Upload
jen-cornwell
View
216
Download
3
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Syracuse University, S.I. Newhouse Fall 2014 - Graduate Student team Research report for the Girl Scouts of NYPENN. Credit to: Bin Lian, Aidan Barrett, Corinne Pavlicko & Jen Cornwell
Citation preview
Focus Group Report
Trefoil Research Group
Aidan Barrett Corinne Pavlicko Prepared for the GSNYPENN Council
Bin Lian Jennifer Cornwell On: October 30, 2014
1
1
Executive Summary
The purpose of this study was to find and create ways around the main barriers
preventing NYPENN Girl Scout volunteers from frequently using campgrounds
with their troops. Information was gathered from focus groups as well as
secondary research.
Focus group participants identified a number of different issues that limited their
camping trips with their troops. These issues were brought up repeatedly
throughout the discussion and became the main themes for this paper.
Surprisingly, our initial hypothesis regarding safety concerns was never brought
up by the participants.
By listening to the focus group participants, our team was able to identify five
obstacles that result in low camp usage. They are as follows:
• Misunderstandings
• Limited access to resources
• Financial stress
• Trouble keeping the interest of older scouts
• Timing and scheduling issues
It should be noted that these themes are not listed in any particular order. If some
or all of these barriers can be mitigated or completely eliminated, NYPENN
volunteers would be much more willing and capable to take their troops to the
campgrounds.
2
Introduction
Girl Scouts is a youth organization for girls in the United States. It aims to
empower girls and to help teach values such as honesty, fairness, courage,
compassion, character, sisterhood, confidence, and citizenship through activities
including camping, community service, learning first aid, and earning badges by
acquiring practical skills. Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways serves nearly 18,000
girls in a 26-county area spanning New York and Pennsylvania. Volunteers work
to provide services and deliver the Girl Scout Leadership Experience to girls. Six
regional Girl Scout Centers are located in Cicero, Horseheads, New Hartford,
Johnson City, and Watertown.
The alumnae of Girl Scouts appeared to be the main volunteering source. The
alumnae have a strong sense of self, according to 2012 Girl Scouts Annual
Report, 63% of the Girl Scouts alumnae consider themselves competent and
capable, compared to 55% of non-alumnae. Secondly, they appear to be more
experienced volunteers and community workers. Of Girl Scouts alumnae who are
mothers, 66% have been mentors/volunteers in their children's youth
organizations, compared to 48% of non-alumnae mothers. In terms of civic
engagement, 77% of Girl Scouts alumnae vote regularly, compared to 63% of
non-alumnae. When it comes to education, of Girl Scouts alumnae, 38% have
obtained college degrees, compared to 28% of non-alumnae. Moreover, Girl
Scouts alumnae report a significantly higher household income ($51,700) than
non-alumnae ($42,200).
As the organization celebrates its centennial milestone, it faces many decisions
regarding its camp properties. Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways, Inc. currently
owns nine camps. The cost to maintain these properties is over a million dollars,
which doesn't include deferred maintenance costs. Research also shows that
3
adults volunteer more sporadically based on current cause related topics (short-
term), the Girl Scout model is built on long-term volunteers. 53% of Girl Scout
members are kindergarten through 3rd grade, while studies show that 4th grade is
the sweet spot for camping. This report sets out to identify the obstacles and
challenges Girl Scouts are facing right now. It also provides qualitative evidence
supporting our recommended solutions.
Our desired outcome of this study:
1. Identify the top 5 reasons volunteers and girls are not using our camps
2. Identify ways around those barriers so we can offer opportunities and create a
vibrant marketing plan.
In order to respond to the research needs, we conducted a focus group with
participants made up of experienced troop leaders and volunteers recruited by
Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways Inc. The focus group began with a short
questionnaire used to gain basic information (see appendix), followed by a focus
group interview implemented among the same group of volunteers.
October 4th, 2014 - Focus Group
Developing the Focus Group
The questionnaire was given to the participants at the beginning of the
focus group, and it consisted of a number of “yes or no” questions. This
was used to help build the basis for our participant profiles. The
questionnaire was followed by our focus group script. This was used to
guide the discussion within the focus group. Questions used for the script
touched on general lifestyle and volunteering habits before moving into
questions specifically about Girl Scouts. These included travel and training
concerns, camp usage, safety concerns, and thoughts about the Girl
Scouts Organization as a whole, as well as what keeps the volunteers
coming back.
