How Much Did Covid Hurt?

There is no denying that there are fewer Girl Scouts today than there were pre-Covid.  The question is how much of that decline can be blamed on Covid, and how much would have happened anyway.  

My Council

I got my 20 year pin this year  and I've seen the numbers in my area decrease substantially over that time.  Part of it is demographics. Most Girl Scouts are between 5 and 9 years old.  In 2019, there were 9.87 million girls that age in the US. Five years earlier, there were 10.18 million and five years before that, 10.31.  The cohort before that had 11.5 million girls. In short, in fifteen years, the number of eligible girls in the target age group has dropped about 14%.

The oldest numbers I could find for my council were from 2009, using the Wayback Machine to look at the council's website.  At that time they claimed to serve over 16,000 girls and 5500 adults.  In 2014 our annual report said that we had 14,100 girls and 5800 adults.  In 2019, we had 10,281 girls and 3425 adults.   Our council Annual Report for 2022 says we served 5,300 girl members plus 563 were served in the outreach program.  This past year we had 1/3 the girls we had thirteen years ago when my college-aged daughter started in the program.  

According to the IRS, in 2014 my council had revenue of $3,777,635 and expenses of  $3,729,300.  That means we collected about $267.91 per girl and spent about $264.48 per girl.  In 2019 we had revenue of $3,699,939 and expenses of $3,704,124.  On a per girl basis we were earning $359.88 per girl and spending $360.28 per girl.  Our revenue in 2021 was $3,546,139 and our expenses were 2,397,113,  We were in the black but we spent $408.85 per girl.  74.2% of our revenue was product sales.  We serve 57% of the girls we did in 2019.  In between those years, my council sold the offices of its two legacy councils as well as one of the camps.  We are in the process of building a new Experience Center/headquarters which is a prototype being pushed by GSUSA (and which I was told was about half paid for by a grant). 

Other Councils

I took a look at a few other councils.  I looked for geographic diversity and an easily accessible annual report with membership numbers.  Here is what I found:

• Girl Scouts of Citrus:  New-style website.  No annual reports shown on search
  
  
• Girls Scouts Eastern Missouri:  New-style website.  No annual reports shown on search
  
  
• Girl Scouts River Valleys:  Old-style website.  2020 Annual Report says 17,050 girls sold cookies in 2020 before the sale was suspended.  In 2022, 11,450 girls sold cookies. 2020 is the earliest report easily accessible. 
  
  
• Girl Scouts Greater Mississippi:  Old-style website.  Easily found old annual reports but nothing between 2020 and present.
  
  
• Girl Scouts of Northern California:  New-style website.  Its called an Impact Report rather than an Annual Report.  In 2019 there were 38,699 members. In 2022 15,000 girls sold cookies. 
  
  
• Girl Scouts Heart of Central California: New-style website. Only 2019 Annual Report shown.
  
  
• Girl Scouts Historic Georgia:  New-style website.  2019-2020 showed 11,368 girls.  2021-2021 listed 6,989 girls.  Oldest Annual Report I could easily find was 2014-2015.  It showed 12,616 girls. 
  
  
• Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma:  Old-style website. No search box.  No Annual Report on menus.
  
  
• Girl Scouts Eastern Oklahoma: Old-style website.   In 2015, 3872 girls sold cookies.  The 2022 Annual report showed 4183 girl members.  
  
  
• Girl Scouts Greater New York. New-style website. 2020 Annual Report shows 38,000+ girls served. 2022 Annual Report says 25,000+.  The oldest report I found was 2015 and it showed 29,242 girls. 
  
  
• Girl Scouts of Wyoming and Montana.  New-style website.  No recent Annual Reports.
  
  
• Girl Scouts Central Indiana.  New-style website.  No Annual Reports.
  
  
• Girl Scouts Middle Tennessee.  Old-style website with no new graphics/fonts etc. 2021 report is the only one I could find.
  
  
• Girl Scouts Farthest North: Their own style website.  Only Annual Report I found was from 2016. 

