Girl Scouts Of The United States Of America

02/12/2024We signed up a month ago, we were supposed to be added to a roster and called by the troop leader. Instead we were told the troop was full, when online it said it had 5 open spots. Website says they take anytime, I feel like daughter is being told they are full, because she's special needs.
I grew up doing girl scouts, started as a daisy, left before high school. My troop in Washington State was great. But things have changed. Judgemental big time...

WORST experience ever! i grew up with no parents so as i got older i imagined myself with my girls in girl scouts something i always wanted to do as a kid but, maybe experience as an adult and learn myself to right... well they took my money for a background check KNOWING i had reckless driving from 3 years ago i informed them, they said quote " you should be fine just pay and we will talk", then they deny me to do volunteering service because i had reckless driving on my record from 3 years ago. I volunteer at 2 different churches a few times a week (for years i have) and i run 2 different kindergarten classes, I am cleared by the state board of education which i volunteer at my girls school several times a year and THE STATE OF FLORIDA approved me to work as a massage therapist the first rule in my job is do no harm.
Now, girl scouts I am denied and told i can sit in a corner of the room with my girls to teach them but, we can not be in the group (if i wanted to leave they could be in a group) (the whole point of my girls and I doing this together is to create a better bond!!!!
I have never met a corporation in my life that says we don't judge but, then turn around disqualify you for reckless driving that happened 3 years prior, (judgmental all the way) that has nothing to do with my character or person! Girl scouts is a good SCAM to get all your money and then throw you to the curb! My daughters will never be in a corporation group full of judgmental females who have no actual care and the girl scout rules are hypocrisy( the girl scouts is NOT fair at all). what this group teaches to our children these adults do NOT follow! I would never put any money in to these scammers hands again and I will be telling all the moms in the state of Florida that i know and there is A LOT between 2 churches, school policy council which I AM the President, and working as a massage therapist I will be warning every parent i know do NOT even look the girl scouts way, you will be judged and thrown to the curb for your past they are very disrespectful. I am thankful they denied me i got into another scout program and ill be a team lead it is sad how much money i would have contributed and my time you guys throw people away for something that happened 3 years ago PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH girl scout adults!!!!!

My daughter and niece love girl scouts. The 2 troops we've been apart of were both affiliated with a church and had great programs and activities for the girls . They treated them to the natural science center, sleep away camp, the movies, out to eat and thats just to name a few. I did have to change our first troop do to poor leadership skills though. The leaders always appeared grumpy, annoyed and had bad attitudes; therefore I looked for another troop and received much better results. When cookie season came I did notice that one of the previous troop leaders wasn't pleased with the fact that I wasn't willing to take on selling a bunch of cookies. (That raised a red flag especially since I know they get paid for being leaders. They also didn't put into consideration that it would be my first year trying to sell cookies with my daughter and niece). Another down side was when I overheard one of the leaders whisper she didn't like someone. When leading children you are suppose to emit positive energy not negative vibes. I ended up changing troops after I finally got tired of the bad leadership. I say pick and choose your girl scout troops. If one is bad try another because not all the troops and leaders are the same.

Cookies are great. Program is not so great. Boxes are smaller than years past. Girl scouts seem to have transitioned from grooming the youth into leaders to generating revenue for their program. It's more like a 3rd party sales platform that preys on the parents to sell their kids products. So disgraceful what has become of these programs. Fyi, I'm writing this review while eating a girl scout cookie from a tiny box I got purchased from my brother in law on behalf of his daughter (who didn't sell squat on her own). I call it the Democratic cookie.

They have zero safety systems in place to protect the young girls in Girls Scouts. Background checks were not completed and when I reached out locally...they still did not enforce it. I had to mention it a second time to be taken seriously. They also touted that they sell cookies outside of a cannibas dispensary and get a ton of sales! This is not ideal for a 6 year old girl...let alone any girl you care about.

