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In early 2022 I wrote a post comparing my councils' annual reports for 2019, 2010 and 2021. This post updates those numbers for 2022 and 2023.
Girl Scouts Louisiana East covers the southeastern part of Louisiana, basically the toe of the boot, and includes the two major cities of New Orleans and Baton Rouge, along with their suburbs.
2019
According to our 2019 Annual Report, Girl Scouts Louisiana East served 10,281 girls in 714 troops. Our total revenue was $3,665,551 and our expenses were $3,581,814. That means we operated in the black. Our cost per girl was $348.39.
Of the 10,281 girls, 6,394 sold cookies, selling a total of 1,148,280 boxes. This means that 62.1% of girls sold cookies and that they sold an average of 179.58 boxes each. 78% of our revenue was from product sales.
Our council awarded 14 Gold Awards, 46 Silver Awards and 159 Bronze awards.
This report covered the year ending 12/31/19 so Covid was not an issue.
2020
In 2020, the Covid lockdowns were rumored during our cookie sale but did not happen until after the sale was complete.
During 2020, our total revenue was $3,515,845 and our total expenses were $3,661,047. We were operating in the red. Our council did not offer camp during the summer of 2020 and staff members were working remotely. While a few non-Girl Scout day camps were in operation, most kids were home during the summer but most went back to school, with masks, in the fall. Our shop went from being a store you could drop into to being closed and then operating on a pick-up basis. Starting in the fall, troops were allowed to meet if cleaning and masking protocols were followed. My troop began the year meeting outside.
While program fees had been been 6% of revenue ($214,441) in 2019; in 2020 they were only 0.5% ($15,724), which is understandable considering that there were few programs offered. Shop revenue in 2019 was $133,323 or 4% of revenue; in 2020 it was $65,329 or 1.5%. Contributions in 2019 totaled $193,343 or 5% of revenue; in 2020, contributions were down to $170,165 but that was still 5% of revenue. Product sales in 2019 provided 78% of our revenue, or $2,846,076. In 2020 they were 2,698,891 or 77% of revenue.
The report does not mention total membership, but does say that 5,738 girls participated in the cookie program, which is 656 less than in 2019. If the same percent of girls participated, it would mean that membership was 9239. 1,108,908 boxes of cookies were sold, or an average of 193 boxes per girl.
The annual report breaks spending into three categories: Management and General, Fundraising and Troops & Girl Programs. In 2019, Troops and Girl Programs accounted for 74% of spending, Fundraising 6% and Management & General, 20%. In 2020, only 69% was used for used for Troops and Girl Programming. Fundraising increased to 10% and Management to 21%. However, management costs were $37,000 more in 2020 than in 2019.
The 2020 Annual Report did not mention higher awards. I know some girls finished them before everything shut down.
2021
In 2021, my council sold the headquarters buildings of the two legacy councils. They also sold one of our three camps. They rented temporary office/shop space and the plan is to use the money to build a new headquarters that is centrally located and to service the different regions with a mobile store. Improvements to our remaining camps are also slated. I recently received an invitation to a Town Hall meeting to discuss capital improvement plans.
The Covid-19 lockdowns happened just as our cookie sale in 2020 was wrapping up. Usually about a month later is when we start early registration. I do not know the effect Covid had on early registration. In August 2021, much of our council suffered a hit from Hurricane Ida and schools were closed for several weeks.
In 2021, the total revenue of Girl Scouts Louisiana East was $5,981,791, which included $2,262,697 for property sale. They had some other non-ordinary income, namely a $370,355 PPP payment and $300,370 from insurance. We had a tax credit of $206,114 and a general "other" category of $509,016. Our expenses totaled $3,442,764.
If you subtract the amount of the property sale from the revenue, you get revenue of $3,719,094. Expenses were $3,442,764 so we were in the black. Also, if you remove the property sale from revenue, product sales become 52% of revenue.
It is hard to compare 2021 to other years because of all the "odd" revenue, such as PPP money and tax credits and insurance. However, the revenue in 2020 from product sales was $2,698,891 and in 2021 it was only $1,946,587. Program fees recovered somewhat--up to $120,146 in 2021 as opposed to $15,724 in 2020. Contributions were up as well--$205,064 in 2021 as opposed to $170165 in 2020.
On the expense side, management was $24,691 less than in 2020, but $12,840 more than in 2019.