My Comments

Interesting the things you find, or wonder if you find.  I started looking for numbers and noticed the two different website formats and wondered if that correlated to the availability of Annual Reports, as I was running into more trouble than I expected. Of the councils I looked at, including mine (GS Louisiana East) of the six with old-style websites, three gave me some ability to compare before and after Covid.  Of the eight with the new style, only three gave me that ability.  Most of my council choices were somewhat random, but I specifically looked at our two rebel councils, Middle Tennessee and Farthest North. 

I started this post about two years ago, when my council announced that one of our camps was being sold.  I looked up our membership numbers to get some context for the size operation we were running vs the number of girls served.  I hate that we lost our camp but I get it.  

Hopefully we can build back some of the numbers but I suspect there are a couple of years of girls who we will never see in Girl Scouts.  On the other hand, I see my council really stepping up older girl programming.  

Do these numbers look like yours?  

Camping Survey Results, Part 3: Resident Camp

Almost two years ago, I surveyed members of some Girl Scout Facebook groups about Girl Scout Camps.  I got kind of burned out on blogging and for whatever reason, never published this final installment on the survey results.  So, I'm publishing it now.  

For those who did not see the other posts the first time around, or who want to read them again, they are  Part 1 and Part 2.

Many Girl Scout  die-hards have fond memories of resident camp, whether they were there as girls or as staff.  I know two weeks I spent at Camp Ita Kana were a highlight of my childhood. Still, as anyone my age who is still around Girl Scouts knows, today's resident camp isn't the camp I attended.  Sessions are shorter, staff is older (many of our counselors were high school seniors, not yet 18), and themes are popular--so even though you are at camp the same time someone else is, you may be doing very different things.  In the hotter parts of the country, some camps even offer air conditioned accommodations.  

I recently ran a survey of Girl Scout leaders on a number of Facebook groups about camps and camping and in this post I am going to focus on their  responses to questions about resident camp.  I am not a professional survey developer and this is by no means a random sampling of Girl Scout leaders.  I make no representations that this survey is anything other than an off-the-cuff survey of somewhat self-selected people.  Make of it what you will.

Who Responded?

Of the 513 people who responded, 90.6% were Girl Scout leaders, which, considering where I posted the survey, was to be expected. 81.2% had been adult Girl Scouts for more than three years. 18.2% had not been Girl Scouts as children. 25% had been Girl Scouts in high school.  

What About Resident Camp?

288 people said their daughter had attended Girl Scout resident camp in their council. 213 said their daughter had not.  Unfortunately I didn't think to ask if daughters had attended ANY Girl Scout resident camp.  233 had attended resident camp as children and 272 had not. 

We hear much today about attacks on children, and about helicopter parents.  Of those who responded to my survey, 29 would not allow their daughter to attend resident camp in today's world. 

Our resident camps have competition. Even among the very pro-Girl Scout group that responded to my survey, 137 had daughters who attended non-Girl Scout resident camp and 361 did not.  58.7% said that there were non-Girl Scout camps within the borders of their council which served girls.  

When I offered to send my daughter to Girl Scout resident camp, she asked about air conditioning, and when told there was none, declined.  In my survey 20 people said that their daughter did not want to attend resident camp due to lack of air conditioning, 475 said that was false.   150 respondents said that their council's summer camp has air conditioned dorms, 338 said theirs did not.  

My Comments

As I've said before, I'm glad I'm not the one who has to make the decisions about camps.  I think they are a valuable part of our heritage and an important part of who we are as an organization.  However, they are expensive to run and maintain, particularly if you add amenities like air conditioning or activities with high on-going expenses like horseback riding.  In order to justify the cost, we have to have usage, but without amenities, we have trouble getting usage, and with the amenities we have higher costs which make them harder to afford.  

I know the most popular camp in my area is church-run.  Campers are housed in air-conditioned dorms with adults in the dorms (separate sleeping rooms) and indoor bathrooms/showers. Other than horses, they offer what our Girl Scout camp offers, with the addition of religion (and whether that's a plus or minus depends on your viewpoint). I know they were full last summer.  I know our camp was begging girls to come.  

Your Comments

These are comments left about resident camp.