4
Focus Group Site Selection
We were in the I-3 center of Newhouse 3 at Syracuse University. This is a
large conference room where we pushed tables together to make it more
comfortable for small group discussion.
Focus Group Participant Selection
The NYPENN council was holding a workshop, which included
participation from Service Unit Leader volunteers. These participants were
all involved with the workshop and were all volunteers within the council.
Each had varying amounts of experience levels within Girl Scouts and as
volunteers.
Focus Group - October 4th, 2014
The focus group took place on October 4th, 2014 at 10AM. There were six
participants and four team members with two moderators and two note
takers, within the focus group room. The discussion lasted about 90
minutes and we used a combination of recorders including an Olympus
recorder and an iPhone. Once the focus group ended, we wrote down the
most prevalent themes. We then used the recording to transcribe the
discussion. We were then able to code the focus group transcription,
supporting the themes with relevant participant statements.
Focus Group Demographics & Participant Profile
Each participant was a service unit leader and a volunteer within the
NYPENN council.
5
Participant Profiles
Participant Gender Volunteer Role - # of years
# Of years/age you were a Girl Scout
Has a daughter or relative in Girl Scouts
# Of times used camps in the last year
Enjoys going camping because...
Hour worked per week
1 F Service Unit Manager, Troop Leader, Trainer, Facilitator 18 years
8 yrs Yes 1 The outdoor experience
20
2 F Service Unit Co-Manager, Troop Leader 20+ years
Age 7 No 2 Activities with the girls
21
3 F Service Unit Manager, Troop Leader 7 years
1st - 10th grade
Yes 1 Getting away, doing new things
40+
4 F Service Unit Manager 9 years
1st - 12th grade
Yes 2 It’s quiet, relaxing, different
40
5 F Service Unit Manager, Troop Leader 9 years
K - 5th grade
Yes 7 The outdoors, quiet, the lake, fires, fresh air
Mom - 24/7
6 F Service Unit Manager, Troop Leader 4 years
2nd - 11th grade
Yes 2 Getting away from the stress of everyday life
36
6
Focus Group Discussion Results
Finding 1 - Misunderstanding of Information
A common theme among the focus group participants was the lack of
consistency in information. Some of the topics that came up throughout the
discussion were debated over due to misunderstandings. It seemed that although
each participant was generally knowledgeable overall, there was some
discussion over the way things were done or should be done. This occurred
within multiple topics and should be considered.
Are you, as volunteers, provided with financial assistance?
The volunteers are not paid and each troop must come up with their own
funding. There is also a registration fee, which came up in the discussion.
“I have people who want to be leaders, but can’t afford the fifteen dollars,”
said one participant. This was met with few responses from only two other
participants. They said there was financial assistance available for
volunteers, however the woman who had originally brought up her
concern had no idea that this was available.
Many respondents were unsure as to whether or not financial assistance
was available and didn’t answer. Although there was financial assistance
available, it seemed that not all of the volunteers knew that it existed or
how to go about getting the financial assistance for volunteers interested
in being leaders. After discovering this within the focus group, we as a
research team looked into this further. Finding the financial form within the
GSNYPENN website did take us some time. It seems that there was a
lack of awareness of the financial assistance forms by participants and
finding the forms within the website could be difficult, particularly if a
volunteer didn’t know they were there to begin with.
7
Do you allow the scout’s parents to get involved in troop activities?
The question as to whether or not parent involvement in the troops came
up within the discussion. One participant states that she has been trained
by the GSNYPENN council not to involve the parents and let the girls be
independent. Another participant stated that she only allowed certain
parents to get more involved. An additional participant was heavily
encouraging every parent to get involved.
Overall, it seemed that each participant had a different idea as to whether
or not parents could get involved. As one respondent said, she was
trained to not include parents while another respondent was encouraging
parents to sign up and get involved. They had come to the conclusion that
parental participation needed to align with the volunteer regulations
created by the council, but outside of that it was up to the leader to
decided. On the GSNYPENN website there is a section that is designated
for parental involvement. It seems that although the parents can be
redirected to the website, they will be asking their daughter’s troop leader
how they can get involved. It is up to the troop leader to then convey the
correct information so it is crucial that the information the troop leader
gives is correct.
