Submitted by: Farthest North Girl Scout Council
Status: Submitted to councils
Proposal: To amend Article X, Section 2 of the Constitution of the Girl Scouts of the USA by inserting to end of paragraph two:
At least four (4) members of the National Board must reside in each geographical area, with no more than one (1) member from each council, state, territory or district, or island group within the geographical area. The six geographical areas are defined in the 2018 Girl Scouts of the USA Bylaws.
At least one-half of the members of the National Board shall have Girl Scout experience. Girl Scout experience is the member has been:
1. A Girl Scout adult volunteer or;
2. A Girl Scout council staff member or;
3. As a girl a Girl Scout;
for at least five (5) years.
The requirements of this section will take effect with the National Board elected at the 2023 National Council Session.
Rationale: It has been observed since the early 2000’s, the GSUSA Board Development Committee has placed a strong emphasis on corporate experience and less on knowledge of non-profits and specially the Girl Scout organization. Additionally, recruitment has placed a focus on the East Coast and the largest cities in the US over more rural areas or the West. This can provide both positive and negative results for the governance of the organization. This proposal attempts to even out representation across the country to provide the most diverse Board of Directors, and cast the widest net to capture all perspectives.
The Blue Book of Basic documents divides the country into 6 regional sections and requires that all must be represented on the GSUSA Board of Directors. This proposal goes one step further and requires that each region have at least 4 members. Since the GSUSA board has 30 members, there is still quite a bit of flexibility for regions to comprise more than 4 members. The upside is all regions of the country will have substantial representation, allowing for more diverse thinking around the tough issues the board faces.
Second, the importance of Board Members with a solid Girl Scout background can be of great value. Members with 5-years of experience as a girl or an adult, provide some historical Girl Scout knowledge about the program, Girl Scout traditions and the importance of Girl Scouts as a family legacy. By requiring only 50% of the Board Members reach this threshold, the National Board Development Committee still has the wiggle-room to pursue other qualified members outside of the Girl Scout world. We recommend this proposal for approval to allow the National Council to debate its merits. We believe it provides for greater National Board diversity; 1) by requiring 50% of the National Board members have Girl Scout experience, and 2) requiring a more balanced board with geographical diversity.
Financial impact: Determining the financial impact of this proposal is difficult since not all board members attend all meetings. Additionally, we would expect there to be additional travel costs from the middle and west regions of the country to NYC. GSUSA would need to determine the average amount spent on board member travel from the West, Central and East coasts and then multiply accordingly. However, since the GSUSA Board only meets three time per year, we cannot expect the additional travel costs to be prohibitive to the gains in diverse points of view.
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