Hear Ye, Hear Ye! 2020 Proposal Info is Here!
National Governance 3 Comments 
2020 NCS, blue book, board of directors, councils, governance, gsusa, national board, national convention, national council, national delegate
If you’re new to the topic of national governance in Girl Scouting, you’re probably wondering what the title of this blog post means. Every three years, the Girl Scout Movement holds a meeting called the National Council Session in order to conduct business on a grand scale. The next one will be October 21st through the 25th in Orlando. I don’t know the exact dates of the Session itself within that time range, but we’ll find out closer to the date.
During the NCS, the National Council takes action upon items called proposals. They usually include things such as discussion topics or amendments to the Blue Book of Basic Documents which is a collection of our organization’s governance documents. At the 2017 NCS, three proposals to amend the GSUSA Constitution and a discussion topic were presented.
Here are the answers to some of the burning questions about proposals that keep you up at night!
Where do proposals come from? The National Board and councils are allowed to submit proposals as defined in Article VI of the GSUSA Constitution.
How are proposals submitted? GSUSA sends out an announcement to councils detailing the procedures and policies about proposals.
Who chooses what proposals make the cut and which ones don’t? Per the Constitution in Article VI, the National Board makes the recommendations. However, a proposal that is submitted by 15% of the total number of councils must be added to the agenda. This means 17 councils have to back a specific proposal by using the appropriate support form.
What’s the deadline for 2020 proposal submissions? The National Board has set August 31st, 2019 as the date!
What if a volunteer has a proposal idea? Your best bet is to fill out the following forms and pitch the idea to your council’s board of directors to see if they will take it on themselves. Now how to actually go about meeting with your board of directors is dependent on your council.
So without further ado, here are the documents from GSUSA as referenced in the above FAQ!
- NCS Proposal Process Memo
- NCS 2020_CALENDAR_Final
- NCS 2020_Article VI and XVII
- GUIDELINES ON WRITING AND SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL
- NCS 2020 Proposal Form
- NCS 2020 Proposal Support Form
- NCS 2020 Discussion Topic Form
Let the games begin!
Thank you so much! I know many people are interested in Proposals and Discussion Topics this year!
Thanks a million for posting this! The National Council Session is always the most interesting part of the convention to me. Yes. I. Am. A. GS. Nerd.
2017 was my first year, and I found it extremely fascinating, so I’m a GS nerd right there with you! Someone should have recorded my facial expressions during it!