How did you feel about the training you received?
As a research team, we were interested in what they thought of their
training. “I did that encampment training as a webinar. So I didn't need to
travel for that and that was really nice. But I missed the interaction with
others,” stated one participant. She enjoyed that she didn’t have to travel
to complete the training, however she missed out on the discussion that
occurs within training.
8
Each of the participants were very happy with the training they received as
far as being prepared for a multitude of situations. The webinar style of
training was also well received, however many agreed that the inability to
interact with other trainees or an instructor during the actual training was
difficult. One participant stated “I wouldn't have done that... because I
have so many questions for that poor woman.” However, it was agreed
that the training available online was a good way to provide training for
those that maybe can’t or won’t travel.
Finding 2 - Financial Stress
This section of our focus group findings discusses an issue that trickles down into
many of the other obstacles. Financing their troops and finding the funds to give
the girls the best programming is consistently an issue for the volunteers.
Volunteers stated that they would like to do more with their troops in regard to
events and programs, however they struggle to come up with the funding for
certain things.
Do you encounter any obstacles regarding traveling to the camps? Does
your troop get reimbursed for travel and training expenses?
Discussion of finances led the discussion into financing the troop, both as
volunteers and as troops. “We are poor troops,” stated one participant,
“We’ve been constantly asking the parents to help.” In regard to the fifteen
dollar membership fee, one participant stated, “That fifteen dollars is
significant for some families.” This became a repeating theme within the
entire focus group discussion.
All of the focus group participants were concerned with the costs
associated with traveling to the camps because they do not get
9
reimbursed for travel and camp training expenses. The Girl Scout cookie
program is a critical source of funding for these troops, but most of the
revenue earned from cookie sales doesn’t go to their troop. From this, the
overarching theme was that there is less incentive to work hard on
fundraising efforts when they know a large portion of the proceeds will not
go toward current programs for girls. The troop leaders are paying for
things out of pocket and reaching out to parents for help, which is another
major obstacle when going camping.
Finding 3 - Limited Access to Resources
As the focus group progressed, a common theme was the volunteer’s access to
numerous resources. Finding the required assistance, accessing some of the
proper training and having access to persons within the council familiar with
using the GSNYPENN facilities were some of the areas where the volunteers felt
limited. One participant stated in regard to council’s knowledge of past
volunteers, “If they provided us with connections, because they’re their contacts,
I don’t know them so I’m not going to say ‘Heyy!’ They can bridge these
connections for us and get us there.”
What type of training do you need for the camps? Is it easy accessible?
According to focus group participants, both First Aid, and CPR certification
are required of at least one Girl Scout volunteer chaperoning a camping
trip, in addition to special camping-related training required by the Girl
Scout council. They also have to complete an online training prior to these
sessions. These required sessions are only offered a few times, at limited
locations, which can be a major obstacle for volunteers. One of the focus
group participants recently took the Simply Successful Camping Training,
and experienced this problem first hand. “They had one offered at Trefoil
and Comstock. I chose Trefoil because it was closer, but I was the only
10
one registered. They said they could refund the money or I could go to
Comstock.” Online training sessions are also available, but some
participants didn’t think it matches up to the traditional, face-to-face
training experience. Leaders also stressed that it is difficult to find an
available EMT in their area if they do not have First Aid and CPR
certification. Participants felt as though this was too much to handle, and
brought up Brownie 101; a now defunct program that trained volunteers at
the camp, while the scouts were being supervised by already certified
volunteers. One participant spoke of the programs benefits, as well as its
convenience “The leaders were getting trained, and you didn’t have to be
certified yet, because both the camping and training were going on at the
same time.”
Finding 4 - Scheduling Conflicts and Time Constraints
We also learned that scheduling conflicts and time constraints have posed a
severe challenge to Girl Scouts. In this section, we designed several questions in
order to identify the specific issues that are thwarting the troops. We found that
finding a time that works for the entire troop is very difficult, and policies, like the
two-week waiting period tend to make planning even harder. Lack of help from
the NYPENN council regarding transportation has also been brought up many
times by our research participants. Although it seems that the problems
mentioned differ slightly case by case, they all long for more coordination and
assistance efforts from council.
