Girl Scout Cookies Part 3: What Does the Money Go To?

A topic that has mildly controversial, especially in recent years, is where all of the money from that box of Girl Scout cookies you bought goes to. Every council chooses the prices of the boxes and how the money is distributed individually, so if you want to know the breakdown of your specific council, I suggest you contact them directly.

So, in general, where does the money go? Well, about 25% goes to the baker, who uses it to pay their employees, cookie transport and for production costs. Keep in mind this money also goes into producing new types of cookies including the new gluten-free ones we are seeing this year.

Then, about 75% goes to the council to distribute. Most of that money stays with the council. This money goes to a lot of different things such as paying staff, paying for facilities, and camp renovations and repairs. This money also goes towards training volunteers, running council meetings and activities, and running summer camps.

And then troops get some money, usually anywhere from $0.40-$1.00 per box (depends on the council). The troops primarily use this money to fund their activities and service projects. Older girls are sometimes raising money to go on national or international trips. If you are buying cookies this year, but sure to ask the Girl Scout what they are raising money for, you might be pleasantly surprised!

So the controversy lies in how much money a troop will receive per box. While $1.00 per box isn't bad, $0.40 is pretty low and makes it hard for the troop to raise enough money for the year. If a girl sells 100 boxes, that's only $40 they've raised for the troop, which for a whole year isn't a lot (it's like $3.33 a month!). And 100 boxes is not as easy to sell as you may think. When I was an older scout I sold about 300 boxes a year (when I did sell), and I was busting my butt going to door to door and shivering in front of grocery stores in the middle of winter every weekend. Younger girls can't do that.

It is important to note here that some councils do offer the girls bonuses if they sell a lot of cookies. This is often in the form of bonus Girl Scout money that can be spent in the council shop or applied to the cost of council-run activities. This is not however the case in every council, but it is important to note here as that can be an important perk for the girls.

So, what can you do if you want that troop to keep more of the money? Make a direct donation to the troop! The scouts are not allowed to ask for direct donations, so you have to be the one to step up and contact the troop leader to donate or donate at a booth sale. If the donation is to the troop, all of the money stays with the troop.


Image Attribution: "Selling girl scout cookies" by Drmies - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Selling_girl_scout_cookies.JPG#mediaviewer/File:Selling_girl_scout_cookies.JPG

Girl Scout Cookies Part 1: History

In many areas of the United States, it is Girl Scout Cookie Season! This time of year is a busy one for Girl Scouts and their volunteers alike. This makes for a great time to reflect on the history of Girl Scout cookies and how they have changed over the years. This is Part 1 in a series all about various aspects of Girl Scout Cookies.

Selling cookies to raise funds for troop activities and community service projects started in 1917 with the first recorded cookie sale in Oklahoma. In the 1920s and 1930s, girls primarily made the cookies themselves at home to sell. These were just simple sugar cookies, and the first attempt at standardizing these cookies was in 1922 in Chicago when a local director gave the council a cookie recipe to bake and sell. In 1926, the Century Biscuit Company baked cookies for girls in Indiana to sell. By the late 1930s, girls could either make cookies at home or sell cookies produced by a licensed baker.

In the 1940s cookies were sold every year until World War II, when the government rationed sugar, butter and flour (pretty much everything you need to make cookies). Councils were advised to discontinue cookie sales and come up with other creative ways to raise funds. However after the war, cookies were once again sold nation-wide. In the 1950s cookies began to really have different standardized varieties including shortbread, sandwich cookies (in chocolate and vanilla) and chocolate mint cookies. During this time, girls began to sell door-to-door and in front of retail locations like we see today.

Sales really increased during the 1960s with young baby boomers joining the Girl Scouts and selling cookies. The best sellers during this time were chocolate mint, shortbread, and peanut butter sandwich cookies. Cookies were streamlined in the 1970s by decreasing the number of licensed bakers to 4 to make the cookies more uniform. This likely increased national branding and made them more iconic. However, there was (and still is) some autonomy between bakers, with each baker producing some optional cookies as well. This trend followed into the decades to come and into today.

Today Girl Scout cookies are baked by 2 different bakers, and each council chooses which baker they purchase cookies from. There are a large variety of cookies to choose from, and today in 2015 there are 3 new varieties being launched which include gluten-free cookies.

Some cookies come and some cookies go, but the purpose of selling cookies has always been the same. To fund the activities and service projects of the Girl Scouts in order to give back to the community and to make the world a better place.

Most of the historical information in this post is from the Girl Scout Collector's Guide (2nd. Ed. 2005) by Mary Degenhardt and Judith Kirsch, pgs. 453-7. I left out a lot of information as I want to encourage you to pick up a copy and read it for yourself. It has a lot of awesome historical pictures of Girl Scouts selling cookies and has a lot more detailed information. I've only skimmed the surface here!


Image Attribution:
"Graves Erskine and Girl Scout, circa 1945" by USMC Archives - Flickr: Graves Erskine and Girl Scout, circa 1945. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Graves_Erskine_and_Girl_Scout,_circa_1945.jpg #mediaviewer/File:Graves_Erskine_and_Girl_Scout,_circa_1945.jpg

Why I Decided to Volunteer as an Adult Girl Scout

I feel like an appropriate first post here would be to answer the question of why I decided to return to the Girl Scouts. I am a busy graduate student who already struggles to find enough hours in the day to get it all done, so why add something else onto my plate?

I was a Girl Scout for 8 years, 5th grade - 12th grade. I braved the cold grocery store booth sales to sell cookies in the winter, went camping, did service projects, and earned awards just like every other Girl Scout. When I moved to a different state, the first place I made friends was in my new Girl Scout troop where I was warmly welcomed. I loved being a Girl Scout, even when I was in high school and it was pretty uncool. Well, I wasn't cool in high school anyway, let's not kid ourselves....

So why did I not bother to bridge into adults? I wasn't very active in my troop during the later half of my junior year and my senior year. All of my close friends in the troop had already graduated high school, and all of these new girls came in that I not only didn't know, but were 4 years younger than me (we were a multilevel troop). I had already decided to not pursue my Gold Award (although I did earn Bronze and Silver) due to the changing requirements (ugh, Studio 2B) and being busy trying to prepare to go to college. As much as I loved it, it was in my best interest at the time to put it on the back burner.

So now it's time for me to return. I've felt a pull for a few months that I needed to volunteer, so I finally bit the bullet, registered as an adult in my new council and submitted all of the paperwork to become a volunteer. I have been approved as a leader or co-leader, but I would like to dip my toe into event planning as well.

I want to be a positive influence in girl's lives. Girl Scouts was fundamental in shaping me into the person I am today and was a huge part of my identity growing up. I may not have any kids, but that doesn't mean that I can't give back to the organization who taught me so much that I could have never learned in school, and gave me friends that I will never forget.