Only 3125 girls participated in the cookie sale in 2021. We had very limited booth sales. However, 791,172 packages were sold for an average of 253 boxes per girl, a council record.
The council awarded 51 Bronze Awards, 32 Silver Awards and 10 Gold Awards.
The Annual report does not give membership numbers so I went to Guidestar looking for the number. It was 5,811, a 48% decrease since 2019. That number means that only 54% of our members sold cookies in 2021. It also means that our per-girl expenses were $592.68.
One interesting thing I found on the 2021 tax return was the number of girls getting assistance with membership dues. 689 girls were given a total of $17,233. This means that almost 12% of our members were on financial assistance that year.
The tax form also said that the council had 76 employees in 2021. It does not say how many of these people were summer camp workers vs permanent employees.
2022
In 2022 the council was still in temporary office space but plans had been made for substantial improvements to our two remaining camps (one had been sold in 2021). Construction was underway for our new "DreamLab". GSLE changed our fiscal year to align with our membership year, so some of the numbers might not be directly comparable with previous years.
In 2022 GLSE's total revenue was $3,456,139 and our total expenses were $2,397,113. Of the revenue, $2,633,753 or 76% was from product sales. $520,130 was spent on administration. We were operating in the black.
The report stated that 3313 girls in 353 troops sold cookies with a per girl average of 247 boxes. That is about 200 more girls participating in cookie sales as compared to 2021. 62% of our girls sold cookies in 2022
The council awarded 51 Bronze Awards, 31 Silver Awards and 5 Gold Awards.
138 girls attended resident camp that summer.
I checked our tax return on Guidestar and found that membership during this "short year" was 5294, a decrease of 517. Numbers are still going in the wrong direction. 933 of those girls got financial assistance with membership dues, and 18 got assistance with camp fees. This means that almost 18% of our girls got financial assistance, and 13% of our campers needed help.
Dividing the revenue by the number of girls gives you a cost of $452.42 per girl.
The tax return said we had zero employees, but I suspect this number was wonky due to the change in fiscal year. Obviously we did have employees and the tax return said we paid them.
2023
Our DreamLab opened in 2023 and in general for most people Covid lockdowns were in the rear-view mirror.
2023 revenue was $3,306,454 and $2,436,554 of that came from product sales. This means both our overall revenue and product sales were down from 2022.
Expenses were $3,459,302, over a million dollars more than the previous year. I do not know the extent to which the change in fiscal year affected this number. It is over $200,000 less than was spent in 2020. Management expenses were $585,407. Using the membership numbers from the tax return, this means the council had expenses of $604.45 per girl served.
3334 girls sold Girl Scout cookies in 2022. That is 21 more than sold in 2022.
We had 5 girls earn the Gold Award, 18 earned Silver and 51 earned the Bronze Award.
According to our tax return, membership in 2023 was 5723, so that ship has at least temporarily been turned. That is 429 more girls than in 2022, which is an 8% increase. Of those girls, 1406 were on membership assistance. This is 24% of members, and 493 more than in 2022, which makes me wonder if the increase in membership was due to an increase in girls in traditional parent-created self-funded troops or whether it was due to outreach programs such as those to girls with incarcerated parents.
193 were assisted with program fees and 32 were assisted with camp fees.
We had 61 employees, a decrease of 15 since 2021.
My Comments
When you compare our numbers in 2023 to those from 2019, it is clear that membership is trending in the wrong direction. I pulled up my council's website on the Wayback Machine and in 2009, it claimed to serve 16,000 girls. The Annual Report from 2014 said we had 14,100 girls. Our current membership is only 40% of what it was when my college-student daughter was GS Junior. While I can't pull up the numbers, by my observation, there were fewer Girl Scouts when she (now 20 years old) grew up than when her sister (now 29 years old) did. (See this post on membership in various councils as of 2022).
I really hate to see this, and I am concerned about how long we can hang on. If our large increase in girls getting financial assistance means that there are more troops being formed in traditionally underserved areas, then that's great. If it means that council staff is doing outreach events, and registering girls who attend them, but that the girls don't otherwise participate, that's concerning.
Obviously the cost of owning and maintaining our camps doesn't go down significantly if there are a few girls there on a weekend, as opposed to a full house. The CEO has to be paid whether we have 15,000 girls or 5,000. Still I hate to see the cost per girl served be so high.
How are membership and expense numbers in your council?
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