What is restricting you from scheduling a weekend camping trip?
As the discussion progressed, the troop leaders identified scheduling
conflicts and time constraints as major challenges. Conflicting schedules
has severely limited large troops’ choices of camping locations: “That’s
what is making it harder because now we’re such a large council now, we
11
do have a lot of rural areas. Everyone’s got to go to these few camps. This
week it’s closed because of scheduling.” Other troop leaders responded
“When you have an older troop, it’s harder to get them for a weekend.
They tend to want to come in and out. It was convenient when we were at
a closer camp. It’s harder if we have to go further.” Furthermore, as some
of the participants reflected, the two-week window made it harder to
negotiate girl’s conflicting schedules: “My problem has been the two-week
window that is needed. With parents’ schedules, a two-week window is
hard. If my girls say ‘I want to go camping’, I was ready to go. I tried to
schedule and I looked at everyone’s softball, baseball schedules and
whatever is going on. Then I contacted council and they told me that I
couldn’t go to the camp because of the two-week window.”
The two-week window seems like a major restriction for scheduling
weekend camping trips. It sounds like the girls as well as the volunteers
can cope with short notice scheduling changes, but the Council can’t. If the
council was more flexible, or had an easier scheduling process, it could
result in more camping trips. Also, because of the merger, there are more
camps competing to use a smaller number of camps. The merging troops
and closing camps have created more demand and less supply. Because
of the other scheduling conflicts the scouts have, they want a more flexible
camping experience; one that would allow them to come in and out, or
decide much closer to the actual date if they are able to go.
What are the biggest scheduling conflicts?
In this section, we found out SAT and sports related sessions posed a big
challenge in terms of scheduling conflicts especially with the older girls:
“Then, they just won’t participate. Its usually sports or study sessions for
SAT.” Some participants said that even little girls were not as focused on
12
Girl Scouts as before: “They tend to want to come in and out. It was
convenient when we were at a closer camp.”
The girls seem to be primarily concerned with SATs or sports, this could
be because these activities are seen as ways to get into college, while Girl
Scouts is seen as a recreational activity. Also, it seems like the excessive
amount of planning that is needed in order to go camping is a turn off in
itself. The lack of spontaneity could take interest away from camping.
What issues do you have regarding transportation to and from the camps?
Participants had multiple concerns related to this issue. Some troops
simply didn’t have enough vehicles to transport the girls: “Getting them
there is our difficult point. That’s left up to the volunteers to figure out or
the parents. Right now, I'm looking at renting a bus. ‘What’s the cost of
that going to be?' ‘Is that going to make it more expensive?' The busy
schedules have made it harder for the girls to travel far for the camps:
“The older they get, the more stuff is going on. We used to go a couple
times a year and we are getting further and further away from our home
camp.” others replied “Also programs are running so close to the school
year, I don't know what about you guys, I don't get a school calendar until
one week before school starts. So I cannot commit to anything.” Moreover,
a troop leader pointed out that long distance to camp base itself forged a
challenge to some girls with car-sickness: “One of the things pointed out is
that we specifically have girls with car-sickness. When, travelling to
Amahami, we had to stop at least twice for them to toss their cookies. That
wasn’t fun for us or them. We wanted to go to some of the other camps,
but we couldn’t. It’s behind the freeway here. I can’t tell you how many
times we had to stop. The one girl had to change her entire outfit and the
seats had to be cleaned.”
There seems like there is not a lot of help from the council regarding
transportation. Getting a group of children to and from a campsite is a task
13
in itself, and with no help, it can be daunting for the volunteers. School
schedules were another big issue. Many times, parents and volunteers
don’t know the school schedules ahead of time, so they can’t commit to a
specific weekend to go camping. The lack of long term scheduling
combined with the two-week waiting period make it very hard to reserve a
camp.
Finding 5 - Keeping Older Scouts Interested and Involved
In this section, we set out to learn how other competition has affected the current
market and volunteering situation of Girl Scouts. What's more, we also spoke
about ways to keep older girls involved and interested in Girl Scouts as they
begin to grow out of the age of “camp girl”. As a result, we found out that
“keeping Girl Scouts relevant to teenage and older girls” is among the hottest
topics for all volunteer leaders. Time conflict and content are two major themes in
this discussion; our research participants all have come up with their own
solutions to that, and most of these solutions have had positive effects. However,
they still reached a consensus at the end of the day that they are now in need of
a uniform marketing and branding strategy, with which they will be able to
continue and amplify the popularity of Girl Scouts among girls of all ages.
