Popcorn

The Popcorn Fundraiser is one of the major fundraising exercises that we do. ~60% of the cost of the popcorn returns to Scouting and ~45% comes back directly to our Group.

The youth have a few weeks to gather prepaid orders for fancy popcorn. They go door to door in September/October. The forms and money are collected in late October (typically at the Halloween Party) and a single overall order is placed. It is important to ensure that the orders are pre-paid.

We take cash, cheques made out to "12th New Westminster Scouts", and in 2016, we started taking credit card payments with Square Readers.

In mid-November, we pick up the order from a warehouse, and sort it into individual orders. The youth then deliver the popcorn to the people who ordered it from them.

In very early September, we can pre-order some popcorn to sell directly. We are trying this in 2019.

What are we doing?

The Scouters need to tell the youth why we are selling popcorn. Make sure each youth and his parent’s know WHY we sell popcorn:

• Earn money for the Group,
• Earn money for Scouts Canada,
• Learn to set goals and work toward them, and
• Learn about teamwork and learn about working for something other than ourselves.

Set Sales Goals – at the Group level, Section level, and at the individual level. Setting goals is proven to improve sales.

How to Sell

Youth (and Scouters!) have a few weeks to gather orders. Talk to your family, friends and neighbours. Everyone loves the taste of Scout Popcorn and the proceeds go to great cause!

• The Popcorn Coordinator needs to go to each Section and explain what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how to do it. This is especially important for the new Sections who have never been involved before. It is also important for the older Sections who are saving up for a Jamboree.
• A good spiel is similar to: “Hi my name is _________. We are doing a fundraiser for Scouts. I was hoping you would like to buy some Scout popcorn to support us.” Then explain that the funds are used for camps, a Jamboree, to replace the canoe that was stolen, etc.
• Don’t start with “Do you want to buy…” or “I was wondering if you would like to buy…” as that tends to get people’s backs up right away.
• As the parent standing on the sidewalk, keep track of which houses you go to, and check off if they bought some popcorn (or made a donation), said no, or weren’t home. On another day, you can then revisit the houses where people were not home. Sometime wander up the walk to engage the person and help out your youth. It helps if they recognize you, as then it is harder for them to say no!
• When people comment about the cost, we explain that it is really a donation to Scouting. You can say it is a donation to Scouting and you happen to get some free popcorn!
• Always thank them, whether they buy or not.
• Say that the popcorn will be delivered in mid-November.
• The thankyou business cards with the popcorn at newwestscouts.ca email address and vague delivery date (our first order of cards said "mid-November"; future orders of cards should say "end of November or early December".) are perfect to hand to people when you leave.

Prizes and Awards

Incentive prizes need to be discussed at the Group Committee meeting. In the past these incentive prizes were provided by the popcorn people, but in 2015, this responsibility was downloaded to the Groups. We therefore need to decide on the prizes and purchase them. Typically Walmart gift cards work well ($10 per $200 sold with cards in $10 increments). There may be some additional National-provided incentive prizes for people who sell over $300 (pocketknife or flashlight). There are also some incentive prizes for top seller in the Council and in the Country.

The Group should consider an incentive prize for the top seller in the Group.

The popcorn patches and incentive prizes used to be provided at the same day as the popcorn pickup. This has changed and they now get delivered to the Group Commissioner at a later date.

The B.L.A.S.T. Trophy must be retrieved from the previous year’s winner. A plaque needs to be engraved and affixed for presentation at the Christmas Party.

The top popcorn sellers of each Section get to throw a whipped cream pie in a leader’s face at the Christmas Party. This is always a highlight!

High sellers can qualify for a scholarship. If applicable, the paperwork for this needs to be completed and submitted by the Group Commissioner.

Recent sales history

Year	Sales ($)	Profit ($)
2018	~$10,278.65 ($9,525.00 in popcorn and $753.65 in donations)	$4,951.15
2017	~$10,420.55 ($10,005.00 in popcorn and ~$309 in donations)	est. $4,900
2016	~$12,300 ($11,505.00 in popcorn and ~$800 in donations)	est. $5,500
2015	$4,219.45	$1,843.45
2014	$11,280.00 ($3,290 by Evan O’Brien and $7,990.00 by remainder of group)	$4,512.00 ($1,318 by Evan O’Brien and $3,194.00 by remainder of group)
2013	$9,135.35	$3,609.35
2012	$7,545.00	$2,907.51
2011	$7,181.00	$2,574.00
2010	$7,869.80	$3,449.00
2009	$5,225.00	$1,868.00
2008	$4,000.00 (approx.)	$1,805.60

The Great Popcorn Blitz

In 2015, we dropped in sales by a lot. Not only did our top seller for many years (Evan O’Brien) leave Scouting, most of the other kids didn’t do as well. Also, very few leaders participated.

