Are you doing everything possible for girls to have a quality Girl Scout experience? Use the points listed below to serve as a quality checker to assist you as you strive to move from providing girls with a good to a great Girl Scout program.

Girl Planning

Goal Setting

Troop Budgeting

Financial Accountability in Dollars and Sense

Girl Planning

When it comes to planning activities for your troop, in which category would you find yourself? Check all that apply.

• Two hours before your troop meeting you are scrambling to find activities for your girls to do. Brain freeze has set in and you’ve run out of creative and exciting things for your girls to try, so you bring crafts and/or coloring pages to every meeting.

• You’ve noticed the girls are not attending the troop meetings regularly and don’t seem excited when they are present.

• You feel pressured by your parents and their expectations of what the troop should be doing.

• You use the majority of your summer and winter break planning your calendar of activities for the next six months.

Girls and their leaders/advisors should work as partners in planning and making decisions for their troop. At first, girls may wish to rely on you, their adult partner. With your guidance, however, they will quickly begin to take charge of planning troop meetings, and making and carrying out their own decisions. From the youngest Daisy Girl Scout earning her first petal to a Senior Girl Scout working on her Girl Scout Gold Award, girls need the experience of making choices and plans to mature and develop and strengthen her confidence and self-esteem.

Here are two steps to help get you started:

1. Do advance planning by reviewing your Girl Scout handbooks, completing age appropriate trainings, attending service unit leader meetings, networking with experienced leaders, and contacting your service unit consultant.

2. Ask the girls. Sift through the ideas. Girl Scouting has a built-in structure to help leaders/advisors develop successful girl/adult planning and partnership. The structure is traditionally referred to as troop or group government.

Goal Setting    (return to top)

Learning to set troop/personal goals gives you skills that will last a life time. It gives your life direction as well as direction for your troop.
Steps:

• Define your goal. Decide on two or three projects/ideas and prioritize.

• Manage your time. Don’t spin your wheels and go no where, make sure your efforts are effective, your troop cannot go on a week camping trip if there was no money raised for transportation.

• Track your progress. Write it down. When you’re half way and when you’ve reached the goal –celebrate.

• Remember the difference between a Goal and a Dream is the written word.

Troop Budgeting     (return to top)

Budgeting is an important part of troop management. Allowing girls to participate in the budgeting process teaches them skills they can use for the rest of their lives. While participation in the budgeting process varies from one age level to the next, it should always include the girls in some way.

Troop budgeting is part of the overall planning process for the year and involves taking the troops’ plans and goals and figuring out how to make them possible. It is also important to revisit the troop budget throughout the year to make any necessary adjustments.

For a Troop Budget Worksheet, go to the council Web site and look in "Leader Resources" under the "Forms" heading.

Financial Accountability in Dollars and Sense     (return to top)

Troops need money for trips, games, books, equipment, and service projects. To support these activities, Girl Scout troops often acquire a troop treasury with money collected from troop dues, money earning activities, and a share of money earned through council-sponsored product sale activities. Troop financing and financial accountability are an essential part of Girl Scouting.

Financial accountability is understanding, maintaining and analyzing troop finances and financial records. It is the responsibility of the troop, parents, and the leader. It starts at the very beginning of the troop year and is a continuous process as long as the troop exists.

• You can help girls and parents of your troop become financially accountable by helping them to understand the difference between annual membership dues and troop dues; the purpose of having dues and the purpose of participating in money earning activities and council sponsored sales.

• Girls should be allowed to assume more responsibility in setting the amount of troop dues, collecting troop dues, budgeting, financial record keeping, and money earning projects as they progress through the age levels.

• Leaders become financially accountable by adhering to the council’s policies, standards, and procedures on troop finances; by using resources wisely to keep Girl Scouting affordable; by planning ahead and setting goals with the troop.

• Troops become financially accountable when they set priorities; establish a calendar of activities and events; and establish a troop budget, and set up a troop checking account. Submit an Annual Financial Report to the council by the June 30 deadline.

• Encourage your girls to put some of the funds from their treasury aside for unexpected expenses and for the following years’ membership dues and/or troop dues.

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