What are Girl Scout's competitions for volunteers?
The first question we asked was about the competition that Girl Scouts are
facing. We found out that sports became a major competitor:
“Unfortunately, our area is soccer-crazy, and there are soccer games
every weekend and my daughter plays four or three this week. And when
she didn't have this, she has to practice. The younger people have two
practices, maybe three, and then some of them have two or three games
on the Saturday. So right now for me to take them out... for example, my
area now has a fall harvest festival, first of all it's raining, and everybody in
14
my area has soccer...” The school calendar seemed to be another
competitor: “We have other things to compete, they are starting out right
now. We have to get to the 4-year-old, I mean if we don't get our feet on
the ground, we are in trouble.” Another participant added, “I'm not
disagreeing, I am just trying to know do we have push-up things in August
or something? Fine let's just meet registration in August 15, let's just do
that before their parents spend money on back-to-school supply and other
activities...”
In conclusion, according to participants, currently there are more and more
competitions for Girl Scouts. Some are out-of-school activities like sports,
and some are “in-school stuff”. With girls having limited time and money
for outdoor activities, Girl Scouts has to compete with school as well as
popular local sports. The majority of our participants express their worries
about Girl Scouts losing potential attendees to other activities. In this light,
they try to win or at least evade this competition whenever possible: some
of them move the registration deadline earlier, while some work hard to
come up with more interesting Girl Scouts events.
Do you think Girl Scouts is relevant/interesting to older girls?
Our participants’ discussion on this topic was very lively, and, their
comments and conclusions were fairly similar. Most of our attendees
agreed that the content of Girl Scouts needs variety. What Girl Scouts
currently offers seems irrelevant and disconnected to older girls: “I think
we’ve got it sold for the younger ones with the Barbie. I don’t think Barbie
will encourage a twelve year old to join but I hope they make some
connections with the older crowd.” “They are teenagers, you know, they
are not girls you know. They don't need to sell cookies. This is another big
problem for them, because their big fund raisers is cookie sales... it's hard
for older girls to sell cookies.” Some participants even took a step deeper
15
to express their worries about Girl Scouts as a brand becoming
“normalized” or even with a negative shade: “I guess I’ll play devil’s
advocate here because I’m a younger one and I went up through scouts
and I had the same thing. We had a code name for ourselves YKW, You
know whats. We didn’t want to be associated as Girl Scouts because then
we would be the dorky, nerdy ones. I think what Girls Scouts is doing is
putting the Girl Scout name out there so that it is normalized.”
As mentioned, on this topic, participants expressed their disappointment
about the fact that Girl Scouts has almost “no appeal” to older girls who
could have potentially joined them either as scouts or as volunteers. The
perception of Girl Scouts is based on selling cookies, which is dull and
dated to teenage girls. Worse still, this traditional strategy even generates
bias and misunderstandings about Girl Scouts. When it comes to how to
deal with this dilemma, our participants have offered many opinions; some
think Girl Scouts needs to revamp its marketing and branding strategy.
The participants agreed making Girl Scouts known for a variety of
activities instead of just cookie sales could be very beneficial for the
organization.
What do you do to keep older girls stay in Girl Scouts either as users or volunteers?
Our discussion then went on to the “application and solution” area. Each
participant shared their problems related to keeping older girls involved.
After this, they discussed possible solutions. Some sought to shorten
unnecessary meeting sessions to make their troop activities more
“schedule-friendly” to older girls: “I have made a troop for the older girls
where there are going to be no meetings. Not one. Unless its planning
16
meeting for a trip or for fundraising. And the entire purpose of the troop is
to go places once a month.” “My inspiration for that though is that my
daughter is involved with Susquehanna River Raiders. They do something
once a month, and once it gets to be spring they train for their competitive
canoe event, which is the General Clinton Canoe Regatta. I’ve watched
my daughter have a blast in that. I’ve seen the older girls stick with it right
until they graduate.” “If we can keep the girls in by saying no you don’t
have to have a meeting, no I’m not going to stand here and talk at you. My
daughter is so irritated with her leader because she stands there and talks
to them for an hour: talk talk talk.” While other leaders were doing their
best to customize the troop activities to cater to older girls: “Well, the
brand “Girl Scout” is great for younger girls. But as for older girls, they
aren't kinda doing well. We have Friday club for the last two-three years.
