Membership Dues Redux

A friend of mine recently called me the Girl Scout version of Cassandra of Troy. I can’t think of a better description, especially lately. So once again, I bring you my ramblings. This time over a topic of which I am well familiar. After the Farthest North lawsuit was finally settled back in 2021, I kicked back and felt like I could finally retire from discussing membership dues.

Wrong.

A few weeks ago, the National Board called a special meeting of the National Council to raise membership dues. It will be held on October 19th. At the 2020 National Council Session (NCS), 83% of the National Council voted in favor of giving the National Board authority over membership dues. However, the National Council also passed an additional proposal that limited any raise in dues to no more than 25% within a triennium period without a vote of the National Council. So with this special session, dues could possibly be raised a substantial amount depending on how the National Council votes.

Currently, annual membership dues for both girls and adults are $25. They haven’t been raised since MY2017, so I don’t think a bump up in price is shocking news to anyone. The question is – how much should they go up?

If you look at the special session proposals themselves (Proposal 1 and Proposal 2), you might wonder why there’s a blank listed instead of an amount. Something called a “fill in the blank” motion to amend will be used during the session. Instead of using the traditional way of striking, inserting, and substituting when it comes to amendments in parliamentary procedure, delegates can offer any amount under the sun. According to the draft of the Standing Rules, at least four suggestions have to be on the floor before a motion to close suggestions can be made. You can read more about how this will work by checking out the Standing Rules draft. If you’re a National Delegate, you should also participate in the parliamentary procedure webinars on the delegate website.

The National Board is going to start with a price tag of $85 for girls and $45 for adults, so those two amounts will definitely be in play when it comes to voting. When the news broke last week, there was an avalanche of shock and awe from folks across social media reacting to a possible 240% increase in girl annual dues. It’s taken me a little while to catch up because I was busy with an event over the weekend plus I had to gather up the energy to write this post considering how weary I am of the membership dues topic after all of the writing I did about the FN lawsuit and the lost cause of campaigning against the 2020 NCS membership dues proposals.

So what are my thoughts? Well, first of all, I’m not going to rehash how we got to this point* because I don’t think it would be constructive, and like I said, I’m tired. If you’ve read my previous post about money, you know that GSUSA desperately needs the additional funds. But to get to the point quickly, I think raising dues to $85 for girls would be a huge mistake. Instead of repeating what others have already said in various forums, I’m going to raise a few issues that I haven’t seen anyone else bring up.

I am not sure if we truly realize how much our membership is subsidized. I have a feeling there’s a good chunk of memberships where the parent or guardian might not be totally sold on Girl Scouts, but $25 isn’t that much of a risk to their budget in the case it doesn’t work out, so they sign up anyway. Recruiting will become much harder at $85 for that reason alone. A higher price point will most definitely give parents pause if they’re not so sure, and recruiters will need to make a stronger case to persuade them to join Girl Scouts.

I believe that we could bump up to $40 or even $50 girl dues and the majority of folks would agree to it, albeit some begrudgingly (and you’ll always have that). But $85 is way too big of a jump. Is it really worth the additional $35 to risk alienating a huge chunk of our membership base? We are still struggling with rebuilding trust and as seen by the anger and outcry to the news, this will only make things worse. I predict that raising dues to $85 will eventually result in a 10 to 15% membership drop (and that’s being conservative).

Which brings me to my next point. If you read the Delegate Workbook and proposals, you’ll see that GSUSA and the National Board have promised a big enchilada plus a side of beans to entice National Delegates to vote for the highest dues raise possible. If you take a look at this table (that reminds me of cookie incentive levels), you’ll see what sorts of goodies are listed.  Additionally, the National Board passed three resolutions promising financial aid to councils, a scholarship fund, and incremental raises per year so that the increase wouldn’t hit all at once. These resolutions are dependent on the amount that is passed.

