can do it.

I imagine that's one reason why so many parents are reluctant to become
involved: they think the benefits don't outweigh the costs.

Luckily some parents enjoy spending time with their kids, and with their
kids' mates, and think the benefit vastly outweighs the cost.

Well, I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't think the benefits outweighed
the costs. I do enjoy spending time with my children and their friends -
but I suspect that most people don't, at least not enough to make the
commitment to be a Leader in Scouting.

But for me, one of the major reasons I am a Leader (not the only one,
but certainly a big one) is that my own children benefit from being part
of Scouting. I want Scouting to remain available. And it can't without
Leaders. We don't have enough Leaders in my group - when I joined the
group, I was the fourth Leader across all the sections (3 sections, 4
Leaders in total).

I also enjoy being a Leader - for many reasons. But I don't think other
parents, who aren't Leaders, *get* that - they don't see what the
benefits are. All they see is that Leaders give up lots of spare time
and energy and commit to being there every week and planning and
organising and attending trips and all the rest. I can understand why so
few of them are willing to do the same. And there are times when *I*
feel fed up and would really like to take a bit of time out of it - but
I can't, because of the Leader situation. And part of the reason I feel
that way is that I often don't feel appreciated. I suspect that some of
the Leaders who've left (our group and others) over the years have
probably felt the same way.

So the questions are: How can we get more parents to join as Leaders?
And how do you make Leaders feel that what they do *is* appreciated so
that they don't walk away?


It is difficult trying to get those in that don't want to.

The secret is getting them to want to rather than trying to force them.

Is there anyway that an odd one or 2 could be encouraged to come on these
events and see for themselves how much the kids are enjoying themselves.

Also you say that in your Group you do not get these trips paid for. You do
not indicate how many kids are in the Group and how your finances work etc,
but it looks like you need to think about this as a Group so that Leaders
will not be out of pocket.

As a simple work out in our Group the parents decided that they didn't want
to be involved in fundraising so as a result very little happens other than
for special things.

We have to pay out AMS of about £28.00, we have insurance of about £900,
Rent of £1000, plus the week to week expenses and equipment replacement etc
(this is off the top of my head).

We have about 100 members in the Group of which 86 are kids. So quite simply
we need £1900 plus £2800 without any extras. £4700 between 86 is about
£55.00 per child. We charge each child £100 per annum so on paper we have
£3900 left for badges, books, training, the minibus etc. Some of this is
used to subsidise events etc as well as weekly meetings.

Perhaps you need to have a workout in your Group a similar thing and whilst
I don't know what you charge and your outgoings are - you obviously do not
have enough coming in to cover what you would like to expend - so failing
fundraising you can only look at subs etc.

DaveB
West Yorks


.

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