I’m running into some
difficulty in getting our FRG to accept the unconditional donation of
money that I raised (please note I am NOT an FRG volunteer…not even a
Key Caller) from a direct sales food party I hosted. Part of it, I think, is a
misunderstanding of the regulations and part of it is that the
regulations themselves are entirely too strict.
When we were
in Alaska, I was involved in our FRG. This was before the regulations
governing every aspect of a Family Readiness Group were put in place.
We had a great FRG. Granted, this was pre-9.11 but it functioned well.
We had great holiday parties, social events, and support events. We
raised enough money to support these activities and really had no
problems. Then the new regulations were put in place and everything
changed.
We couldn’t raise money the way we used to. Bake
sales were restricted. Fundraisers were restricted. What the money we
DID manage to raise was restricted in it’s use. It was like running
into a brick wall. Eventually, your head starts to hurt so you stop
doing that. Well, most of us do.
Fort Rucker was even worse. We tried to hold
fundraisers on post to support the different activities inherent to
flight school but everywhere we turned, we were restricted in what we
could sell, where we could sell it, when we could sell it, and to whom
we could sell it. You couldn’t sell anything that competed with AAFES
or DeCA. So that eliminates all food items, housewares, flowers, clothing, and
toiletries. Lovely. Never mind that DeCA didn’t sell See’s candy…they
sold CHOCOLATE and that was close enough.
And you couldn’t
sell to people outside of flight school. We couldn’t go down to
Wal-Mart and host a bake sale to raise money. We could sell to our own
people but not to the local people within the community. So basically
we had to fund our own activities.
I don’t know about you
but if that’s the case, I’m not going to waste my time holding a bake
sale so that my own husband can spend $1 on a cookie that I could
easily bake at home for 9 cents and not take 4 hours to sell. Which is
pretty much what we’re running into here too. Our unit’s FRG is holding
a 50-50 raffle. The tickets are being sold only to unit members and
their families. The winner will get 50% of the money raised through
ticket sales and the rest will go to fund the homecoming party.
So
we have to pay for a ticket for our OWN raffle that goes to support our
OWN homecoming party? Right. But I can’t have my direct sales
consultant hand over a check for $300 as a donation. And yet we gripe,
incessantly, about the fact that "the public doesn’t support us
military families".
I wonder if it has ever occurred to
the people that design the darn regulations that the public doesn’t
support military families because they literally cannot; that Army regulation 600-29 literally prevents the public from
financially contributing in any manner? The "Army Commander’s Guide to
Family Readiness Group Operations" specifically states in paragraph
2-3,
"Family Readiness Group External Fund-Raising…FRGs are not
established for the purpose of being a fund-raising organization. FRGs
may not engage in fundraising activities beyond what was described
above at paragraph 2-2, Informal Funds. The FRG has no authority to
engage in external fundraising on or off post."
In addition,
the regulation goes on to further state the restrictions upon
UNSOLICITED donations of any kind. So, not only can FRGs NOT raise
money, they can’t accept monies offered to them out of the kindness of
the hearts’ of those offering. Yet FRGs are expectedto
offer up social activities, homecoming parties, volunteer
recognition, hail and farewell gatherings, and other social activities
especially in this era of increased OpTempo and high deployment rates.
Therefore they have to do so by digging into the wallets of those they
are there to support.
Talk
about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Something needs to
change. FRGs are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. They can’t
raise funds in order to provide the services expected of them yet the
services ARE expected of them…by the families of the men and women who
leave them behind to go and fight for their country and to uphold the
oath they swore when they joined the military.
Something needs to change.
About Homefront Six
Comments
I'm sorry for this break down and the inevitable demise of the FRG. There are women, families, children hurting on posts, bases across the us. Do these groups address their needs and is it a necessary outreach program? The answer is so clear I don't even need to say it. Deployed family members are in need, alone, suffering and surviving. Press on and pay why not. If it gets one family member out of the house???
I agree, it's ridiculous the hoops that have to be jumped through when it comes to fundraising. I don't know if it will make it any easier (and it definately doesn't solve the larger problem – the regs),but can you donate items, rather than money? For example, if a fee has to be paid for use of a hall or meeting room, can you use the money you raised to do that for the FRG? Can you pick up the cost of drinks or a portion of the food?
As I said, it may not be a solution to the larger problem, but in the interim, maybe you can just do whatever you need to do to benefit your FRG NOW. Good luck!
actually I'm the one hurting and I wish our FRG had something to offer me. I know they made money with pie in the face of the 1st srg and commander. Funny!
I completely agree. It is pointless to bake cookies that your husbands paycheck bought just for him to buy them a second time @@.. We are not even doing funraisers for our entire BN yet they will b e deployed 2 christmas' and we have no where near the amount we need to send htem all stockings again. They are way to Strict!
FRg's do not give money out to its members though. Our monies are raised to do the family fun days, food at meetings, homecoming party, christmas party and such. It in no way can go to a single person.. at all
Kel,
I may be able to assist a little with the stockings and such.
HF6, that is ridiculous.
Can Cam purchase the supplies with the money and donate the material goods instead of giving the money?
Just a thought.
I ran FRG for years and these regulations are one of the main reasons why I just plain stopped. AAFES and DeCA have a strangle hold on any on post initiative and now they have stopped off post ones. The only option is to have each member of the unit pay "dues" or something and then, it takes from the very people who most need the support. I agree something HAS to give! Maybe if we all get loud enough the people with the power to change it will hear us….AFAP??? there is a place to voice a complaint.
