Friends of Scouting

Hi,

Could someone tell me where money from "Friends of Scouting" should be put?

I know it's not supposed to be put in the "Other" category.

Would it be a subcategory of the Scouting category?

Thanks!

Greetings and welcome to the forum!

Friends of Scouting money should not be deposited or recorded in MLS. There's some discussion about it in another thread, starting with THIS post that you might want to review.

Cheers!

Thanks for the welcome and response to my question.

I guess I should have been more specific about the FOS money. This would be the money issued by a check from the Stake that came from the moneys collected and sent to the local Boy Scout Council. I hope this makes sense. I'm still new at this stuff.

Thanks!

michaelbrucefong wrote:Thanks for the welcome and response to my question.

I guess I should have been more specific about the FOS money. This would be the money issued by a check from the Stake that came from the moneys collected and sent to the local Boy Scout Council. I hope this makes sense. I'm still new at this stuff.

Thanks!

Could you clarify the source of the funds?

Are these are funds that were collected at the ward level to pass on to the council?
Are these funds that were collected and passed to the stake to pass on to the council?
Or are these funds that the council sent to the stake, and the stake then sent on to the wards?

In the first two instances, the church units shouldn't have processed it with their donations. They get sent directly to the council.
If its the third instance, I suppose you'd need more information on why, exactly, the stake was getting a rebate of sorts on the FoS donations.

michaelbrucefong wrote:I guess I should have been more specific about the FOS money. This would be the money issued by a check from the Stake that came from the moneys collected and sent to the local Boy Scout Council.

Any funds collected for the FOS is done totally under the BSA organization. The Church has no part in this fund-raiser. Those Scouts or Scouters collecting funds are doing so entirely in their capacity as members of the BSA. While the Scouts and Scouters may be members of the Church, that is the only connection. The policies and procedures of the BSA and the local council office should be followed when collecting and remitting the funds to the council office. At no time should the funds be deposited into a Church account.

There was an MLS message from Church headquarters regarding the solicitation and handling of these funds in June 2011. This is part of the text of that message:

During the Friends of Scouting drive, checks should be made out to the Boys Scouts of America, but they should not be placed in the ward or branch checking account. Checks for Friends of Scouting should be delivered directly to the local Scout Council.

If the stake collected funds from any wards/branches or individuals then they have not followed Church guidance. Individuals, as representatives of the BSA, may collect the funds but those funds must be delivered directly to the council office.

In this stake by coincidence many leaders in the stake are scouters and during the FOS campaign the stake STRUCTURE is often used to collect funds but they never touch a church account. For example a ward FOS rep typically uses scouts or YM to help collect funds (made out the the BSA Council). The ward reps typically hand them up the chain to a stake rep who in addition to being a stake officer or HC member, is a scouter. This person may combine and tabulate but ultimately delivers funds to the BSA council. In some wards funds may pass through the hands of a bishopric member primarily because they handle other church funds, but this is not necessary as the sacred funds handeling policy does not apply to FOS.