2019 Annual Report the GIRL SCOUT MISSION Girl Scouting Builds Girls of Courage, Confidence, and Character, Who Make the World a Better Place
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2019 Annual Report THE GIRL SCOUT MISSION Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. THE GIRL SCOUT PROMISE TABLE OF CONTENTS On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, To help people at all times, Executive Message 4 Thank you to our Donors 24 And to live by the Girl Scout Law. Strategic Plan 6 Board of Directors 30 THE GIRL SCOUT LAW Financial Report 20 Our Footprint 31 I will do my best to be THE LE KE A A D honest and fair, T Take the Lead 22 friendly and helpful, 2019 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. 2 3 Dear Friends, We find ourselves in an unprecedented time Looking back, 2019 was an exciting year for participation by 75%... which has helped for social and economic challenges during GSEP. We maintained a keen focus on the significantly as we moved to a virtual the COVID-19 pandemic. In what seemed like five goals outlined in our three-year Strategic community environment. an instant, we moved from gathering in Plan: Leadership for the Future, and are While there is still much to do, we are Working together to help person to our current “normal” of social proud of key outcomes including but not confident that we have the resources and create the next generation distancing and remote communications. limited to: team to continue to reach more girls, Our council leadership was quick to mobilize • Awarded 1,400 Girl Scout Bronze, Silver, provide wonderful leadership development of female leaders. and develop Girl Scouts at Home, a full and Gold Awards to girls who tackled programs for girls virtually and in person, complement of girl programming at every relevant community issues to make their offer our volunteers an excellent experience age level, and volunteer resources, with the world a better place through sustainable with onboarding, training, leadership aim of bringing our community together in leadership projects. development and additional support, and meaningful ways virtually. Girl Scouts of • Increased summer camp registrations to run a high functioning fiscally sound council. Eastern Pennsylvania (GSEP), our volunteers an all-time high, with more than 4,635 Girl Scouts is and remains the best girl and most importantly the girls have girls attending GSEP resident and day- leadership experience in the world. embraced how we are now coming together, camps in 2019. We are pleased to share this annual report and have shown our Movement’s shared • Reorganized our Volunteer Training and with you. What we do together is of great value of service through projects to help first Volunteer Support departments to consequence and we thank you for being a responders, offering unique programs, and become more efficient and offer crucial valued part of this important organization finding comfort in our virtual hangouts and support to our nearly 15,000 volunteers. and look forward to your continued support resources for social and emotional support. • Activated a contingency plan for our in the upcoming year. With everything in flux, what hasn’t changed budget process after a challenging cookie is our commitment to bring the Girl Scout season which delivered an essentially Yours in Girl Scouting, Leadership Experience to all girls in our nine- balanced budget with a modest surplus county footprint. We invite you to visit for fiscal year 2019. www.GSEP.org to familiarize yourself with all the amazing programs, activities, and • Created resources and tools to share program specific information and increase Deborah Hassan Kim E. Fraites-Dow opportunities to connect that are available Chair, Board of Directors Chief Executive Officer at Girl Scouts@Home. traffic to our website and Social Media GIRL SCOUT LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE (GSLE) IN ACTION: 50% of female CEO’s 80% of female tech leaders EXECUTIVE MESSAGE 76% of women in the U.S. Senate 53% of women in the House of Representatives And every female U.S. Secretary of State are Girl Scout Alums 4 5 STRATEGIC PLAN: LEADERSHIP FOR THE FUTURE Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania, Inc. (GSEP), 1. OUR ORGANIZATION: operates as an independent, nonprofit Build a learning and growing culture that enhances the contributions of the organization chartered by Girl Scouts of the GSEP staff and leadership. USA (GSUSA) to serve nine Pennsylvania counties: Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, 2. COMMUNICATIONS: and Philadelphia. In fiscal year 2019 (October 1, Advance a clear message and build community around GSEP programs, 2018-September 30, 2019), GSEP provided the experiences, and impacts. GIRL PICTURE Girl Scouts Leadership Experience (GSLE) to close to 40,000 girls, with the help of more than 3. GIRL EXPERIENCE: 15,000 adult members. Position GSEP as the premier organization for girls to build leadership, In FY2019, GSEP was in the final year of a three- confidence, independence, and community. year strategic plan informed by both national and council-specific priorities and articulating 4. VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE: five goals: Position GSEP as a rewarding and sought-after volunteer experience. 5. FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY AND REVENUE ENHANCEMENT: Optimize revenue sources and uses. This narrative details GSEP’s achievements for FY2019 as they relate to measures outlined in the Strategic Plan, which include seven guiding principles: Leadership, Community, Service, Inclusion, Respect, Integrity, and Innovation. Our vision is to be known as the premier leadership organization for girls that is driven by an engaged community of volunteers, members, alumnae, partners, and staff, and supported by an organizational culture of service, learning, and growth. 6 7 1. OUR ORGANIZATION Build a learning and growing culture that enhances the contributions of the GSEP staff and leadership. The organization came together to create definitions staff, members, and visitors. G.I.R.L. panels were hung policies and safety standards required of Girl Scouts for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which included our over the meeting space in the main room in Lehigh volunteers. To improve cross-team collaboration, girl, general membership, volunteer, board, and Valley. And a new Friendship Corner (quiet room) was staff were trained on a project management matrix partner organization populations. The goal was to added for staff and volunteer use, and the lobby and and provided with new procedures for planning create a definition for how we include, value, and main hallway leading to the multi-purpose room were events. Teams now have a better understanding of respect all communities and their participation in Girl painted was unveiled at Valley Forge. In addition, the how and when various projects/events overlap, and Scouts. In addition to the definitions, we conducted Valley Forge Shop/Front Desk Area, was redesigned when they should begin working together in the general research using census and GSUSA data. This and renovated. planning process to implement changes or collaborate research revealed that our staff, volunteer, and girl Investments in staff development included around shared goals. populations need more representation from African- standardizing staff recognitions at all-council events, Providing ongoing leadership development for the American, Latina, and Asian communities. Additionally, piloting an in-house mentorship program, and Board of Directors was also a goal. Board members we implemented Leadership Inclusion training for continuing to provide comprehensive manager were engaged to provide guidance on competitive volunteers, including informational resources for training to all staff with supervisory responsibilities. marketplace challenges, and they participated in a specific special needs to encourage an empowered The employee handbook and employee assessment half-day Board Retreat. Every Board Meeting and comfortable environment for all our members. process were updated to incorporate the council’s agenda included a presentation by a Gold Award To promote a culture that is inspiring, cohesive, and strategic goals and to reflect current HR best practices. Girl Scout and a Board engagement topic to provide supportive of the Girl Scouts mission, GSEP reinvented In addition, all staff received Volunteer Essentials opportunities for ideas, feedback, education, and several of its regional spaces, which are available to training to ensure alignment with the most up-to-date relationship building. 8 9 Advance a clear 2. COMMUNICATIONS message and build community around GSEP programs, experiences, and impacts. In 2019, our two major publications, Spark/ Family Guide, which mails to our full membership each August and Camp/Cookie Guide, which delivers to the same audience in December were redesigned and updated. Both reach approximately 55,000 households and have been designed as usable resources for all programs and activities. An additional emphasis was placed on data driven marketing tools to reach targeted audiences through audience relatable outlets. SPARK and the GSEP expanded its social media marketing efforts demographic information, we implemented an Girl Scouting, where girls provide real solutions Camp Guide were designed to provide with a “call to action” deliverable. As a result, we outreach effort to communicate with volunteers, to some of today’s most challenging issues. To pertinent information in