Court is Now in Session

National Governance 12 Comments blue book, farthest north council, governance, gsusa, membership dues, national board, national convention, national council, national delegate

Someone the other day in a Facebook group asked about the status of the Farthest North Council’s case versus GSUSA. In case you’re not familiar with it, Farthest North is suing GSUSA for overstepping its bounds per our organization’s Constitution when it raised membership dues from $12 to $15 in 2013 (effective 2014) and then $15 to $25 in 2016 (effective 2017). Well, that trial is being heard TODAY!

If you weren’t around during last summer’s blog drama and are wondering, NO, the National Council did NOT vote to give the National Board authority to raise dues at any time. And NO, the National Council did NOT vote for the increase from $12 to $15 OR the raise from $15 to $25. Don’t believe me? Read through all of the proposals and the results since 2008. While researching all of this, I was completely fascinated by the wholesale confusion about what really happened when discussion about past National Council Sessions took place. A friend told me the other day that this is a perfect example of what’s called the Mandela Effect, or a collective false memory. Continue reading

March 19 2018

Cookie Season is Over

Experiences as a Leader No Comments cookies, leader issues, memes, volunteers

Hallelujah and Amen.

March 13 2018

It’s Girl Scout Week!

Traditional Stuff 6 Comments blue book, history, j-low, national council

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

March 10 2018

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 7 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.