Instead of saying Girl Scout.” “The only way we can keep these girls is by
having them do stuff. Have them being active.”
From what we observed and gathered, the participants are already doing
as much as they can to keep Girl Scouts relevant in the minds of the older
girls. The volunteers realized that the programming provided by Girl
Scouts could, at times, be limited. They have done what they can to bring
as much variety to the activities of Girl Scouts as they can: some of them
offer trips to the girls, while others spoke about regarding Girl Scouts
merely as a platform on which these teenage girls can plan their own
activities. Moreover, some troop leaders are employing “stratified strategy”
in which they split younger girls and teenage girls and assign them
different activities.
The second drawback that currently challenges Girl Scouts is the
intimidating meeting sessions. Given that the majority of teenage girls
nowadays have busy schedules, the lengthy meetings have deterred them
from joining. All of our participants state that they are working to simplify
the registration and planning process.
17
Conclusion
Throughout the discussion with focus group participants we found there were five
main barriers regarding volunteering and camp usage (in no particular order):
1. Misunderstanding of information
2. Limited access to resources
3. Financial stress
4. Trouble keeping older scouts interested and involved
5. Time and scheduling conflicts
Misunderstanding of Information: A lack of consistency in understanding
information became a common issue within the focus group discussion. Some of
the topics that came up throughout the conversation were debated due to
misunderstanding. It seemed that although each of the participants were
generally knowledgeable overall, there were some discussions over the way
things were done or should be done. This occurred regarding parent involvement
in the troops, whether or not particular services are offered, and multiple other
topics.
Limited Access to Resources: According to focus group participants, First Aid
and CPR certification is required of at least one Girl Scout volunteer chaperoning
a camping trip, in addition to special camping-related training required by the Girl
Scout Council. They also have to complete an online training prior to these
sessions. However, these required sessions are only offered a few times, at
limited locations, which can be a major obstacle for volunteers. Leaders also
stressed that it is difficult to find an available EMT in their area if they do not have
First Aid and CPR certification. Participants felt as though this was too much to
handle, and wish that the council would bring back CITs or provide closer, more
convenient training.
18
Financial Stress: All focus group participants were concerned with the costs
associated with traveling to the camps because they do not get reimbursed for
travel or camp training expenses. The Girl Scout cookie program is a critical
funding source for these troops, but most of the revenue earned from cookie
sales does not go to their troop. From this, the overarching theme was that there
is less incentive to work hard on fundraising efforts when they know a large
portion of the proceeds will not go toward current programs for girls. The troop
leaders are paying for things out of pocket and reaching out to parents for help,
which is another major obstacle to go camping.
Trouble Keeping Older Scouts Interested and Involved: We found out that
“keeping Girl Scouts relevant to teenage and older girls” is among the hottest
topics for all volunteer leaders. Time conflict and content are two major themes in
this discussion; our research participants all have come up with their own
solutions to that, and most of these solutions have had positive effects. However,
they still reached a consensus at the end of the day that they are now in need of
a uniform marketing and branding strategy, with which they will be able to
continue and amplify the popularity among girls of all ages.
Time and Scheduling Issues: The two-week window came up as a major
restriction for scheduling weekend camping trips. If the council was more flexible
in terms of short notice of scheduling changes, or had an easier scheduling
process, it could result in more camping trips. Because of the other activities the
scouts are involved in, they would like a more flexible camping experience; one
that would allow them to come in and out, or decide much closer to the actual
date if they are able to participate.
19
Recommendations
- Participants in the study faced a major obstacle when searching for the
closest camp training session, First Aid and CPR training, or finding
available EMTs to take on their camping trip. Participants felt as though
this was too much to handle, and wished that the Council would provide
closer, more convenient training.
