A virtual special session of the National Council will be called on Saturday, October 19, 2024. Based on GSG’s research, this will be a historic moment in Girl Scout governance history because there is no account of a special session previously being called.
The purpose of this special session is to discuss and vote on a potential raise in membership dues. According to the Blue Book, both the National Board and the National Council share authority over membership dues, but the National Board is limited to a raise of no more than 25% between any one triennium. A raise over 25% requires approval from the National Council.
Proposals for this special session will be sent out no less than 30 days prior to the set date per Section 3 of Article V in the GSUSA Constitution. The proposal(s) will be published on GSG once they have been released to National Delegates. No business other than what has been presented in the call to meeting can be heard during the special session per the GSUSA Constitution.
If you are a National Delegate, please check the National Delegate website often for updates.
I find it sad that this is the last remaining youth group that is affordable to all. Raising dues will put this in jeopardy.
We’re in low income area & this will definitely hurt troops; which will in turn hurt councils who depend on Fundraising to survive! No Girls/adults no funds to meet council goals!
The cost of GS shop takes a majority of earned profits. Councils will not make numbers as parents won’t register their girls!
Wow! Hope the National Council can get good participation for this important virtual meeting.
Will observers be able to attend?
GSUSA is currently researching the platform they will use for the special session, but it has not been determined if visitors will be able to attend. We will update GSG when details are available.
This is sad to hear. Sold off most Camp and other properties. Cookies and Fall Products are already way too expensive. Uniforms and badges are too expensive also. Now dues may be skyrocketing. It’s like they want the entire GS organization to disappear.
Please take into account families with multiple GS as well as low income. There are other agencies that provide program for entire families and consider affordability.
This is sad to hear. Our council has or is selling most of our camps/properties and now this. Where does all the money go from Fall Fundraiser and especially Cookies??? And I don’t want to hear the baker because a good portion goes to council which we thought was to maintain our camps!! Well our camps haven’t been maintained for several years and then our properties were put up for sale. It makes no sense! We are supposed to be helping to create female leaders but yet something like this happens making it even harder for parents. If membership fees go up and we keep losing campgrounds, what is the point??? We as leaders can literally take a group of girls camping anywhere, buy patches online (not GS but they have them for all kinds of things), help nurture their interests all without GSUSA. So why does anyone in GS think this is a good idea??? GS will continue to lose girls/leaders if things don’t change! And GSUSA needs to respond to member complaints and not continually refer back to council, at least pretend to care. I left several messages a couple years ago with no response from GSUSA. It’s very sad!!
Got it on my calendar! Looking forward to supporting my GSHG Council!
A 20% increase of raising fee to $30 would result in an additional $8,500,000 for girls and an additional $4,000,000 for adults based on the November 2023 number of girls and adults listed. A 24% increase to $31 would result in an additional $10,200,000 for girls and an additional $4,800,000 for adults based on those numbers. With a increase at 20% for both girls and adults, the total fee revenue would be $75,000,000; and an increase of 24% would result in total fee revenue of $77,500,000. The local Councils do not get any portion directly of the registration fee. With the decrease in camp properties nationwide and decrease in overall registrations, what is the justification for the increase in the registration fee; why would there be any justification to increase it over 24-25% with a need for a Special Session, and what specifically is being proposed for the use of the additional funds? How much of this goes back to local Councils? With the realignment back in 2008, the decrease in the number of Councils created a financial burden that has caused the sale of camps nationwide which has led to a reduced focus on outdoor program opportunities, and also put more focus on girl programming in the larger cities while the rural areas that were served by Girl Scouts is steadily decreasing. Funding, focus, programs, recruitment events, and camps located near the cities and corporate offices are far outweighing what is being done by those Councils in the other areas they serve, primarily the more rural areas. Girls are being overlooked there. So again, the additional funds that are being proposed with an increase in the registration fee will most likely not be used equivalently to serve girls and adults in areas other than the larger cities, and are questionable as to the necessity for the increase and how they will be used.