But here’s the thing. First of all, I like our current leadership. I really do. I’ve met some National Board members, and I like them, especially Noorain Khan, who is our National President. If I revealed how much I really like Noorain and how much I follow her, she’d probably think I was a stalker. I have also only heard good things about Bonnie B, our National CEO. And I do think they are sincere folks. But hearing on a webinar that we are waiting until next year to compare our IT costs to other organizations really took a lot of the wind out my confidence sails, especially considering we’re doing the study AFTER committing to $40 MILLION in upgrades on our IT platform next year. I would actually be more sympathetic if I knew that the $40 million was going toward a total teardown and rebuild not involving Salesforce, but I’m not privy to that level of information. I feel like we are being held hostage by these IT costs.

While I think our current leadership is sincere in what they’re saying in the Workbook, life happens, and people move on from their positions to other opportunities or for personal reasons. It will take years to deliver these incentives, and we’ll have a different set of National Board members in 2026. Who knows who will be on staff at GSUSA. What if they don’t agree with the resolutions made by the 2023-26 National Board? What if membership plummets more than anticipated and they come back and say that they can’t deliver what was promised due to a shortfall so financial aid for councils will only cover two years instead of five? There’s absolutely nothing the National Council, councils, or the membership can do to hold anyone accountable for commitments made by the 2023-26 National Board and current GSUSA staff. Also note that the chart says these incentives are possible – they aren’t promises. So nothing is guaranteed.

Plus, once the 2026 NCS is held, the National Board and GSUSA can raise dues up to 25% if they wish between the years of 2026 and 2029. Who’s to say we’ll stay at $85 if that amount is decided upon by the National Council at this special session? Some will argue that the National Council should approve the higher cost because the National Board and GSUSA will raise dues anyway so we might as “get something out of it.” Again, there are no guarantees for what they’re saying they can deliver, so I don’t feel like we should approve higher dues for promises that may or may not happen.

I also think $85 dues will be a deterrent to parents who sign their daughters up for summer camp or other events that are open to non-members. An additional $25 (or even $50) fee can be swallowed for summer camp, but not $85. Same with those councils who are hoping to build membership based on an event model (much like my Trailblazer group). An additional $25 or even $50 “fee” is within budget, but any more than that and you hit a price point for parents. If dues go higher than $50, I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually create a separate membership dues level that’s lower for Juliettes (independently registered girls) because I think we’ll eventually evolve from the troop model out of necessity.

You might have noticed that I haven’t brought up Proposal 2 which deals with adult dues. First, I think it’s a good idea to separate out girl and adult dues so that adult dues are lower. It takes some of the sting out of the increase. Is $45 a fair price for adults? Personally, I think if dues for adults go up that much that GSUSA should pay for the background check instead of the council or the member.

Do we need to raise dues? Yes, without a doubt. I am in complete agreement about that. While I realize our current leadership is trying to right the ship, our membership shouldn’t bear the burden of bad decision-making these past 15 years which put us in this position in the first place. That’s not fair to our membership base.

I have no idea how the National Council will vote. The 2020 NCS was a hard dose of reality for me on multiple levels. And as I stated last year, I left the 2023 NCS feeling like I didn’t fit in, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they pass $85 dues easily. A majority vote is all that’s needed for passage. But this is our organization’s governance structure, so we need to accept whatever decision is made whether we like it or not. Of course, that acceptance may mean a whole bunch of members walk out the door and some future girls might never join.

For those of you who are up in arms about this, I encourage you to carry this passion over to your local governance (if your council has voting delegates) or to apply to be a National Delegate when it comes time for it and actually get involved more than just talking about what to wear at the convention or what sightseeing trips you’re going to take. Too many people only get interested in governance when something affects them personally (like a dues raise or a camp sale), but they remain asleep when it’s something they think is “boring” and end up rubberstamping whatever is put in front of them. Voting decisions have consequences down the line. An apathetic membership base that only stirs when they’re hit in the wallet isn’t healthy for organizations.

The special session will be streamed to non-delegates, so follow GirlScoutGovernance.com to stay up to date for news. If you’re a National Delegate, continue to check the delegate website for your part.

*But if you do want to rehash how we got to this point, check out the Membership Dues History.