Girl Scouts River Valleys

GIRL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM: Girl Scouts is the best girl leadership program in the world. Our program centers on the Girl Scout Leadership Experience, or GSLE, where girls gain important skills in four areas that form the foundation: Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), Outdoors, Life Skills, and Entrepreneurship. In 2023, girls earned almost 60,000 badges in the following areas: STEM (Robotics, coding, engineering, trades, space science, citizen science); Outdoors (rock climbing, animal habitats, trailblazing, snowshoeing, trees, archery); Entrepreneurship (financial literacy, cookie entrepreneurship, product designing, business startup); and Life Skills (public speaking, democracy, first aid, photography, woodworking, music). 4,340 members participated in council-led programs. During fiscal year 2023, River Valleys provided $1,962 in financial assistance for program events. This amount has been recorded as a reduction from Event Program Fees reported on Form 990, Part VIII, line 2b. In 2023, Girl Scouts River Valleys offered more than 40 different camp options designed to help kids discover their strengths, develop leaderships skills, and build confidence while making lifelong friends and memories. Over 1,900 campers enjoyed the different camp session types including STEM, leadership, horses, adventure, and creative. In addition, 678 individuals participated in family camp and 829 individuals participated in troop camp. During fiscal year 2023, River Valleys awarded $171,369 in financial assistance for our members to attend summer camp. This amount has been recorded as reduction from Camping Fees reported on Form 990, Part VIII, line 2a. Travel programs offer Girl Scouts the chance for new adventures and experiences, broadening their worldview and helping them become global citizens as they develop life skills like time management, communication, and a sense of personal responsibility. 409 River Valleys Girl Scouts participated in travel experiences with their troops or the council in 2023. Core to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all Girl Scouts and their families are our efforts to increase visibility, build trust, and cultivate authentic, mutually beneficial relationships within communities of color. This important work was advanced in 2023 through expansion of our BIPOC troop programs, local partnerships, culturally relevant programming, outreach and more. In 2023, 587 youth participated in the Mentored Troop program and 874 youth participated in the staff led Connect program. The Gold Award is the highest achievement in Girl Scouts and is the most prestigious award in the world for girls - and the most difficult to earn. The Gold Award is only open to girls in high school. Grounded in real-life problems, girls develop a deeper understanding of their community, master time management, and practice financial planning. Girls tackle an issue locally or globally and make the world a better place. They establish a lifetime network and create their community legacy with a sustainable solution to a problem. Young inspiring leaders are impacting the worlds of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), education, agriculture, medicine, and many more through their sustainable Gold Award projects. Gold Award recipient Moriah collected more than 600 pairs of glasses and created educational materials to address barriers to vision treatment in West Africa. During the year, 149 girls earned their Silver and Gold Award. The Girl Scout Cookie Program provides an important ingredient for leadership by helping girls develop five key skills: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics. The program also raises public awareness about the value of Girl Scouting and supports local programs and membership services for 23,400 girls and adults. Through a variety of participation options (online ordering, cookie booths, contactless payments, etc.), Girl Scouts brought their grit, entrepreneurial spirits, resourcefulness, and fun to this year's cookie program. Through the cookie donation programs, River Valleys' donated 93,500 packages of cookies to local nonprofit organizations throughout our council through the Cookie Care Program. River Valleys' girls sold 3.7 million packages of cookies in 2023.

MEMBERSHIP AND VOLUNTEER ENGAGEMENT: Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys' work is supported by over 6,200 volunteers who deliver the Girl Scout Leadership Experience to over 17,200 girls in southern Minnesota, western Wisconsin, and one county in Iowa. At the heart of every Girl Scout experience are volunteers - our girls' role models and teachers. River Valleys continues to rely on the passion and dedication of adult volunteers to serve as troop leaders, troop cookie managers, trainers, episodic volunteers, and committee members. Volunteers also serve in a range of administrative and supportive roles throughout the service unit level. Phase 2 of the Greenprint project (formerly known as the Volunteer Capacity Project) was completed in 2023. Greenprint is a community-first mission support model for our volunteers. During the year, volunteer roles and boundaries were finalized and completed a Listening and Learning Tour and engaged with approximately 290 volunteers across our council. In 2023, 251 new leaders received River Valleys staff provided training, troop meeting plans, resources, and a network of support to help them be confident and successful leaders. Annual membership dues are remitted to Girl Scouts of the USA and River Valleys does not retain any portion of the membership dues.

Camp facilities: River Valleys owns and operates five camp facilities: elk River, lakamaga, northwoods, singing hills, and edith mayo. River Valleys' four resident camps (elk River, lakamaga, northwoods, and singing hills) are currently accredited by the american camp association. Aca accreditation ensures that individuals have a physically, mentally, and emotionally safe camp experience. Activities at the camps include, but are not limited to, day camps, resident camps, program events, and service unit encampments. Camp edith mayo, located on the outskirts of rochester, MN, is perfect for day camps, training, and programming with an outdoor focus. River Valleys continues to make improvements at all camp facilities.

Retail services: River Valleys operates retail shops at their two service centers, camp edith mayo, and one satellite location. During the summer, River Valleys offers retail camp stores at our camps. Retail services provide program related materials to members participating in River Valleys' programming and promote the Girl scout brand and mission through a variety of merchandise offerings. Financial assistance provided to Girl Scouts for uniforms and program material totaled $35,247. This amount is recorded as a reduction from gross sales of inventory reported on form 990, part viii line 10a.