GSSA Leader Blog: The Virtual Volunteer

I stand with all Girl Scouts across the country and around the world in offering my thoughts and prayers to all of those who have been affected by the massive and devastating tornado that tore through the Oklahoma City area on Monday. As Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said, it was a tragic day for the people of her state and, indeed, for all of us, as the death toll now stands at 24 and includes a Girl Scout, who was a member of the Girl Scouts-Western Oklahoma Council.

All staff members of the Girl Scouts-Western Oklahoma Council, which is based in Oklahoma City, are accounted for and safe. The council appreciates all of the good wishes, but is unable to handle all of the calls and emails at this time. We ask that you not call or email the council, but instead check its website or Facebook and Twitter feeds for the latest information. The council also cannot accommodate material donations, such as blankets and other goods. Instead, the council has created the Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma Tornado Relief Fund that will help get troops back up and running, provide scholarships for program and camp participation, and offer other support to Girl Scouts in the affected areas. You can text the word GIRLS to 20222 to make a $10 donation. In addition, the council is encouraging girls to send messages or art in the shape of the Girl Scout trefoil that it will present this summer to Girl Scouts affected by the storm. Send your trefoil artwork to:

Girl Scouts-Western Oklahoma
Mary Nichols' Family Leadership Center
6100 N. Robinson Ave.
Oklahoma City, Okla. 73118

I want to thank everyone for their thoughtful messages of caring and concern for our sisters at the Girl Scouts-Western Oklahoma Council. Even as we grieve for our sister Girl Scout and all those who lost their lives, we are sustained by the resilience of the human spirit and the knowledge that the people of Oklahoma will, in time, recover and rebuild. We have endured in the past year a number of terrible and tragic events, and throughout it all, Girl Scouts have shown remarkable courage, commitment, and leadership. I know that our girls and adult volunteers will do so again in the wake of this tragedy.

Sincerely,
Anna Maria Chávez
Chief Executive Officer
Girl Scouts of the USA

This is the time of year where we take a long hard look at what we do.   We are always interested in improving our services to you and the girls we have the privilege of working with.   The best way for us to make changes is to listen to your input about what we do well and what areas where we can provide better service.

We are at a crossroads.   We recently have received notice of significant funding cuts for the 2013-2014 year.   Part of the funding cuts are due to sequestration, and other cuts I will share more about next week, as we have more information, but it looks like we will be working faster, quicker, smarter next year just to be at the place we are today.

Change is welcome. We can all learn and grow for how to leverage more of what we have to offer to the community.   We are partners with you, so we need your assistance in learning how we can be more fiscally efficient and efficient with all our resources.

This summer, we will be inviting you to an evening of light dinner and conversation, just adults.   Please come and talk to us.   Come with good ideas on how we can be better and illustrate to the community you are in that Girl Scouts change the world, one girl at a time.   These events will be starting in June, so stay tuned for one near you.

And, at the end of a good year with the girls, thank you for all you do. 

Incentives do work!   It is the time of year where girls are receiving all their incentives from the cookie program.   We have tried to get them to the service units as early as possible, so girls have them before the end of the year.   There are bridging ceremonies, patches and badges earned, as we feel the race to the finish and the end of the school year.   Overall it's been a good year.   I've seen a lot of girls in action, speaking, participating in civic activities and having fun indoors and outdoors.

I am especially pleased today to announce that we will soon be sending funds directly to the following service units because of your hard work.   Your service unit increased its membership by 10 percent before the end of the calendar year or you increased your cookie sales by 10 percent. Remarkably, three service units achieved both. The top bonus this year totaled $1,088.44.

Congratulations to the following service units for their hard work during the 2012-2013 year!   I know these funds will be put to good use with the girls.

The service units are:

906 (membership and cookie bonus)

927 (membership and cookie bonus)

815 (membership and cookie bonus)

804 (cookie bonus)

810 (cookie bonus)

812 (cookie bonus)

814 (cookie bonus)

823 (cookie bonus)

Thanks for all you do to build girls of courage, character, and confidence that make the world a better place.

What would we do without you?   Well, the answer to that is you are integral to all we do.   You change the world through your gifts, time, and talents.   You are how the Girl Scout program stays alive!

One of the bonuses of our work is to have daily interaction with individuals who possess a giving heart, talented hands, energy and enthusiasm.   I have met troop leaders and parents with endless patience, unbelievable creativity, and a care and concern for girls that is simply amazing.   When others sit back and watch, they see that you are the lifeblood that makes our world a better place.   There are no spectators in our group of caring, giving, and generous volunteers!