Being a lifetime Girl Scout I was super excited when my granddaughters were eligible to start Girl Scouts, reaching the age of five and kindergarten. We paid the fees for the year ,selected the area that we would like to join the troop, and waited. We could not be placed into a troop that would fit into their schedule with special needs appointments. At that point I stepped up and said I would be their leader and registered them as an individual registered Girl Scouts. I felt like I would receive the training and help needed. I was wrong! If you are a leader for individual registered girls you are not given any training it took me a year and a half to find out about meetings that I could attend. I have requested several trainings and the answer is take on three more Girl Scouts and have a troop and become a leader. The oldest granddaughter is now heading into her third year and Girl Scouts and still no troop can be found within a 20 mile radius. As individual registered girls they can sell cookies and fall products. They get a lesser amount per box than a troop does and they can only spend their money on buying uniforms from the local cabin or events that are put on by the service unit. Other troops can use it to do things in the community or even to travel to places like Huntsville Alabama to the space academy. However as individual registered girls this is not an option. As a registered troop leader you are also privy to a lot more information that is needed. As a leader of individual registered girls I am also not recognized as a leader. Further they are not allowed to receive the same as troop girls. For instance they had a contest for the troop that was 100% registered for the following year they could be entered into a drawing to win a free camp. However the two individual registered girls that I am a “leader“ for cannot participate in this. I have contacted the CEO and had a lady contact me back he refused to tell me if she was a CEO and said that I needed to talk to someone regarding registration. I told her again that was not the issue and she refused again to tell me if she was CEO. The national Girl Scouts of America does not oversee how each service unit is run. They do not oversee how a CEO decides to run their individual “nonprofit“. Each regional area has a CEO who overseas and a board. However trying to reach the CEO and the board to make changes in middle Tennessee is not something that can be accomplished. I think Girl Scouts has changed so much and I am saddened to say this may be my girls last year! I think it is so important for girls to be around other girls to learn leadership values and the values that were established with the promise in the law. However I am sadly and very disappointed and how the Girl Scouts are run today. You’re more than welcome to spend your money on registration fees, camp fees, unit organization event fees, uniform fees, buying badges and pamphlets; however if you are not willing to take on a troop or personally know someone who wants to take your child into their troop, don’t expect to be treated equally

Over the last two years, my experience as a parent and Girl Scout troop leader volunteer has been terrible. Or council does nothing to help, and our service unit is no better. Only the recruiter has helped in any way. Parents spend all the money, paying GS for uniforms, badges, and events, and the council takes a gross majority of 85% of funds from the troop's GS fundraisers without giving anything in return. Where is the money going?! The parents and girls do all of the work. I'll never take part in GS again, and I'm very sad to see none of the GS workers in our council live the GS values. Another issue, the GS USA systems are disconnected and terrible. It's as though no GS employees have business acumen. Also, troops are forced to use GS bank accounts that charge the girls $10 monthly fees, which is insane. This experience has left an awful taste in my mouth.

Our experience with girl scouts has been terrible. My daughter started late, a junior troop member, and she has only had three meetings since October. It's March. Corporate doesn't contact you back and it's terrible. Trying to get anything done is ridiculous. We won't be joining again.

As a parent, I was very impressed by our local Girlscout troop leaders. The two leaders we had were both amazing in their dedication and organizational skills. My girl had a great time from the moment she joined until the entire troop graduated from HS, a very good experience altogether.

However, exactly opposite is true of the regional and especially national GS organization. We only had several interactions, all of which were complete and disappointing failures. We never heard back about several proposals whereas others (such as a detailed new badge proposal) were pushed back against due to lack of funding (which we suggested we would like to raise). The consistent impression we got was that the central bureaucrats simply want to be left alone, never bothered and never hear from you ever. This might not have been the case in the past but is certainly how things run under Acevedo. Due to this, my girl gave up on completing her gold award and moved on to other things. To anyone considering joining the organization - focus on your local troop and stay as far away as possible from the bureaucrats who simply live off of your contributions and don't ever want to hear from you. Keep your money local or simply join the boy scouts (which now accept girls) instead.

As a parent, I was very impressed by our local Girlscout troop leaders. The two leaders we had were both amazing in their dedication and organizational skills. My girl had a great time from the moment she joined until the entire troop graduated from HS, a very good experience altogether.

