How to submit a proposal to your council’s board
The GSUSA proposal approval process requires that you use their forms and requires that a proposal be approved by a council board of directors. If you want to submit a proposal, one way or another, you must get your proposal to your council’s board of directors with a request that they consider it for approval at their next board meeting.
How that might happen will vary a lot depending on your council and the way your council works. Below are some suggestions for things you might try. To the extent you can use personal contacts, use them!
- If you personally know one or more members of your board, you may talk to a member about a proposal idea and work with them to write up the proposal. The board member can then submit it to the board chair.
- You may choose to ask some of your council’s current National Delegates to help you with writing a proposal; your National Delegates should know how to get a proposal to your council’s board.
- Your council may have something on its website for members to contact the board. Use the search function and search for “board of directors” and “governance.” For example, there may be an email such as board@councilname.com that your board has set up for council members to use. If you email, using this, a courtesy would be to “copy” your council CEO as well. (A way to contact her is usually on most council websites under staff contacts or “contact us” or something similar.)
- Look in your council’s bylaws to see if the bylaws give any instructions about submitting business items to your board. If yes, follow whatever process is outlined there.
- Watch council publications to see if there’s any information about submitting proposals. Some councils publicize the National Council Session process and forms and give information on how to submit proposals or proposal ideas.
If you can’t find any other way to contact your board directly, you have two additional options:
- Send your proposal to your council’s CEO with a request to send it to the board of directors.
- Send your proposal via the US postal service mail to your council’s main office address, marked “ATTN: Board of Directors” or ATTN: (name of board chair)”
Also, don’t overlook the possibility of bringing up a proposal idea or a proposal during your council’s annual business meeting, if your council allows for discussion of various issues. Consult your council’s bylaws on how best to proceed.
When should you submit your proposal to your council’s board?
You should submit your proposal (and other proposals you may see, even if it is not your own) as soon as you possibly can. Boards of directors typically meet only a handful of times in a year. That way your board, if it approves the proposal, can send it to other councils for their approval as well. It takes time for your proposal to have the greatest chance of success, so submit it early!
Can you submit a proposal to your council even if someone from another council wrote it?
Yes. You will see that some proposals posted on this website are proposals that have not been submitted to any board. If you agree with the proposal, we urge you to submit such proposals to your board. You are also welcome to submit any other proposals to your board as well, even if they have been submitted to the author’s board. The more boards who approve a proposal, the better the chance that the proposal will be on the agenda.
Tell us more about the timeline.
GSUSA sent out requests for proposals to councils in late October or early November. They have set a deadline of August 31, 2019 to receive board-approved proposals. However, as explained below, it’s far better if there’s time for a board-approved proposal to be sent to other council boards for their consideration and possible approval, too. Since many council boards don’t meet in the summer at all, submitting something to your board as soon as possible improves the chance the proposal will get support from other boards.
If a council board approves a proposal, what happens then?
If a council board approves a proposal, they may send it directly to GSUSA. However, it’s best if the council which approves the proposal sends it to all other Girl Scout Councils, asking for support by approving the same proposal. (You might encourage your board to do that when you send your proposal to your board.) As explained above, that means they should send their proposal to other councils as soon as possible, so the other councils’ boards of directors have ample time to consider approval and vote. A board supporting another council’s proposal uses this form and sends it to GSUSA by the proposal deadline of August 31, 2019. The more councils whose boards approve a proposal, the greater the chance the proposal will get on the agenda. If 15% of councils (currently 17 councils) approve a proposal, the National Board must place that proposal on the National Council agenda, unless the proposal in question is an amendment to the GSUSA Constitution (Our constitution gives the National Board sole discretion to decide whether a proposed amendment to the constitution is appropriate.).
Source: GSUSA Constitution/ARTICLE V/PROPOSALS TO THE NATIONAL COUNCIL & ARTICLE XVII/ AMENDMENTS
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