I didn’t get to publish this on March 12th (the GS birthday if you’ve been living under a rock), but I did make it happen during Girl Scout Week! While researching for a different topic, I came across the perfect thing to share via the Girl Scout Collector’s Guide on pages 22 – 24. It’s called a “History of Uniforms, Insignia, Publications, and Memorabilia,” and it is meticulously researched. I’ve got the second edition from 2005. Continue reading

Survey Results: What’s the #1 Stressor for Troop Leaders/Volunteers?

Experiences as a Leader, National Operations 1 Comment councils, girl led, gsusa, leader issues, parents, service unit, surveys, troop stuff, volunteers

Previously I wrote about a new series I’m going to start here on the GSWAC blog featuring surveys. I’m curious about getting the pulse of the volunteer base, and it is my hope that this serves as useful to someone out there. I plan on creating very quick surveys that can be shared easily among Facebook groups, service units, and anywhere else! It seems like there’s a void for something like this that really tries to get to the root of issues or perceptions of volunteers. Continue reading

March 3 2018

Survey: What’s the #1 Stressor for Troop Leaders/Volunteers?

Experiences as a Leader, National Operations 4 Comments councils, gsusa, leader issues, parents, stress, surveys, troop stuff, volunteers

I’m starting a new series here on the GSWAC blog featuring volunteer polls. I don’t feel like GSUSA does enough to survey what’s really going on out here in Volunteer Land (or as they like to call us, the “customers”), and it sounds like councils are inconsistent in gathering data. If they do, I never see the results.

I’ve cross-posted this in various Facebook GS groups, but please feel free to share the survey link to whomever – your service unit, other Facebook groups, friends – the more answers, the better! Here’s the direct link (or you can answer below): https://goo.gl/forms/uFYCIhDBYO4tZAg22

Addendum 3/11/18: Here are the results!
Continue reading

March 2 2018

Well Behaved Women

Opinions 6 Comments change lives, councils, delegate, facebook, governance, gsusa, leadership, making a difference, national delegate, volunteers

I’m sure we’ve all seen this quote before, but it was featured on the GSUSA Facebook Page yesterday:

February 11 2018

Cookie Incentives from the 80s

Reminiscing 6 Comments alien biscuits, camp wabak, caroline, cookies, jenny, mary lee flanagan, mrs. vickers, northeast georgia council, old 96 council, patches, the 80s, troop 20

Just for fun, I thought I’d pull out some of the cookie incentives that I earned as a girl in the 80s since it’s cookie season. Yay. Surprisingly, they made it through my mother’s purging of junk from my room throughout the years. All I’ve got left are stuffed animals and patches, so I’m not sure if anything else was offered. I never made it close to getting any of the cool gifts. Jenny and Caroline always sold enough to get a free week of summer camp at Camp WaBak. Our council (Northeast Georgia at the time) didn’t own any camps, so we had a deal with Old 96. I was insanely jealous, I must admit. Continue reading

February 4 2018

Show Me the Money

Delegate Duties 4 Comments councils, delegate, money, non-profits

This blog post is a little dated (and not well written now that I’ve gone back through it), but you can find a better and more thorough article about council finances here on the Girl Scout Governance website. You can also find a Council Delegate Primer there with more information about being a council delegate.

Here’s another exciting edition of Delegate Duties! Get your coffee and No Doze ready, because this one involves accounting! Yay!

Many volunteers express frustration about their council’s finances. They do not know where to turn or how to translate what they’re being told at annual meetings and what that really means. They also might wonder where the money is going. So how do you find these things out? There are a couple of ways. Continue reading

January 23 2018

Bylaw Amendment Proposal Example

Delegate Duties 2 Comments board of directors, councils, delegate, democratic process, governance, OFFICIAL scarf, service unit

I hope this post will be helpful for other service unit delegates. If you want to become involved, but you’re not sure how to go about it, you’ll first need to educate yourself about your role as a delegate and also familiarize yourself with your council’s governance framework. I started a Delegate Duties category on this blog to pass on what I’ve learned myself as a delegate. It’s dry and not the most interesting topic, but it’s important to know what you’re walking into so that you don’t spin your wheels trying to do something that’s not possible. I don’t have a lot of posts in this category yet (because they aren’t the most exciting things to write!), but I do plan on adding to it from time to time.

You can find a more thorough explanation and more in-depth articles about council governance on the Council Delegate Primer found on GirlScoutGovernance.com.

January 10 2018

City Slickers 2017: Look to the Sky!

Experiences as a Leader, Ideas 3 Comments city slickers, juniors, OFFICIAL scarf, patches, service unit, stem, summer camp

In the midst of all of the membership dues discussion over the summer, our service unit held its annual summer camp in July called City Slickers. To piggyback on all of the talk about the August solar eclipse, we decided on a space theme and named it “Look to the Sky!” This is the 11th year of City Slickers, and it was originally created to give girls who have never been away to camp a way to experience one while staying relatively close to home and in town – hence the name “City Slicker.” C/S/As start their week on either a Sunday night or Monday morning and stay overnight through Saturday morning. Juniors stay overnight from Wednesday to Saturday morning. Brownies attend Wednesday through Friday from 8 to 5 with a sleepover on Friday night through Saturday morning. Daisies attend Wednesday through Friday from 10am to 2pm and also round out the week with Saturday morning activities. Continue reading

December 26 2017

Ho Ho Ho Printer Claus

Experiences as a Leader, National Operations 4 Comments badges we don't need no stinkin badges, brownies, facebook, girls guides, gsusa, journeys, just trying to help, leader issues, pet peeves, printers

This is a follow-up post to my last one called Twelve Page Pet Peeve that went viral almost immediately. I read some of the comments that were made in two different Facebook groups where it was shared. There may have been more, but those were the only two I saw. The vast majority of people agreed that GSUSA should provide printer-friendly downloads, and others gave advice like sending it off to be printed at a Staples or Office Depot. I’m not sure if the ones that suggested sending it off actually read the post all the way through, because I listed that as one of the options. Oh well. I’m sure there are also some who disagreed with me and don’t see an issue with what’s being released by GSUSA. It takes diff’rent strokes to move the world, yes it does, it takes diff’rent strokes to move the world. Continue reading

Girl Scout with a Cause

It’s Girl Scout Week!