If the NYPENN Council were to develop encampment programming that
incorporated this training and leadership training each summer, it would
create more camp usage as well as cover required training in a simpler
way. Girl Scouts of NYPENN can send two trainers to the camp to run
separate training sessions at the very beginning of the trip (one for the
girls, and one for the troop leader/committee). Involving both the actual
scouts and the volunteers could help develop leadership and other skills
for each group. Having multiple volunteers from different troops and with
backgrounds at an encampment would allow for them to collaborate on
the best practices they are using and what problems other volunteers are
having.
- Based on what we found through out our research, Girl Scouts of
NYPENN Pathways Inc. is hindered by ineffective alumnae and member
networking. We recommend Girl Scouts establish a volunteer accessible
contact database. This database will be a platform where we can reach
previous volunteers and alumnae for feedback and assistance as well as
participation in future Girl Scouts activities. What's more, according to our
research participants, limited access to resources and financial stress are
20
among the top reasons that lead parents and girls to give up Girls Scouts.
This database will store the information of those EMTs or Lifeguards who
are willing to be contacted by troops. A common resource platform for Girl
Scouts NYPENN Pathways Inc. will contribute to solving issues that have
been nagging our troop leaders.
- By creating a monthly newsletter, either via email or physical mail, the
GSNYPENN council could reach out to current members, alums,
volunteers and any others interested in keeping up with what the Girl
Scouts of the NYPENN council are involved with. By sending out a
monthly newsletter, you are keeping Girl Scouts in the front of these
people’s minds. Alums are always potential donors, whether they are
donating financially or donating their time. It’s possible that if they are
aware of the GSNYPENN council’s struggle to keep camps open, they
may be interested in helping support the council outside of the typical,
annual cookie sales or fundraisers.
- Creating a monthly newsletter and contact database would make it
easier for people to donate their time and skills. If an alumnus were a
professional willing to donate her time and skill to either train volunteers or
offer new programming, the Council would be able to integrate them into
programming via a contract system. Creating low-commitment volunteer
positions allows for more community involvement, more potential contacts
and generally more help, which seemed like something a majority of focus
group participants were interested in.
- During the focus group, one of the participants shared one of her best
practices for leading her troop. As she was making the decision to become
a troop leader, she had a team of volunteers that were willing to help if
they had specific, minimal roles. She said, “‘We can do this if we do it
together’. I became a Service Unit manager because I was willing to talk
21
and sign papers. Another woman was doing the internal communications
such as Facebook. Another woman was handling recruitment and another
was handling the events. Between us, we covered most of the major
items and the rest of it was already in place. I kind of fell into it with quite a
bit of help.” After she spoke, the other participants were frustrated that
they were in this alone, as they have trouble finding people willing to help.
We recommend that NYPENN offer a more detailed guide to “Building
Your Troop Committee” that outlines various small positions that others
will be more willing to take on. They may include, recruiter, event planner,
financial officer, officer of communications, etc. If troops have this to build
on, they are more likely to sustain troop leaders. This will lead to better
organization of information, funds, resources, etc. which will make it an
easier process for troops to go camping at the Girl Scout camps.
- Lack of funding is at the core of the problem the Girl Scouts face.
Throughout the focus group, the volunteers consistently brought up the
problems they faced because of inadequate finances. A partial solution to
this problem could be to create partnerships with businesses throughout
the NYPENN region. However, instead of simply donating money to Girl
Scouts, these businesses would match their donations with the amount
raised by the troops.
By making matching donations, the companies partnering with Girl Scouts
would be helping financially; more importantly, they would be continuing to
instill the entrepreneurial skills that have been fundamental to Girl Scouts.
Wegmans, Chobani, and Fuccillo Motors are all headquartered in the
NYPENN region, and all have strong community ties and donate to a
variety of charities.
- By partnering with SUNY ESF (Environmental Sciences and Forestry)
the NYPENN Council would be able to cut down significantly on their
training costs. ESF offers a wide variety of majors, which align with the
22
nature-related aspects of Girl Scouts. Specifically, the school offers a
minor called Recreation Resource and Protected Area Management. In
order to obtain this minor, students must complete an internship or a
related independent study.
ESF students could work for credit hours, and could help train the
volunteers. Also, because of their area management skills, they could help
familiarize the volunteers with the campgrounds. This would make the
volunteers more comfortable; if the volunteers were comfortable with the
area, they would be more likely to take their troop there.
23
APPENDIX