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Trail's End Popcorn Sales

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Troop Super Activity Assistance Fund

National Jamborees, World Jamborees, National High Adventure Bases, and NOAC are tremendous experiences and the highlight of a Scout’s experience.  They are expensive, but if you ask anyone who has gone, (s)he will tell you it was worth much more than the cost.  However, the cost can put a strain on a family budget and be a challenge to a Scout.  But if an effort is made over two or more years, the financial need is attainable. 

For the 2010 National Jamboree, the council had a program of offering commissions of 50% on the popcorn sale to Scouts signed up for the Jamboree. One fourth of our Scouts who attended the Jamboree earned their entire fee through the popcorn sale. In June of 2010, the national BSA council informed local councils that incentive programs like this that directly benefit a Scout is a “Private Benefit” which is contrary to the IRS rules for non profits. They endanger the BSA's 501 c 3 status and that the incentive could be deemed as earnings subject to taxes and requiring reports to the IRS.  

The memo stated, “Make sure that any sale of materials, instructions, and support information do not make reference to individual Scouts earning money for their own participation in Scouting activities.” So the council is not offering that incentive program    

In its place, the council will offer packs, troops, and crews the opportunity to establish Super Activity Assistance Funds.   Popcorn sold under this program will receive a 50% commission for the unit.  This commission will be placed in a SAAF Unit Account at the Service Center.  The unit committee will then allocate the funds to individuals who are participating in council or nationally conducted Super Activities, e.g. Jamborees, national High Adventure Bases, National Order of the Arrow events, and so on. 

In accord with national guidelines, allocation of funds by unit committees will be based on these criteria:

Participation
Leadership
Scout spirit
Advancement
Financial Need

 Here is the process and procedures:

1. Enroll as Super Activity Assistance Fund unit.
2. An additional unit will be created for ordering purposes in the Trails End system and a new account will be created in the Trading Post records.  For example, Troop 466 would have an account 9466 for sales at the 50% commission level.  Receipts from the popcorn sale from this unit will be deposited in the SAAF TP account.  The regular troop account and the SAAF accounts funds will not be mingled.
3. Popcorn ordered on the SAAF account will receive the 50% commission.  At the end of the Popcorn Sale, the entire retail value of the sale is turned in to the council. The 50% commission will go into the SAAF TP account and 50% will go into the popcorn sale.
4. Sales on the SAAF account are not eligible for council prizes or incentives, but individuals can qualify for the Trails End bonuses such as the Crossbow for selling $600.00, the $50 certificate for selling $1,500, or qualify for the scholarship program by selling $2,500.  These incentives from Trail’s End are from their profits, not the purchaser (in theory). To receive these Trails End incentives, the Scout may combine sales from the SAAF account and the troop account (and on line sales).
5. An individual Scout must register for an activity such as Jamboree before funds can be transferred from the Troop SAAF to his activity account.
6. The unit committee makes the decision on the allocation of the funds to individuals based on the criteria above. The unit Committee Chair must notify the council in writing to transfer funds from the SAAF account to a Scout’s individual activity account based on the troop committee’s decision on allocation of funds.  
7. If a Scout withdraws from an activity, the total funds can be transferred to another Scout from the unit attending the activity on written request of the committee chair.
8. If a Scout withdraws from an activity that is at maximum attendance and another Scout takes his place, the entire amount allocated from the SAAF account will be returned to the SAAF.  
9. If a Scout withdraws from an activity due to illness, moving, or other reasons beyond his control and choice, and the event is not at maximum attendance, funds in excess of money already committed or paid for the Scout will be returned to the unit SAAF.  (Note: most of the funds, fees and travel costs, are committed when the Scout signs up for the event.)  SAAF money will be returned before any funds paid personally by the Scout or his family.
10. If funds in the TP SAAF account are unused, a unit may request transfer of the funds to the unit’s regular TP account or a refund check once a year in December.  Since the money was raised in the popcorn sale, 64% of the funds will be transferred or refunded and 36% will go to the popcorn sale.

Considerations with SAAF

1.     Record Keeping- The council will not keep record of sales by individual Scouts, only of the distributions from the unit SAAF accounts.  The committee’s decision on distribution is to be based on the criteria listed above, not on sales by an individual. 

2.     Payment- There will need to be separate checks for the Troop or Pack Sale and the SAAF sale. 

3.     Impact on the Unit Sale- All of the profit (50%) of the sales for the SAAF sale will go into the units SAAF account at the service center.  The unit will not see any of this profit and should plan accordingly. 

4.     If the unit has an expectation that Scouts sell a certain amount of popcorn to support the unit’s budget, that goal should be reached before sales are credited to the SAAF sale.

Popcorn ordered through the unit will receive the unit’s profit margin (32 or 37%) and popcorn ordered through SAAF sale will receive the 50% profit margin. The unit committee decides the distribution of the unit profit.  The SAAF profit goes in the unit’s SAAF account in the Service Center and is distributed as described above.

 5.     Delivery- The SAAF orders will be on a separate receipt form from the unit and will be broken out separately at the distribution site.

 6.     The SAAF funds can only be allocated to Scouts signed up for an activity or on the waiting list.