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How to Start a Troop

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The Girl Scout Promise

On my honor, I will try:

To serve God* and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law

* The word "God" can be interpreted in a number of ways, depending on one's spiritual beliefs. When reciting the Girl Scout Promise, it is okay to replace the word "God" with whatever word your spiritual beliefs dictate.

The Girl Scout Law

I will do my best to be
   honest and fair,
   friendly and helpful,
   considerate and caring,
   courageous and strong, and
   responsible for what I say and do,
and to
   respect myself and others,
   respect authority,
   use resources wisely,
   make the world a better place, and
   be a sister to every Girl Scout.

Thinking of starting a troop? We’ll take out the guesswork. Follow these 5 steps and you’ll be on your way to providing opportunities that girls want and experiences that change lives!

To get back to this page, just remember www.GirlScoutsNorCal.org/newleader
or click here to bookmark this page!

  1. Become a Volunteer:
  • Take the Girl Scouting 101 (45 min.)
    and Becoming a Volunteer in GSNorCal (30 min.)
  • Create an account in our system:  GirlScoutsNorCal.org/eBiz (don't register quite yet - just create an account!)
  • Get started RIGHT away on the volunteer screening process. 
  1. Call or email your Community Development Director
  • Go to your Welcome Session and sign your position description agreement (30 min.) One adult per troop must attend, however co-leaders or co-op troop leaders are also welcome.
  • After your Welcome Session, you'll have your troop number.  Register as a Girl Scout adult member and request an 01 position code. 
  • Connect with your service unit.  Forward your email notification of your volunteer screening approval and your assigned troop number to your local Service Unit Registrar and your CDD. 

3.  Form Your Troop/Group

  • Complete learning modules: 
    Forming Your Troop/Group
    Registering Your Troop/Group (paper tutorial)
    Meeting With Parents/Guardians
  • Find girls and adults:
    Check with your service unit to see if you can take girls from the waiting list, advertise through school newsletters, send flyers home, talk to parents, or other suggestions from your CDD.
  • Host a parent meeting or find another way for the group to communicate and make decisions on how the troop/group will operate.
     - Collect registration forms and money for interested girls and adults (How to Register Your Troop)
     - Recruit your volunteer team, including registrar, drivers, product sales manager and treasurer (who should also be a signer on the bank account).
     - Make plans for your first meeting with girls .

4.  Open Your Bank Account:

  • Complete learning module:
    Money Matters
  • Open a Bank Account following instructions on the Bank Account Packet. Your bank account must have a minimum of two signers (can add more later).  Signers must be registered and screened.

5.  Prepare to Meet With Girls:

  • Complete learning modules:
    Safety-Wise 
    Girl Scout Program
    Meeting With Girls (under construction - not yet available)
    Three Processes, One Powerful Program (optional)
  • Register new girls and adults online to your troop or use the offline process outlined in How to Register Your New Troop (which you'll receive at your Welcome Session).

 

Beyond the Basics

Once you’ve finished the basics and completed your first few meetings, you’ll probably want to branch out into other fun and exciting activities; Want to take your brownies on their first overnight camping trip or learn how to advise a group of teenagers? Additional adult learning courses may be needed for certain activities. We also offer some optional classes for enriching your Girl Scout activities.

Click here to view the Adult Learning Course Requirement Table