In 2016, we did “The Great Popcorn Blitz”, where we all met one evening at Queen's Ave. United Church and fanned out on assigned streets in groups of a mix of Sections, and covered a huge area in a short time. In 2 hours, we sold over $1,000 of popcorn. For 2017, suggested changes are doing it on a Saturday in the daytime, have maps to hand out to the groups so people can get going quicker, have a BBQ after with drinks and hot dogs for the kids, and start and end in a central location rather than one corner of Queens Park – say 1st St. and 4th Ave. so people can fan out.

Things to remember to do to kick this off:

• An overall popcorn coordinator is required. That person needs to get the forms at the Popcorn kickoff meeting and distribute them to the various Sections. The Popcorn kickoff is in late September or early October, often at the Rotary Building at Camp McLean. The popcorn coordinator needs to push this and challenge the kids to set goals, and get out and sell items, not simply sell one package of popcorn to their parents. In the meeting, have the kids practice their pitch by practicing selling to each other.
• Consider printing a colour flyer showing what the funds go towards (picture of kids having fun at camp and canoeing).
• If we do well on this fundraiser, it really relieves the financial pressure for the rest of the year.
• Attend the Popcorn Kickoff event that happens in late September. The popcorn coordinator or Group Commissioner should receive an email about this. If not, contact Lesley Walters, the FVC Popcorn Coordinator at lesley.walters@scouts.ca.
• Pick up the forms and go Section to Section to distribute the forms and explain what the Popcorn sale is all about.
• Consider having a selling day (The Great Popcorn Blitz) and take kids to Queens Park and do a blanket coverage.
• The feedback from other groups is DO NOT buy extra and try to sell it later. While it sounds like a good idea, this is apparently a disaster.
• We can do something called "show and sell" where we pre-order popcorn in September and have it on hand to sell at a mall or something similar. Having product on hand may make the sales easier. We tried this in 2019.

Things to remember to do in late October:

• In the Group Committee meeting, discuss order, pickup and sorting location (who, when and where).
• Place the overall order and scan all the individual orders. It is important to scan the orders so when people start emailing asking where their orders are, we can chase down the appropriate seller.
• Purchase incentive prizes.
• Ensure that the national provided prizes and the patches are ordered.
• Get the B.L.A.S.T. Trophy and engrave a plaque.
• Submit the scholarship application if applicable.

Sorting Day:

• Pick-up happens in mid-November from a warehouse in Langley or Maple Ridge somewhere and the location changes every year. The person picking up the order will need the complete order form, a cheque (if not prepaid), and know the pickup location. The pickup time is assigned for us from the popcorn people (all groups pick up at different times) and varies year to year. It typically take less than an hour to get the order at the warehouse.
• Depending on the size of the order, make sure the cargo trailer is available and one of the Sections hasn’t taken it for the weekend to go to say, Rainbucket! If a low amount of popcorn is sold (say $4,000) it will likely fit into an SUV. The maximum that the cargo trailer and the vehicle pulling can take is about $12,000. Anything over that will need two vehicles.
• The person who picks up the popcorn needs the order form, the pickup location, and the pickup time.
• The organizer needs to bring copies of the sales forms, masking tape, packing tape and pens to the sorting location. Mike Hamilton has a box of tape, pens, etc.
• Sorting happens at someone’s house or at a Church. With a very large order, it works much better in a large area like Queens Ave. United Church or Knox Presbyterian Church. Phone early and book a spot because sometimes they are rented out. More people doesn’t necessarily make the sorting easier - slow and steady wins the race. Going too quickly can result in mistakes, which can take a very long time to find. A good suggestion is to distribute the popcorn by type in a circle around the room in the same order it is on the form. This makes sorting a lot easier. Have two types of people – sorters and checkers. That way, two sets of eyes are on every order. Once the order is verified, put a piece of green tape over it with the name. The original order form is returned to the seller with the order.
• Encourage sellers to come by and pick up their order right away. At the end of the sorting, the Section leaders need to take the remaining orders for their Section and take them to the next meeting. It is easier on the Section leaders if the parents pick it up from the sorting location.
• If one youth sells a huge amount, insist that they attend the sorting and take their popcorn right away.
• Sorting takes about 90 minutes or so, so people can usually pick up around 3:00.