However, exactly opposite is true of the regional and especially national GS organization. We only had several interactions, all of which were complete and disappointing failures. We never heard back about several proposals whereas others (such as a detailed new badge proposal) were pushed back against due to lack of funding (which we suggested we would like to raise). The consistent impression we got was that the central bureaucrats simply want to be left alone, never bothered and never hear from you ever. This might not have been the case in the past but is certainly how things run under Acevedo. Due to this, my girl gave up on completing her gold award and moved on to other things. To anyone considering joining the organization - focus on your local troop and stay as far away as possible from the bureaucrats who simply live off of your contributions and don't ever want to hear from you. Keep your money local or simply join the boy scouts (which now accept girls) instead.

My daughter and I both were Girl Scouts and we both enjoyed our time being Girl Scouts. I was a Brownie and my daughter was both a Daisy Scout and Brownie. We live in Savannah, GA where the founder grew up and plan on visiting her home soon. I volunteered for my daughters troop for several years and really enjoyed selling cookies and all the crafts and patch earning that we did.

I was a Girl Scout through my senior year in high school. I enjoyed summer camp, camping with my troop at National Center West and a number of other activities. I enrolled my twin daughters in the new Daisy troop and was asked to lead. I lead for eight years and have just resigned due to poor council leadership. During the last few years I have watched as great "membership specialists" were forced to move on and while the new specialists disappear after 9 months due to lack of recruitment. My husband just told me that the new national leadership encouraged buy outs of the older Scout employees incurring a deficit of more than $300 million. In addition to changing the program and selling the camps, my daughters are now dismayed by the lack of adherence to the original program. I just had to cancel one of their enrollments in camp due to the camp's poor planning and the other daughter did not want to go in the first place. This organization has seen better days and its national and local leadership needs to go. It is being run by a bunch of attorneys who don't care about the girls. They only care about the bottom line and lining their own pockets.

I was a Girl Scout in grades 1 - 9. I started volunteering when my daughter joined Girl Scouts, in 1999. When her troop dissolved in 2007 & she joined a different troop, I became Cookie Coordinator for my Service Unit. I started a new troop in 2009, and they are entering 5th grade.

Unfortunately, the national office does not appear to pay attention to its own research, but only to focus groups. The program was changed significantly when my daughter was a girl, and it has been completely changed since then. (10 years!) As a result, girls and leaders are unfamiliar with the program. I had to learn all new programming with my daughter, and I'm having to learn a 3rd program now.

Camps are being sold all over the country, which makes it difficult for troops to camp. Council stores are filled with high profit items, not camping or programming materials. Troops are encouraged to buy patches for every event. The cost of books and uniforms is becoming prohibitive. (Note: two girls in my troop are homeless, with their families couch surfing with friends and relatives.

Volunteering with our GS council was literally the most horrible experience I have ever had as a volunteer in ANY organization. The staff were outrageously stupid and outright malevolent. In my four years of involvement, I only once heard one paid staff member ask about whether or not their actions would be beneficial for the girls involved.
GS has very obviously become a pyramid scheme for selling cookies but at least now they are partnering with such ethical powerhouses like Nestle and Barbie to make their money (insert sarcasm here). Perhaps someday the girls will be able to sell cookies and earn more than 50 CENTS a box again!!
GS is now about numbers only - the new girls they think are always coming into GS from kindergarten. They could not care less about the older girls in GS and offer them either no programming or completely vapid programming like paper plate crafts for 6th graders. Our council actively discourages use of its camps because they want to sell them to profit the top employees.

As a Lifetime Girl Scout, 12 years as a girl, more than 50 as an adult, while I am disappointed in the current direction taken by the National Staff, I still believe in the program. As long as caring adult volunteers assist girls in directing their own programming, it will be a strong leadership program. Even our youngest Daisies are able to choose, stretch their abilities, learn, and share. If you don't like where the program is going, become a leader/advisor to a group of great girls and wtch your own life change for the better. I learned leadership, speaking skills, coaching and training skills as a girl that have carried throughout my life. I discovered my skills and abilities in science and math at a time when girls were actively discouraged from these fields. I met people who became lifelong friends, not because we think alike, but because we shared experiences at camp, on the trail, or a training sessions together.
But, and this is a big one, the program is only as strong as the troop leader. Troop leaders who are not supported by their councils/national through good local training, through collaboration and meetings with other leaders and girls, through great local events, can not deliver great program to their girls on a consistent basis.

