Leaders paying on trips...

[BusyBadger]

Hi guys,

Bit of advice needed here. I'm hoping to take the Brownies to Drayton Manor in July by coach and I'm unsure whether the leaders should pay for their park tickets or not. One us gets in for free so that leaves the cost of another 4 leaders/helpers (adult ticket is 12+ so even young DofE helpers have to pay that ) Do I just divide that up and add it to the girls' cost and charge the leaders the £9 or so each for coach fair? This seems the fair way to do it but I just wanted to ask, as I have not taken them anywhere so expensive before!

Many thanks!

[fluffy_owl25]

We do different things... for camp we divide the cost between the girls...
For big gig leaders pay for ticket but not transport (that is divided between girls)
Other trips, depending... leaders pay

Remember - girls can't go without you...

[bagpuss]

I don't charge leaders for camp unless it's something big like WINGS or Disney where the cost of the adults would put the kids prices up so high they wouldn't go. I do sometimes charge for the day trips but I try not to. At the moment as both myself and my AG at Brownies has been made redundant so the only way we can do trips is if the girls pay for us too.
I think it all depends on the situation, whether the adults are just there because you need them or whether they'll really have fun too and so on. There's nothing I hate more than volunteering for a trip, being told I have to pay for it, and then finding out it's the most borring thing in the world for an adult and thinking what a waste of my money.

[Kookabura]

I tend to judge whether the leaders will 'get anything' from the trip for starters. If it is something/somewhere where we wouldn't go otherwise and won't be taking part in things then I would be inclined to include the cost with the girls. If it is something (like we are looiking at Alton Towers) that we would like to do and will take part in then I think it is fair to charge leaders (but prehaps a partial cost).

At the end of the day, if the leaders can't go, the girls can't go either. We are doing it voluntarily, I'm sure school teachers wouldn't be expected to pay to go on a school trip (as it is for work), so we are similar in that respect.

As far as I know, there is no right or wrong way. It depends on the trip, your unit and your girls. A quick example. I was talking to my mentor for my camp licence about charging leaders. She has a guide unit which is in a very deprived area, so she trys to make the camp as cheap as possible for the girls. In her words, the leaders can afford to pay more than the girls can, so all her leaders pay for themselves. Whereas, my unit is in a pretty affulent area, and the leaders are actually struggling much more than the girls. We have 3 students at uni and 2 recent grads (neither of which have managed to find good jobs yet), so we would struggle to afford to pay for ourselves. So I have decided to include our costs within the guides payments, otherwise I wouldnt have enough guiders willing to go to take the unit anyway.

So, basically, its your call!

[cerys80]

We've had a similar discussion about the Centenary launch event, it sounds fab, my Brownies are really looking forward to it and we already have 18 paid deposits for it. BUT its for the girls not for us leaders. So to justify to my OH that I am taking a day out of our weekend/family time to look after other people's children for a whole day, and that I (or rather he !) has to pay for me to do so, and to travel to it, is a little hard to swallow! We've agreed to pay for leaders out of pack funds, otherwise they don't go, end of.

[Rosie_1886]

How many girls are you taking? My brain is totally not up to maths today, but if it only pushes the girls' costs up by a couple of quid or so, I'd be tempted to say do that. As others have said, the girls can't go without you, and shepherding Brownies around is like herding cats and hardly a peaceful day out!

[Kookabura]

We've had a similar discussion about the Centenary launch event, it sounds fab, my Brownies are really looking forward to it and we already have 18 paid deposits for it. BUT its for the girls not for us leaders. So to justify to my OH that I am taking a day out of our weekend/family time to look after other people's children for a whole day, and that I (or rather he !) has to pay for me to do so, and to travel to it, is a little hard to swallow! We've agreed to pay for leaders out of pack funds, otherwise they don't go, end of.

Yep. I work weekends at the moment, and been as most days out/trips end up being at weekends it generally involves me taking a days leave. I can deal with that, but then to pay on top of that seems a bit much I am taking a day off work, using some of my small annual leave allowance to take other peoples children out for the day is quite enough, without having to pay for the priviledge!

[BusyBadger]

Hi guys, thanks so much for your responses. I think I will charge the leaders for coach cost (about £9.50 each) but subsidise their ticket - it only works out as another few quid per girl anyway.

[jim]

we use gift aid to help every one out girls pay less and leaders go free

[12thTawny]

A note back to Jim - Maybe I've misunderstood your commnet but you can only claim gift aid on subs and not on payments for events where the girls get a benefit. For example, if the girls give, say £20 for entry ticket and coach travel, then you can't claim gift aid on that amount, as they are contributing towards an event for their benefit. You would be able to allocate the gift aid you claim on subs towards the costs for your leaders - that would be fine. Perhaps that's what you meant in the first place.