Girl Scout Leaders... transportation reimbursed?

[The Mystery Machine]

No its not required but my girls work hard doing many cookie booths and I don't feel right about taking that money and using it for my own gas.

How long have you been doing scouting? For long trips you should include gas for transportation.That is not fair to you as a leader and one of the many reasons why leaders quit doing troops.

It does cost money out of the leader/coleaders pocket and when you are going on year 6 and they are traveling ALL THE TIME then you have to run your troop differently.

We went places and put miles on our vans. Camping, sleepovers at places, like Science Center, Zoo, a Murder Mystery Place, and on and on....

We did build the mileage into the troop funds for large trips and we had a balance sheet that every parent got monthly.

In-town stuff we let slide. Out of town, we just could not afford it along with our tickets or whatever....

 

[aprilgail2]

How long have you been doing scouting? For long trips you should include gas for transportation.That is not fair to you as a leader and one of the many reasons why leaders quit doing troops.

It does cost money out of the leader/coleaders pocket and when you are going on year 6 and they are traveling ALL THE TIME then you have to run your troop differently.

...

This is our 7th year- started in kindergarten as Daisys and they are now cadets.

 

[cristit14]

I am not currently a leader, but I was for 7 years. I didn't take money out of troop money for gas for local trips, but I sure did for our camping trips. One of the camps is about a 2 hour or a little more drive from here. I didn't actually turn in mileage, but I would fill up before we left on my money and then when we got back to town I would fill up on the troops money.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

This is our 7th year- started in kindergarten as Daisys and they are now cadets.

If you have the money available in your own pocket then I suppose more power to you. We did not have that kind of money.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

You should fill up your tank at the start of the trip and then refill at the end of the trip from troop funds

I don't know anything about GS, but this is, in my mind, a much easier thing to do than calculating mileage etc . . .

 

[allison443]

How long have you been doing scouting? For long trips you should include gas for transportation.That is not fair to you as a leader and one of the many reasons why leaders quit doing troops.

It does cost money out of the leader/coleaders pocket and when you are going on year 6 and they are traveling ALL THE TIME then you have to run your troop differently.

We went places and put miles on our vans. Camping, sleepovers at places, like Science Center, Zoo, a Murder Mystery Place, and on and on....

We did build the mileage into the troop funds for large trips and we had a balance sheet that every parent got monthly.

In-town stuff we let slide. Out of town, we just could not afford it along with our tickets or whatever....

This raises another interesting point...should the leaders/chaperones pay for their own tickets? Or is that considered a "cost of taking the trip" like the gas costs? After all the girls are required to have a trained leader, certain number of adults, etc.

 

[cristit14]

We used money to pay for leaders tix and such just as we did for the girls. We were girl scouts too. Now, if we were on our way camping or something and we stopped for dinner we did pay for our own meals just like we had the girls do.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

This raises another interesting point...should the leaders/chaperones pay for their own tickets? Or is that considered a "cost of taking the trip" like the gas costs? After all the girls are required to have a trained leader, certain number of adults, etc.

We always paid for the required chaperones, unless of course everyone in the troop was a pay as you go thing. Depended on the timing in the yr, money that was in the bank, etc.

Now we never did any major trips out of state or anything like that. Just camping and weekend things that were relatively near.

 

[allison443]

We always paid for the required chaperones, unless of course everyone in the troop was a pay as you go thing. Depended on the timing in the yr, money that was in the bank, etc.

Now we never did any major trips out of state or anything like that. Just camping and weekend things that were relatively near.

The reason I ask is because I never recall this being addressed in any of the many trainings I attended (I was a leader for all three of my girls' troops, and there were times I had two different level troops at once.) All of the leaders I know as well as the parent chaperones always paid for themselves, even for pricy things like science center overnight, zoo overnight, etc. where it could cost $40 or so per person (adults had to pay the same amount as the kids.)
Neither the leaders nor the parent chaperones were ever reimbursed for gas either. Furthest we went was probably 1.5-2 hours away though.
This was just how everyone I know (in our area) did things.

I agree with what the other posters said about charging something for every trip. Helps with cutting down on the no-shows!

 

[Tink415]

The costs of being a volunteer add up, and deter many from volunteering. Valid use of troop funds can include paying for leader training, leader books, required chaperone fees, gasoline & tolls for trips...ask council reps or trainers. Of course, YMMV.

Yes, most adults pay for themselves whatever is needed; as shown in this thread, to many people it doesn't feel right to use troop funds for whatever reason. And, if troop funds were used, there would be a lot less trips, making scouting a lot less fun, for girls and adults.

Each troop has to do what works for it. As girls get older and want to do bigger trips that cost more, the full cost of a trip should be discussed with all members and a solution that works for all determined.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

The reason I ask is because I never recall this being addressed in any of the many trainings I attended (I was a leader for all three of my girls' troops, and there were times I had two different level troops at once.) All of the leaders I know as well as the parent chaperones always paid for themselves, even for pricy things like science center overnight, zoo overnight, etc. where it could cost $40 or so per person (adults had to pay the same amount as the kids.)
Neither the leaders nor the parent chaperones were ever reimbursed for gas either. Furthest we went was probably 1.5-2 hours away though.
This was just how everyone I know (in our area) did things.