I'm currently volunteering as a troop committee member and as a membership coordinator. I joined Girls Scouts with my daughter when she was in kindergarten, now she is in the fourth grade. We have made a lot of beautiful memories together during scouting activities. I'm disappointed that, as a charity, they only receive three stars. i would like to see them receive four again. I would like to see the CEO's salary tied to the President's salary. The President of the United States receives a salary of $400,000, and I think that ought to be enough for just about anyone. I don't mind that troops only get to keep 15% of what they charge for a box of cookies. I would like to know what percentage goes to council, national and the baker. It is the troop that ultimately delivers the program to the girl, but everyone plays a role, and it wouldn't be the Girl Scouts without everyone.

I think that Girl Scouts is incredibly top-heavy in terms of administration. I quit buying GS Cookies. The scouts are advised that they may not do any other fundraising if they do not participate in cookie sales. So these little girls trudge door to door, selling cookies for approx. $4 per box (their council decides how much - MT seems to be about there), and the girls make 10-20% of that, so .40 to .80 per box. If I buy 3 boxes, it costs me $12, and if I don't donate the boxes back to the Troop, it's not tax deductible. AND, they've only made between $1.20 to $2.40 for their trouble. Since I'm about to give away $12 anyway (and I really don't need the extra calories), I just donate $12 to the troop. It's as if that little girl sold me 8-10 boxes, and their troop gets to keep every penny - because I donate to the troop, not the organization. And I get a tax deduction.

My troop gets $0.75/box of cookies sold. Could be better, could be worse. Our council has many, many, many programing opportunities that are very low cost. Our greatest costs are transportation and fees by groups outside of the organization. Changing to the new books was also a new but onetime cost to us. We received $350 as Financial Aid to support the costs of two of our troop members. While my local service unit isn't perfect (it's run by volunteers, like myself) it is supported by the council and my feeling is that you get out of GS what you put into it. I feel that both of my daughters and I have grown thanks to our involvement with the Girl Scouts and I appreciate it's inclusiveness and non-secular approach (although there are religious awards available to be earned).

I would like to agree with islandicmay's review. I have heard that the troop only gets a few cents per box for the cookies. Yet, the CEO of this organization gets more than $549,000 plus other perks per year. That salary is completely out of touch with the spirit of volunteerism that the organization attempts to portray. I believe that if all the wonderful volunteers realized this, then there would be a rebellion!

More funds need to be directed towards the troops and their activities. Fees, cookie money, and profits from required clothing/books mainly support the salaries and benefit packages of CEO and executives. I have worked for free as a cookie mom. Little girls have stood beside me in cold, dark and rainy conditions. Back then, I did not realize how little of the money actually helps the girls scout troop. I also worked (again for free of course) as a co-leader. I had my eyes opened to a unnecessarily highly bureaucratic structure. Now, I give directly to the troop leader to pay for gas, supplies, and fun events for the ACTUAL GIRLS THEMSELVES.

I am a former Girl Scout, the daughter of a Girl Scout, and the granddaughter of a Girl Scout. I am proud that both of my nieces are continuing the scouting tradition, and look forward to my own daughter joining in a few years. The Girl Scouts grow strong, confident women. I love the many areas of interest that girls can explore, the inclusiveness, and the diversity. Thank you, Girl Scouts, for helping build generations of inquisitive, compassionate, and community-minded women! Now bring on the cookies!

I have been actively involved in almost every aspect of Girl Scouts from program, to training, to awards, to troop leader, to service team registrar, recruiter, and advisor for the past six years and I must say, I am not sure where Mrs. Fordham finds her information exactly, but I am distressed to think with all the postive information, and role model opportunities, and leadership training, and fun activities that Girl Scouting provides, that she could only pick out negatives from her own personal experiences. As a leader, scouting is very much what the leader and the girls make of it. If you are looking for something negative and counter to your personal beliefs and controversial then I suppose if you dig enough or listen to enough anti this or that organizations they will supply you with some "dirt" to besmirch any organization.

