Girl Scout fundraising question

[ravinlunachick]

Can GS raise money to donate to an outside organization? Our Brownie troop is doing the WOW water journey, and I've found a great charity that donates 100% of the money collected to groups that provide wells. They provide pictures and google maps coordinates for you to see the completed project that your donations assisted. I think the girls would love it.

 

But is that allowed? I don't want to bring it up if we aren't allowed to do it. I'd ask our council rep, but chances are good I'll get an answer here MUCH faster than waiting on her return call. :glare:

 

Thanks!

[jlmom]

We wanted to donate money to the church where we hold our meetings because they don't charge us anything for heat, electricity, etc. We were told that the GS are not allowed to make a flat donation to any organization/charity. This was last year. It's very frustrating.

[unsinkable]

it is my understanding that they cannot directly fundraise for another organization but they can donate part of their treasury to a worthy organization or they can do a service project to support an organization.

 

so, they can have a can drive or bake sale and put the money in their treasury and then donate. but they can't say we are collecting cans or selling cupcakes for xyz organization. or they could do a service project like collecting mittens or cleaning a park.

 

does that make sense?

[unsinkable]

We wanted to donate money to the church where we hold our meetings because they don't charge us anything for heat, electricity, etc. We were told that the GS are not allowed to make a flat donation to any organization/charity. This was last year. It's very frustrating.

 

but they could clean the building or do simple jobs around the building to help out.

[Firestar Academy]

it is my understanding that they cannot directly fundraise for another organization but they can donate part of their treasury to a worthy organization or they can do a service project to support an organization.

 

so, they can have a can drive or bake sale and put the money in their treasury and then donate. but they can't say we are collecting cans or selling cupcakes for xyz organization. or they could do a service project like collecting mittens or cleaning a park.

 

does that make sense?

 

This is how it works. Unless GS national makes a declaration which they did for hurricane katrina.

 

Robin in NJ

[Firestar Academy]

We wanted to donate money to the church where we hold our meetings because they don't charge us anything for heat, electricity, etc. We were told that the GS are not allowed to make a flat donation to any organization/charity. This was last year. It's very frustrating.

 

This is not true. the troop can make a donation to the church where it meets. the troop cannot have a bake sale and have signs that say "$ will go to church." they can use part of their account to make a donation.

 

Robin in NJ

[ravinlunachick]

That is rather disappointing, as there is no similar local charity (to provide clean drinking water). Perhaps we can do a different sort of service project for a local group.

 

Thanks for the answers. :)

[jlmom]

This is not true. the troop can make a donation to the church where it meets. the troop cannot have a bake sale and have signs that say "$ will go to church." they can use part of their account to make a donation.

 

Robin in NJ

 

If my Service Unit head person is telling me that we cannot make a donation, who could I contact to find out if it's true or not? We do clean up the building, donate toilet paper and paper towels and try to encourage our troop to support the church's fundraising efforts for their mission trips but we'd love to make a small donation as well. Any ideas who I could contact?

[unsinkable]

That is rather disappointing, as there is no similar local charity (to provide clean drinking water). Perhaps we can do a different sort of service project for a local group.

 

Thanks for the answers. :)

 

but you can donate, you just can't directly fundraise.

[unsinkable]

If my Service Unit head person is telling me that we cannot make a donation, who could I contact to find out if it's true or not? We do clean up the building, donate toilet paper and paper towels and try to encourage our troop to support the church's fundraising efforts for their mission trips but we'd love to make a small donation as well. Any ideas who I could contact?

 

you should have a council person who is the liason for your service unit.

[KarenNC]

you should have a council person who is the liason for your service unit.

 

Look on your council website for the Member Specialist for your area.

[My3Monkeys]

but you can donate, you just can't directly fundraise.

 

Right. OP, you can have a fundraiser and earn $300 for your troop and then decide to donate $300 of troop funds to the organization. What you can't do is have a fundraiser and advertise that the money will go to another organization, it has to be a fundraiser for your troop account.