Girl Scout volunteers are responsible for overseeing with honesty, integrity, and careful record-keeping the funds
that girls raise. Troop leaders or co-leaders may hold this responsibility as a part of their troop management or
they may delegate the record-keeping to a troop committee member. If the record-keeping responsibilities are
delegated, the troop leader is still ultimately responsible for the income and expenditures of the troop.
Refer to the Appendix: GSWPA Procedures/Forms for the following:
Discrepancies in Bank Account Procedure-page 170
Submission of Annual Troop Finance Report Procedure-page 171
Annual Finance Report-page 173
Annual Finance Report Sample-page 172
Suspected Misappropriation of Funds Procedure-page 175
Confirmed Misappropriation of Funds Procedure-page 176
Outstanding Debt owed to a Council From Product Sales Procedure-page 180
Girls earn money in two distinct ways:
The Girl Scout Cookie Program and other sales of Girl Scout–authorized products (such as Girl Scout
cookies, magazines, or nuts and candy), organized by your council and open to all Girl Scouts. Girls can
participate in two council-sponsored product sale activities each year: the cookie sale and one other
council-authorized product sale. All girl members who take part in any way of Girl Scouting (troop,
camp, travel, etc.), including Daisies, are eligible to participate in council-sponsored product-sale
activities, with volunteer supervision. Please remember: volunteers and Girl Scout council staff don’t sell
cookies and other products—girls do.
“Group money-earning” refers to activities organized by the group (not by the council) that are planned
and carried out by girls (in partnership with adults) and that earn money for the group.
Girls’ participation in both council-sponsored product sale activities and group money-earning projects is based
upon the following:
Voluntary participation
Written permission of each girl’s parent or guardian
An understanding of (and ability to explain clearly to others) why the money is needed
An understanding that money-earning should not exceed what the group needs to support its activities
Observance of local ordinances related to involvement of children in money-earning activities, as well as
health and safety laws
Vigilance in protecting the personal safety of each girl
Arrangements for safeguarding the money
There are a few specific guidelines—some required by the Internal Revenue Service—that ensure that sales are
conducted with legal and financial integrity. To that end, consider the following reminders and cautions:
All rewards earned by girls through the product-sale activities must support Girl Scout program
experiences (such as camp, travel, and program events, but not scholarships or financial credits toward
outside organizations).
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