May 25, 2023
Greetings,
Pine Tree Council will be adding a council membership fee.
It costs over $400 per Scout for us to operate Pine Tree Council. Like most Scout councils, we must raise our budget every year. Pine Tree Council has a small endowment, but in the current stock market we are unable to draw from the endowment.
The funds for the annual budget are raised from fundraising, product sales, and camp revenue. Fundraising consists of Friends of Scouting, special events, gifts, and bequests. Product sales is mostly popcorn. Camp revenue comes from summer camp and off-season rentals.
We are down in fundraising, product sales, and camp revenue. The board has looked for other options but hasn’t been able to find a way to fund operations without adding a fee.
Many other councils already have a fee to fund operations. National BSA allows the fee to be up to the annual membership fee from national, currently $75 for a Scout.
There is a team developing options for how the council fee will be implemented. The Council Executive Board will vote on the specifics of the council fee at the July board meeting. We will share the specifics on how the fee will work as soon as we have them.
Thank you.
Jack O’Toole
Council President