We are hoping more of our council camps add AC to all cabins. Some are Ac some are not. We are in Texas

Our council is considered a "small" council due to number of girls enrolled. We cover one entire state and go into 2 other states. I'm at the northern tip of our council and 90 minutes from 2 camps. If I were to drive to the other end of our council it would take me 9 hours. It was hard to answer about things our council offers as we have many gs camps and there really is an option for everyone. The farthest someone would have to drive is just under 3 hours to get to a camp. Living in the area that I do, we are very blessed economically. We have 3 sleep away camps within 45 minutes with one being in our town. I love what all three have to offer, but still see the value in our girl scout camp. My daughter has not been to girl scout camp due to number restrictions and staffing problems.

I believe that each Girl Scout troop is unique. We are an outdoorsy troop and the girls want to hike and camp. We went to GS camp this summer and stayed in a big building with no heat or air conditioning. I don't think these are necessary for camp. I would like to see them put more money into the facilities and staff. The camp we went to this summer was grossly understaffed and I had to arrange to have someone come and teach archery.

I further believe that these camps are needed for troops like mine because most of my parents work. If we needed to plan an entire week or weekend of camp, it would take a ton of time for us. I like having the ability to go to camp and have them plan a lot of it for us.

Our council has two wonderful camps. One is more rustic the other more modern. I love GS summer camps because for what you get the price point is amazing compared to other resident camps in our area .

My own daughters enjoy resident and day camps but i feel like to much is centeres on crafts and not on other experiences. Especially for the younger girls. Its also cheaper to reserve a state park site than go to a GS campground.

While my council provides a couple of nice cabins with amenities and properties with nice outdoor spaces, it’s so difficult to actually get a reservation, either for day use or overnight due to council programs, resident camp, day camp and the fact that the entire Chicago area is trying to reserve the same few spots. Our service unit needs to plan a camping weekend a year in advance. We are in an urban area and my Brownie girls love the outdoors - especially right now, camp is a safe place to do activities. I wish the council also provided more trained staff to do activities at the camps too. So even if you can get a reservation, you’re stuck as you need to provide your own lifeguard, archery instructor, etc and that limits the experience. Not all girls will be able to go to day camp (as it’s an hour + away) or to resident camp especially the younger girls. You try your best and make it as fun as you can regardless but things like this make girls/parents less interested in the program as time goes on.

We are in a state where temps can vary greatly, summers are notoriously hot, but we still year after year get girls who attend resident camp and have a wonderful time, even without the comfort of AC.

We love our council camps. The staff is awesome and the girls have an opportunity to experience girl-led in a new way. There are a couple of sleepaway summer camps nearby that are faith based and not all of our girls are religious so our council camps give them an opportunity to do all the camp activities without being indoctrinated.

I chose to send my daughter to GS resident camp because it was by far the most affordable option. I would reconsider in the future because it was over 100 degrees in July and the cabins do not have a/c. This is very dangerous from a health and safety perspective. 

I am not sure if our facilities have heat (South Carolina). I am mixed about GS keeping council camps. It's a lot of labor and maintenance and cost. There are less expensive options for troop camping.  In order to do resident camp, we have to drive 3 hours to drop off. We could camp closer with a different council but then you can't use cookie dough. 

I didn’t answer some of the T/F because they were “it depends”. I think I checked that my daughter did resident camp in council - however that was for my two older daughters. My youngest daughter was not resident camping age when our council closed its resident camps. She has gone to a somewhat nearby council’s resident camp and one this summer that didn’t quite fit the description of what I think of as a resident camp.

As a family - my daughter has been going to summer residential camp since 2nd grade and loves it. As a troop - GSEP has some amazing camp opportunities and they plan excellent weekend experiences fall to spring.

Staffing has been an issue, our local camp only had 5 counselors during 2021

Our council made a commitment to build up their camp program and have secured funding from corporations and individuals to make their camp properties even better.  They also promote girls camping through cookie sales camp credits.  Resident camp programs often sell out early.  

Our council is selling or closing most of their properties.  My girls love GS camps in summer but we have to go to a different council for anything other than troop camping ran by Leaders. 

Girls don't attend summer camp because it is too expensive. Years ago you could earn profit from cookie sales to use towards camp. We lost at least 8 camps that I know of in the last 5 years. 

