Greetings Girl Scout Volunteers:

 

As volunteers, you already know that the investment you are making in girls will yield great returns-girls who are prepared to do anything they set their sights on. Your time and talent has, and will only enhance their experience in Girl Scouting and their ability to dream big and reach their goals. We are grateful for the commitment you have made, and we want all girls to have the opportunity to experience what Girl Scouting has to offer.

 

Unfortunately, that is not currently the case. In our six counties, for every girl who is a Girl Scout, there are eight more that are not. While we know that we may never be able to reach every girl, we also know that there are so many girls who want to take part but cannot because we don't have the volunteer leadership to serve them. Our reality, and the reality for councils across the country, is that the Girl Scout organization has been able to serve more girls in greater numbers than we do today.

What do we already know?

For some time now, our national staff team at GSUSA has been identifying and studying the things that keep our organization from reaching its maximum potential. While it sounds simple, truly understanding the barriers for adults across thousands of communities is challenging and time-consuming. While GSUSA is committed to finding and employing solutions that are most likely to work for all three million members in 112 councils, this is a very big job.

 

As the world's preeminent leadership organization dedicated exclusively to girls, we have dedicated our time and resources to meeting the needs of this customer. But we recognize that volunteers are our customers too, and it would be impossible to deliver the Girl Scout program without all of you. That was true in 1912, and it is true today. The facts tell us that there is just one GSSEF staff member for every 124 registered adults, but one registered adult for every two registered girls and one registered Leader for every nine registered girls. Those statistics tell us that our most significant challenge isn't interest from girls wanting to take part, but the incredible need for interested and qualified adults who want to work with girls. We have lots of adults who register. What we need are more adults who are committed to investing their time and talents for the benefit of more girls. Without these adults, and without a way to recruit and support them, we will not grow.

  

So what are we doing about it?

Last year, staff at GSUSA and one council (Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys) serving as a pilot, collaborated to work with a system called Salesforce in order to offer solutions to some of our organization's largest challenges. Salesforce isn't new and it wasn't built just for Girl Scout councils. It is a full-service, web-based system that can improve business practices in any Girl Scout council. Other non-profits like the American Red Cross use Salesforce now - as do many colleges, including Clemson University, College of William & Mary and University of California Berkley. Salesforce is intended to improve the total volunteer experience.

 

Following the success of the Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys Council (see more in the YouTube video), GSUSA decided to create groups of councils that will migrate to Salesforce from whatever system they currently use. How quickly the next group "in line" gets to migrate will depend on the success of the previous group and GSUSA's ability to address any challenges encountered. GSUSA has decided to proceed with appropriate care so that each individual council gets what its needs. At this time, it looks as if our Council will migrate in early 2016. There is no guarantee - this timeline will adapt to all 112 councils - and our patience is required. The good news is that based on our group assignment, many other councils our size will have already completed the transition and been "trouble shooting" the glitches along the way.     

                                          

What does this mean for GSSEF?

Our Council has made the commitment to migrate to Salesforce and we are excited about how this new technology will allow us to give interested adults and volunteers better (and faster) customer service. We would like you to share our excitement! Until we have full access to all Salesforce has to offer, there are still many answers that will have to wait. In the meantime, we want to assure you that we will share what we know, when we know it. We are in this together, and look forward to working in partnership with you to make the very most of Salesforce.

 

What we understand now is that the Salesforce system will replace our current database and provide services similar to those we offer now. Such services include our online membership registration, online program registration, online adult learning registration, member/troop tracking, recognition tracking and adult learning/training tracking.  What it will also allow us to do is use demographic information to find both the adults and girls interested in us, allowing us to use our resources in the best possible way to reach them. And when we engage new volunteers, Salesforce will allow us to get them registered, trained and connected with girls much faster than our current system.  

 

What happens next?

While Salesforce is on the horizon for GSSEF, we felt it important to share what we know with all of you. This is just the beginning of a conversation-and we want you to be part of it! These changes will affect all of us-and while it will ultimately help us attract, engage, train and place new volunteers, we recognize that with any growth, there are growing pains. But the results will be worth it-more satisfied girls (and their families) who get to become Girl Scouts right away. And if you're reading this, you already know how amazing that result will be.

 

We are committed to communicating information to you about Salesforce as it becomes available, like publishing your questions, news from the current council groups, functionality updates, timelines and more success stories.  We encourage you to think of this as a fundamental change in how GSSEF can work with people - rather than just change its system. If you have specific questions, please send them to: volunteer@gssef.org.

 

In the meantime, here are several resources that will help explain more about Salesforce and the opportunities it presents.

 

Link to Salesforce Foundation collaboration with GSUSA:

 

 http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/stories/girl-scouts-usa/

 

Hear from staff at Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys in this  

link to YouTube Video:     

 

 

Thanks so much for all you do for Girl Scouts!

  Lori Sullivan signature line
 

 

 



Lori Ebinger Sullivan 

Vice President, Membership, Volunteerism and Program