Scout job week (odd jobs for donations)

Outdoor: weather matters

Youth members do a week or two of supervised odd jobs (garden tidy, car wash, window cleaning, firewood stacking) for neighbours and businesses in return for a donation to the group.

Typically raises

$1,200

$300–3,000 per campaignest.

About $80 per organiser hour

Based on 15-25 youth members

Is it right for us?

Money: $500–2,000
Work: A few evenings
Helpers: 7–15 people
Lead time: 1–2 months
Red tape: Light

Fairly common: a long-running Scouts tradition, familiar to older folk

People: 10-30 youth plus one vetted adult per work crew of 3-6 (estimate)
Organiser time: 10-20 hours for job booking, roster, crew allocation and banking (estimate)
Lead time: 3-4 weeks to advertise and take bookings (estimate)
Up-front cost: $80. Flyers, rubbish bags, gloves and a receipt book; tools are borrowed from families (estimate).
Risk: Low: no stock to buy. The risk is injury or property damage, not money.

Suits: Scouts or Guides

Less usual for: Cadets (ATC, Sea Cadets), Team going to a tournament or tour

When: Autumn (Mar–May), Spring (Sep–Nov), School holidays

How big a job: A few evenings, 7–15 people

How it works

The money, as an example sum

Sell at $20 a crew hour, keep $20, so 64 crew hours = $1,280, or about $1,200 after about $80 of costs. That’s about the typical result.

Using the figures on this page. Your prices and costs will differ.

Where the money figure comes from

No current NZ benchmark found. Scouts NZ revived a national 'Scouts Job Week' (20 Sept-10 Oct) in 2010, with money staying with each local group (Scoop), but no totals were published. Estimate: 15-25 youth each earning $50-120 in koha over the period (estimate).

Last checked October 2026. Ran this? Tell us what you raised and we’ll use real results to improve the figures.

Step by step

Get your group leader's approval and set the dates; there is no fixed national Job Week date now, so pick a fortnight that suits (e.g. spring clean-up or the school holidays).
Make a price-free menu of jobs ('koha appreciated, suggested $20 per hour per crew') and a list of jobs you will not do (heights, power tools, inside houses).
Advertise through parents, Neighbourly, the school newsletter and a letterbox drop in nearby streets, with one booking phone or form.
Book each job with the address, task, time and the householder's name, and visit any big job first.
Form crews of 3-6 youth with one vetted adult leader; never send a youth member to a house alone.
Pack a crew kit: gloves, bags, first-aid kit, water, sunscreen, and the booking sheet.
Have the householder sign off the job and pay by bank transfer or card link to the group account where possible; issue a receipt.
Log hours and takings per crew each day; bank cash the same day.
Send a thank-you card or photo to every householder and business.

Getting the word out

Even a well-run plan fails if nobody hears about it. There are two asks, and the first one goes out first.

Ask for help: Members to take a shift, and someone with the gear or the site.
Ask people to buy: People to come along, or book, and pay on the day.
When to start: Ask for helpers first, as soon as the date is set. Start the public ask about 3–4 weeks out, and book newsletter and paper notices before that: small newsletters close early.

Where to put it

School, club and church newslettersYour own newsletter is free and read by the families most likely to say yes. Check when it closes.
PostersPosters at the school gate, the clubrooms and shop windows, with the date, place, price and how to pay.
Local Facebook pages and community groupsPost in your town’s community page and local groups (check their rules), and share from your group’s own page.
Billboards and roadside signsYour school’s or club’s own sign by the road, a banner on the fence, or a sandwich board on the day for passers-by.

The full guide to getting the word out: every channel from flyers to the evening news, with lead times and costs.

What you’ll need

Place: Not neededNone needed
Landowner’s permission: NeededYes, in writing
Council permit: Not needed
Food rules: Not neededNo food sold
Alcohol: Not neededNo alcohol sold
Gambling rules: Not neededNot gambling
Health and safety: CheckA simple risk check and briefing
First aid: NeededA first aider and kit on site (recommended)
Insurance: CheckCheck your cover

Work happens on householders' property with their permission. Use police-vetted adults per Scouts Aotearoa safeguarding rules and keep youth in supervised crews.

Make more from it

Car wash day at the hall
a few hundred dollars in a day (estimate)
uses the same crews and kit on a day with few bookings
Firewood stacking and delivery
$20-50 a load in koha (estimate)
a high-demand job in autumn that householders happily pay for

Stack it: on its own, about $1,200. With the add-on above, roughly

$1,200est.

What you can get donated

Ask a hardware store or garden centre to lend tools or donate gloves and bags; a local business can 'book' a crew for a bigger job such as a section clean-up.

Tips

Pair it with the trip it is paying for: 'Help our Scouts get to Jamboree' fills the booking sheet faster (estimate).
Older residents and busy families are the core market; ask a retirement village or Grey Power branch to share the flyer.
Bundle small jobs into a street day: one crew, five neighbouring houses, less travel time.

Watch out for

Taking on jobs above the group's skill level (tree felling, roof gutters) is how people get hurt.
Cash collected by youth goes missing without a simple receipt book and daily count.
Scouts NZ's own World Scout Jamboree guide notes that a part-time job at $18.80 an hour beats most fundraising for return on effort; odd jobs pay less per hour, so keep the week short.

Free tools for this

Goal and thermometer posterShow families how many orders are left to reach the target.
Checklist for any ideaBefore, on the day and after, built from this idea’s own steps and rules.

Typical rules

Scouts Aotearoa: any adult who regularly helps is police vetted, and front-line adult volunteers are safety checked; adults must complete the online Safeguarding modules (Scouts Aotearoa). Use only vetted adults as crew leaders.
Health and Safety at Work Act 2015: a volunteer association with no employees is not a PCBU, but a group with paid staff is, and either way you owe a duty of care; ban ladders, roofs, chainsaws and mowers for under-age youth (WorkSafe; estimate on specific bans).
Payment is a koha for service, not a wage; youth are volunteers raising money for the group, so no employment relationship arises if money goes to the group (estimate; check with your national office if paying anyone).
Door-knocking for jobs is not a street collection, but some councils regulate collections in public places; check your council bylaw if you plan to collect in the street.

Sources

Researched October 2026. All fundraising ideas

* General fundraising information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Money figures are examples and estimates, not promises. Check current official requirements before you commit. About this guide