Badges: Why I Use the Slow Approach

I have been a Girl Scout leader for twenty years.  I was a Girl Scout for three years of Juniors as a child.  Clearly I am either insane or have a long-term commitment to the organization (or both).  One thing I can almost guarantee is that my girls have fewer badges/journeys than many troops with similar meeting schedules.  Why don't we have more badges? 

GSUSA Designed Them That Way

If you look at the badge inserts from the Girls' Guide to Girl Scouting/the current ones available in the shop and/or on VTK, and look at the activities given you'll see that on the Brownie level most take about 15 minutes.  On the Junior level they take 15-20 minutes. Many of the older girl projects take even longer.  If you have an hour per meeting for badgework, that means you are not going to finish a complete badge in one meeting using GSUSA's activities.  The VTK plans generally do a badge in two meetings, though sometimes it takes three. 

I'm not saying that none of GSUSA's plans are overdone--in particular I think the cybersecurity badge plans from VTK take 2 meetings worth of material and spread it over six.  However, in general I have found it to be difficult to cover what I think GSUSA wants covered about the topics in much less than two meetings per badge.  

Going Slow Helps You Cover More Ground

One frequent question on Girl Scout leader Facebook pages is "Is there a sewing badge?".  The answer is "No".  For whatever reason GSUSA did not choose to include a sewing badge in this iteration of the program.  However, my troop has done sewing twice in four years.  As Daisies and Brownies we made bean bags as part of our "Honest and Fair" petal and "Making Games" .  As Juniors we did the Independence badge and spent two entire meetings learning to sew--including threading a needle.  We made four-square pillows and sewed on a button as decoration.  

There are cooking badges at all levels and I've seen plans where, for example, "Slurp a Snack" was fulfilled by girls putting a scoop of sherbet in a cup and the leader pouring Sprite over it.  When I do cooking badges, the girls read the recipe, measure the ingredients, mix, and if necessary, cook.  I know I'm lucky to have a kitchen at my disposal, but part of it is just a decision to make sure I teach all those skills, not just produce a dish or meal in the easiest way possible. I teach knife skills, table setting, and even things like doubling or halving a recipe.  I can't do all that and have 15 kids each produce four dishes in an hour.

Most of the badges have some sort of "learn about" requirement that in GSUSA's plans is met with a guest speaker, a field trip or some type of research.   All of those take time.  While I have had speakers or field trips that cover more than one requirement, rarely does one cover everything.--and don't get me started about the "we are going to ______, can we get a badge for that?" questions.  Going to ______ or doing _______may indeed meet one or two requirements for a badge, but unless you plan an event specifically to meet badge requirements, the chances that you can meet all five requirements for a badge in one trip/event/activity are pretty minimal, in my opinion.  

Those Badges Are Expensive

As of this writing, badges are $3.50 each.  My troop generally has nineteen scheduled meetings per year.  Allowing three for parties or other non-badge activities, that gives us 16 meetings on which to earn badges.  Eight badges cost $28.00; sixteen would be $56.00.  I'd rather spend the money on supplies or entrance fees that on vest bling. 

What About Girls Who Miss Meetings?

What about them?  No, I don't have perfect attendance and yes, I have girls who end up with many fewer badges than others, but I've never had one in tears over it.  I post the meeting roll and make-up work after every meeting.  If badges are important to the girls/parents, they'll make them up.  If not, they don't.  

Am I Saying You Are Doing It Wrong?

GSUSA and/or some councils have shown that it is not required to do the activities on VTK to earn the badge.  Whether GSUSA's original plan was that you pick one of the three activities in the badge insert, or whether it was that you do an activity to meet the cute sounding vague requirement on the front, the reality is that there is no clearly measurable indicator other than attendance and doing the activity that girls have met the requirement. In other words, the requirement is "Slurp a snack".  It is not "I am able to go into the kitchen, gather the ingredients and tools needed, and prepare a smoothie, milkshake or other multi-ingredient drink for myself, leaving the kitchen clean when I am done".   

So, do I think my way is better than some of the things I've read about other people doing?  Yes, if I thought their way was better, I'd do it that way.  But as many others have said, there are no badge police, and I for one am not auditioning for the job.  You do the best job you can with the girls you have and the situation you are in and I'll do the same.