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See Where Your Girl Scout Contributions / Fees Are Spent
Have you ever wondered where your money goes? There is a lot of money in GSUSA. The 2009 Annual Report shows registered members at 3,330,429. That's $39,965,148 just in Membership Fees, with $1,465,389 that went to WAGGGS (according to GSUSA's Sandy Thomas in August 2010, WAGGGS requires a "quota" fee of roughly 44 cents for each member).
Consider the revenue-making items you pay for or contribute to:
Girl Scout Cookies, Membership Fees, Donations to "Thinking Day" JLWFF (Juliette Lowe World Friendship Fund), WFGGGS (World Foundation for Girl Guides and Girl Scouts), Girl Scout Uniforms, Girl Scout Books, Girl Scout Badges, Girl Scout Patches, Girl Scout Awards (Junior Bronze Award, Cadette Silver Award, Senior Ambassador Gold Award), Girl Scout T-shirts, Girl Scout Jewelry and all other products with the Girl Scout logo that are licensed (including Special Edition Girl Scout Cookie Dreyers Ice Cream, Special Edition Girl Scout Dairy Queen Blizzards, etc.).
Get a PDF of the above chart
Look up the financial information yourself. See how much of your money is spent on girls v. the pension funds of the executives in the Annual Report:.
Download the 2009 GSUSA Annual Report from the GSUSA website or
Get the 2009 GSUSA Annual Report PDF from this link
$700+ MILLION in Cookie Sales Annually?
Did anyone imagine that was how much Girl Scouts pull in every year? Are you getting your money's worth from all the money you raise for your Council, or are they selling off properties like so many of our members' councils?
GSUSA Wants More Money From Scouts and Supporters
- BOOKS: With the new "Journeys" curricula and the new (September 2011) "Girls Guide to Girl Scouting" Handbooks, scouting will now cost more than ever. Pre-2009, you could run a troop for three years using just one $7 Age Level book and one $7 Badge Book ($14 total, or $4.67/year). Now, you must change levels every TWO YEARS and purchase the new Handbooks for $22.50. You cannot earn a Bronze, Silver or Gold Award without completing a Journey, so add $7 for the privilege. And, if you want to earn outdoor skills, they don't include it in the Handbook, so you must pay another $4 for that information. NEW TOTAL: $29.50-$33.50 (or $14.75-$16.75/year) MORE THAN TRIPLE THE COST! Ka-ching! GSUSA makes all the profit -- not the local Service Units, not the regional Councils -- and it is the scouts and leaders paying the price.
- DAISY Girl Scouts and COOKIES: Previously, Daisies (5-year-olds) were not allowed to sell cookies. We thought it was for safety concerns and the common sense of not wanting to exhaust kindergarteners. But the lure of lost cash must have been too much for GSUSA, because now, Daisies are strongly encouraged to sell, sell, sell! They can earn special Cookie Sale petal patches EVERY YEAR, and are even directed to do so on their Journey Map (notice it is the FIRST STOP on their trail of "experiences"):
- SPEAKING OF COOKIE MONGERING...: In the past, cookies have been the "given" way to raise money for scouts, but have never been a requirement. HOWEVER, the new Journey maps and Handbooks are now aggressively implying that cookie sales are a necessary component to a successful Journey completion:
- COOKIE SELLING is on every Journey Map, and you cannot earn an Award without a Journey.
- COOKIE BUSINESS BADGES can now be earned EVERY YEAR (used to be every three years)
- FINANCIAL LITERACY BADGES can now be earned EVERY YEAR (used to be every three)
It is important to wonder if licensing fees paid to GSUSA for use of the Girl Scout logo and the cookie brand names will increase with expansion of cookie sales and branding.
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