All GSSA Leaders are invited to take advantage of a 20% discount off any one item in the shop (excluding uniform items)* until the end of April.  Remember, GSSA Leaders who have completed their Leader License also get a free gift in April.

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO!

*One discount per volunteer, ends April 30, and does not include uniforms, insignia/badges, and the GS Silver Dollar. If you are shopping online, enter your GSSA Troop # and request the 20% discount.  Your total would be reduced accordingly. 

At the end of a fun program, we all are ready to go home.  But there is one more important step.  We need to know: What did the girls learn?

For us to receive funding we have to prove that our programs actually meet outcomes metrics that we outline. Each of our many United Ways and United Funds want to know that the funds they invest in girls actually produce the outcomes we indicate we are working toward. The more we can prove that Girl Scouts is the premiere leadership organization for girls, the more likely we are to receive United Way funds and donors' funds. In today's world, there is accountability for investment dollars, so if you wonder what our COO and I do, we spend lots of time riding the United Way circuit addressing how GSSA fulfills the outcomes we indicate on our requests for funding.

Our program staff members work from a set of objectives for each program GSSA offers.   At the culmination of the program, or sometimes after the program, we ask you, the leader or parent, and the girls questions related to our outcomes.   Did the program actually achieve the program metrics desired?   Did the girls learn something?   What did the girls learn?   And most important, did the girls have fun?

When you are asked to complete a survey and discuss what the girls learned at the end of a program, please help us out.   This often translates into securing more funds for girls to be Girl Scouts and tomorrow's leaders.

Thanks for your help in this important effort.

Fund raising is taking on different forms than it once did, and social media provides all sorts of new opportunities for us to raise funds for our girls in southern Alabama.   Last week we rolled out a new opportunity to support GSSA through Socialvest, which is an online donation service.  The process is fairly simple -- you sign up online and then when you are shopping at one of its participating companies, the Socialvest icon actually shows up at the top of your browser to tell you what percentage of your purchase will be given back to GSSA.   This is a quick and easy way to raise more funds for girls and girl programs.

Girl Scouts, unlike the Boy Scouts, historically is not very effective raising funds.   Part of it is our reticence to ask.   Where more than 75 percent of our income comes from the cookie program, the Boy Scouts raise more than 75 percent of their income from fund raising.   Clearly, they can learn about how to sell products from us, and we can learn how to raise money from them.   One of the GSUSA fund development vice presidents notes that there is more money given to animals in this country than there is to girl leadership and development initiatives.   Don't get me wrong, I love my pets, but that is a staggering statistic to me and something we need to change.

You are able to raise funds for your troop by participating with those organizations that partner with non-profits, some of them are Ruby Tuesday, Yolo, Five Guys, Cheeburger Cheeburger, CiCi's Pizza, ChuckECheese and other family  friendly restaurants.  Occasionally, council-wide fundraising events with restaurants and other local businesses are scheduled, but if your troop is interested in a money-earning activity, consider taking advantage of this opportunity too.  Like other money-earning projects, simply submit a completed money-earning activity application at least two weeks in advance to fund development staff. 

For larger companies and organizations there are some limitations for sponsorship requests.  I used to work at a university and we found that when we coordinated our requests to companies more people benefitted.   Currently BASF is working on constructing a storage building at Camp Scoutshire Woods so we can get the storage out of the recreation hall and provide more room for girl usage.   We also have an agreement with Books-A-Million where a portion of all voucher sales on designated days will benefit GSSA.  This agreement applies to all stores in central and south Alabama.

All sponsors must be approved by fund development staff prior to signing an agreement or making a request.  Sometimes fund development staff needs to do research about whether GSSA has already made a request. 

At the recent GSUSA CEO work session, we discussed that we need to ask more of our alumni, but many women don't recognize that they are alumni.   If you were a Brownie or Daisy, you were a Girl Scout, too, and many women do not understand that.   We are working to find more ways to highlight being a Girl Scout and how it improved your life.   If you are having an event in your community and are involved with women who might have been Girl Scouts, let us know and we will send your troop the alumni information form so we can get them involved again

Thanks for all you do.   For questions concerning fund raising contact mstallworth@girlscoutssa.org if you are in the northern part of the council or vedington@girlscoutssa.org if you are in the southern part of the council.