The truth however is much more empowering. Girl Scouts, in my experience, helps build character and confidence in little girls. I have watched my girls go from shy scared little Daisies into beautiful competent, brave and confident young girls in 4th and 5th grade who can run programs for younger girls, who will encourage each other and support each other and who are learning the importance of standing up for their beliefs, being compassionate and caring to each other and other people in the peer group, who are countering bullying and peer pressure and striving to grow into wonderful and smart young women.

As for the whole girls only learn job related badges. It is laughable to think people can have such polar opposite experiences, this year my girls made chocolate, and learned to cook a gluten free meal as one of my girls has a gluten problem, they went to the zoo to learn about animals, they went zipling to learn about physics, they went to a play to learn about theater, they did a sing along training for fellow leaders to learn about sound waves and they sang baby bumblebee complete with the puking part (they love gross stuff they are kids) and we rewrote a version of Let it Be to be Have to Pee about one girls struggle to find an outhouse in the dark woods at night when she really has to go. It's funny and rather true and the girls love it. We also sang patriotic songs, my girls know about 6 different ones as a matter of fact. Additionally, my daughter found this great song by Rilee O'neill called Together we can Change the World which has become our troop mantra. The badges are changing this year but they still have childcare, photography, family history, exploring cemeteries, sports, fitness, jewelry making, and so forth. There are business oriented badges, especially for older girls, but there are plenty to choose from -- mind you choice is the big big thing in GS.

I love this organization, they serve girls from every ethnic background and provide financial assistance to help girls be involved regardless of their family income. They make the girls the number one priority in all things, making sure they get a voice. They live up to their motto -- Building girls of courage confidence and character who make the world a better place. I just can't imagine how people could or would want to find fault in that.

I have been a leader, cookie mom and service unit volunteer over the past 6 years. My older troop has learned a lot about managing money (more than most adults know), they can cook & sew, they have done many rewarding service projects and they have had frank discussions about the world around them. My younger troop is just beginning to make their way, but they are learning a lot an love doing patch/badge work (and they do more than is what is required to earn them as we push them.)

I have also been involved in helping my older daughter and her other Jewish Girl Scouts earn their Bat Or and Menorah Awards. My older daughter still loves Girl Scouting and has no intention of dropping just because she is older and it is not COOL to be a Girl Scout anymore.

The good thing about Girl Scouting is that they are inclusive and therefore my troops have a wide variety of girls in them - racially, religiously and economically - and they have learned to respect everyone that way. It is also providing my girls with a greater understanding of the world around them.

I understand that some people would like the girls to focus solely on moral issues and how to keep a home, but the reality is that the world around us id very different then the world they would like us to preach to the girls. Girl Scouts is preparing my duaghters for the real world and I am fully behind that.

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How can anyone say anything bad about the Girl Scouts? It's unAmerican. They keep their nose clean.

As a Girl Scout leader, I was appalled to see that the handbook for girls as young as 12 said that "you might be put in a situation where you need an abortion. Try to find a trusted adult to talk to." So much for the values I had as a child. There are NONE in the system anymore.

All of the badges now are focused on drilling into the girls' heads that you are NOTHING without a career. So much for a husband and family, and motherhood is NOT a career. Homemaking, cooking, sewing, childcare -- are only in the frame of doing these things professionally. You must TALK to a professional in each of these areas to get the badge. You aren't really capable of raising your own children. You need to let a trained professional do it.

Beautiful songs like "He has the whole world in his hands?" Now the verses include "He has the sexy sexy Seniors in his hands." What a thing to aspire to! "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee" has verses about smashing it, eating it, throwing up, and eating it again. Lovely. And these are the words the leaders laugh as they sing it all together.

Locally, I love the leaders. But Girl Scouts used to be about values and morals, and personal growth. Now it is all political correctness. It is pretty clear that the leadership of this organization is right now in the toilet and your girls, your volunteer efforts, and your cookie money are better spent somewhere else.