I have seen bits and pieces of an answer about handling payments, but I am hoping to get a comprehensive overview of how we should handle them.
Situation: Our Cub Scout pack has parents pay in various methods: using a money account or in-person with cash, check, or PayPal Here.
For an event that requires a payment, how would we input all of these different payment methods so that they show on the RSVP? We may have several that pay from a money account, and several that pay in-person, but we need to see the status of everyone in one view.
Thanks in advance!
Dave
Hi @dboring,
You should allow them to pay with their money account and when they pay you in person, create a corresponding transaction to zero it out.
So if they have $0 in their money account and pay for an event with it (let’s say it costs $25), their new money account balance will be -$25. They can then give you cash or check or pay by some other means. Let’s say they give you a check for $25. You will go into their account and create a new transaction for $25, comment what it is from, and mark the form it was paid. It will take the account balance back to $0 and the record of that transaction and payment will be kept there and they will have their ticket for the event.
That makes sense, but it seems like it would be a lot of work for the treasurer. We have over 75 boys in our pack, so that could create dozens of transactions that the treasurer has to enter after a weekly meeting. Is there a batch function that can be used to enter all the transactions at once for various events (we’re currently collecting payments for a pack camping trip, day camp, and resident camp, so the possibility of various events is a real one).
And how does the treasurer update the RSVP status for families? Again, the real world is that many families don’t read their email or login to the web site, but pay and tell us how many are going.
Hi @dboring,
When the user pays with their money account for the event, it handles the RSVP at that time so the treasurer won’t need to touch it. We support nearly 2000 troops and we find that often, if you ask your troop to use your scouting tool of choice, they will. Many consider it a part of teaching their scouts responsibility and accountability.
We find many users just pay with the internal credit card or PayPal features so this process will only apply to those who choose to pay some other way. Your treasurer can in fact create a bulk transaction (Manage > Money > Create a Bulk Transaction).
We are exploring enhancements to our payment systems, but we have some other big features we need to finish first.
Thank you.
Hi @mlsully2002,
Thanks for pointing me to the bulk transaction! I hadn’t noticed that or explored it before. But it leads me to another question: Is there a way to use the bulk transaction when the amount varies per scout? For example, at our upcoming family campout we charge $13 per person. Some attending will be the scout and 1 parent, others might be a family of 5 or 6 people, making the charge per scout wildly different. If not, is there a current method to record payments without having to create dozens of individual transactions per week?
I will have to work with our treasurer to start forcing the parents to RSVP for themselves. With Cub Scout families, the shift in generations is becoming very clear; parents don’t read email, often ignore text messages, and want us to send them a tweet or a Facebook message instead. Often, they miss out on activities as a result, to the detriment of their son. So how do we teach parents responsibility and accountability? 
Dave