HF6, don't you worry at all. This is something I plan to address with Secretary Gates and I'm quite sure he'll be happy to fix it…. Heh!
Used to be an FRG leader, I remember what a pain in the rear it was to fundraise. Regs don't make it easy so we had to get creative to get around some of it and still remain inside the lines.I think it's insane they expect a soldier to buy cookies that another soldier's wife made. It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul.
We have a new post commander that just sent out a survey to families about their thoughts on FRGs and fundraising. You can bet I said my piece. Hopefully others did too and they will loosen the reins for us a little. We are at a post that has a high rate of deployment (who isn't these days?) and it's sad that in comparison from our unit's last deployment to our current one we haven't been able to raise funds or accept donations to plan a decent homecoming celebration.
have a multi family yard sale/bake sale at somebody’s home off post and just buy stuff for FRG with that money. Nobody can tell you that you can’t buy napkins out of the goodness of your heart. There are ways around the system.
I’ve seen people selling sodas and candy at their yard sales to make some extra cash. Why not! Nobody even needs to mention the dirty word “Fundraiser” it will just be you know *wink wink*
HF6, the established ‘newer’ funds rules can differ if local installation rules differ a bit, on a small scale. In regards to caps on informal funds.
Have the commander check with JAG and/or with the units ethics counselor. The regs state that “unit commanders may accept unsolicited gift or dontation of money or tangible personal property of $1000 or less for the FRG informal account.”
This was interesting- I didn't know these things about the financial side of the FRG.
My FRG here isn't active so I am not so involved anyways, but at Hood we had a great FRG. The guys were always doing things like PT buyout and casual dress day to raise money.
I am currently an FRSA for our BN. I have also served as one in the past. Fundraising regs STINK! They are poorly written and they are WAY too many gray areas. I have found in the past that if you contact the local JAG office and find out "their" interpretation of the regs (which is usually the installation Commander's interpretation) it is a little more lax. That being said, now they are making all of the bank accounts for the FRG's subject to inspection by the IG. With a cap of $5000 per FRG per year. Now, I know that sounds like a lot of money…the harsh reality of it is that any donations of goods or services are also included in that amount. So if you receive a donation of 1000 paper plates and the value of those paper plates is $100, that amount comes off of your yearly $5000 cap. These regs need to be changed, no doubt about it. All of the regs and training materials for FRG's clearly state that FRG's are NOT fundraising organizations, but we all know how it really works. Passing on unit and community information is great, but to get these people to a meeting sometimes you have to entertain them as well. When a unit is deployed we all think about our Soldiers as well, and nobody likes to leave anyone out. So if you do for one you do for all. It all costs money. Yes FRG's are receiving some financial support from their units (office space, office supplies things like that) but it is NOT enough. AFAP is a great forum for this topic; I know that I will be entering it as an issue when our local conference gets underway. With the Op Tempo the way it is today and all that they are asking of our service members and their families…the powers that be need to let us function so that WE can accomplish our mission too.
I have to agree with Colleen above. Have your FRG represent your request for changes to AFAP. It's kind of slow, but it's a way to get things noticed. The more people who back your request, too (have lots of people fill out the forms with the same request), the quicker it will be noticed — and hopefully changed!
This has been one of my biggest gripes about FRG groups. What ends up happening is a few families end up supporting the group through 'loans' of equipment, supplies etc so that it is not a donation and not a monetary fundraiser. Then having dinners or picnics that are 'potlucks'. $5000 goes very quickly for a battallion level welcome back or holiday get together. The other problem is that even setting up a bank account for an FRG is a very complex and oftentimes difficult process.
School fundraising events can be an excellent way to raise cash to fund the programs and projects that aren't covered by the general budget.Chocolate would be the best product to choose for this fundraising event.
I'm a FRG leader and have read these rules….but we have a $10,000.00 cap now. I have been doing this almost a year, and know how hard it is…..But i have had success with my yard sales, we just didn't say the FRG was having it.just that all proceeds benefits the Soldiers FRG…we have some of Businesses contact us and they do the Fundrasing and donate the proceeds to the FRG…I can't ask but if i talk about it and they open that door,then I blast thru!!! Good luck we all need it……….
The 'new' regulation, AR 608-1, came out in July 2006 and replaced the "Army Commander's Guide to Family Readiness Group Operations" so most of your problems could have been alleviated immediately if your FRG had read it.
AR 608-1 allows you to: fund raise outside of your unit as long as it's on your installation; accept donations up to $1000.00; spend the money on pretty much everything except the unit ball, individuals, official FRG supplies and for charities.
The regulation also explains what the function of an FRG is…they are not EXPECTED to offer half of what you claim. Those are nice to have, and can be supported by the people of the organization if needed. An FRG is a group of people that offer mutual support!
I am in *love* with AR 608-1!!! As soon as I found it, we hooked up with the Veterans' Assn. for our unit and will be working with them to get some fundage (is that a word??) flowing in.
I understand what you're saying about the services that are expected to be provided by the FRG. And yet, even as a family member (I'm the FRG leader now) it's nice ot have those things. I don't *expect* them but they truly do go a long way in bonding the spouses within a unit prior to a deployment.
The sad thing about all of this? The new reg went into effect in August of '06. No one within our Division (all the way down to the FRSA at the BN level) said anything about this reg. I'm in Hawaii and I found it on the USAREUR website. *sigh*
At least I found it!