I agree with what the other posters said about charging something for every trip. Helps with cutting down on the no-shows!

With my older dd's troop parents and kids did not have money to support all of their plans. Sounds like you have money and your parents have money to pay out of pocket. This was not the case with my older dd's troop.

The girls planned, had target numbers for fundraising with nuts and cookies, and if a parent wanted to join us above the safety-wise requirement then they would pay.

Normally we paid for the required parent:girl ratio with Safety Wise. In addition we would have sign ups for the activities or put out a flyer that we would need X amount of parents.

We never had parents beating down the door to go to activities, so that was never a big issue.

 

[LisaNJ25]

This raises another interesting point...should the leaders/chaperones pay for their own tickets? Or is that considered a "cost of taking the trip" like the gas costs? After all the girls are required to have a trained leader, certain number of adults, etc.

We cover for chaperones or additional registered adults if we need them for Safety Wise ratio. I personally cant afford to pay full price for all of the trips being a leader for 2 troops. With all of the time we put it I dont see it as a problem. Heck, I gave my past 4 saturdays in a row to over 20 hours spent at cookie booth sales and I dont event get a patch

 

[FredinFL]

We've never asked to reimbursed for gas costs in any of our trips, and we do 1.5 hour trips for Camping. It's up to you, you certainly could claim it.

What I would do is have the parents of the children being driven chip in to help defray costs of running all the girls to these events. It's the least they can do, after all, you are taking their kids to these things. There's no reason why the parents can't all pay a portion of the travel charges.

 

[tlbwriter]

The way I see it, the money is to defray the girls cost not your own.

But the OP is transporting the girls. This is something they would have to pay for if she wasn't doing it. So it IS the girls' cost.

 

[mommykatt]

You may want to check with your local Girl Scout Council as to their "official" policy on gas/travel reimbursement.

I am a GS leader as well and although we do not reimburse for general around town/regular meeting travel, we do include gas in our camping trips and out of town events. We try to use as few vehicles as possible (sometimes one, sometimes two, depending on attendance) when taking a trip. Whomever is driving (usually my co-leader and/or me) arrives at the begining of the trip with a full tank of gas. At the end of the event the driver's tank is then returned to full. We usually set aside the tip money from product sales for this purpose.

Your girls are almost ready to bridge to Cadettes. At that level, the girls need to include EVERYTHING in their trip budgets, including the expense of getting there and back.

Look at the monies your troop has. If you do not think there is enough there to cover all costs involved, then it is perfectly acceptable to ask the parents to contribute. The nice thing is that it sounds like the bulk of the expenses can be covered by troop funds and the amount you ask for will be fairly low. Our parents know that a camping trip will usually come with us asking for a $15-$20 contribution for food & misc. If you are not comfortable asking parents, then check with Council for other funding opportunities. Here we are allowed to have garage sales, car washes, etc to help with funding, so long as it is NOT during any product sales (cookies, nuts, etc).

Hope this helps! And thank you for being a GS leader and supporting our girls!

 

[Jedana]

Cub pack:

We pay $45-60 (I think; it may be slightly less) in yearly dues. the 45 covers the BSA fees, the extra 15 if they want the scouting magazine. Pack sees nothing of this.

Then we pay $25 in pack dues yearly. That covers a pack t-shirt and all their badges/pins/belt loops. New tigers get their tiger book as well.

Then we have to put for the uniform (a new hat, kercheif, slider and socks every year, plus if the kid outgrows the pants/shorts/shirt) and new book. Looking at a minimum of $25 up to $75+.

Our tiger den does not charge dues (some of the other dens do, $1 a meeting, and all supplies are bought with that). We just ask the parents to donate xxxx items (for example, we have one parent who brought in construction paper, another paints, etc). Also, because we meet at 7pm, we have the parents rotate through snack duty.

I've spent about $100 OOP at the dollar store on craft stuff this year.

Next year, we are doing away with snacks, except when the boys are supposed to make them or for holidays, and charging $2 a meeting. (If the parents really want snacks, then the fee will go to $3 and we'll buy the snacks.) Whatever is not spent on supplies will be spent at the end of the year, buying something for the boys.

For campouts, etc. The pack reimburses the guy who pulls the food/equipment trailer for his gas. Each boy must be accompanied by a parent, unless they are in Weeblos 2 and doing a Weeb only campout. Then the Weeb leaders bring the boys and the trailer, and are reimbursed for gas. No one else is reimbursed...it's part of being a volunteer and a parent.
Parents also have to pay for campouts, Blue& Gold, etc. Depending on the campout, it ranges from $5 to $25 and includes food and usually a t-shirt or something. Leaders are sometimes paid for by the pack (like at Blue & Gold) but pay for campouts.