With your guidance, your Girl Scouts will learn money skills that will serve them throughout their lives. Your Girl Scout troop will plan and finance its own activities, and you’ll coach your Girl Scouts as they earn and manage troop funds. Troop activities are powered by proceeds earned through council-sponsored product program activities (such as the Girl Scout Cookie Program), group money-earning activities (council-approved, of course), and any dues your troop may charge.
Remember that all funds collected, raised, earned, or otherwise received in the name of and for the benefit of Girl Scouting belong to the troop as a whole and must be used for the purposes of Girl Scouting. Funds are administered through the troop and do not belong to individuals.
Establishing a Troop Account 
You'll need a safe place to deposit your troop dues, product program proceeds, and other funds. If you're a new leader of an existing troop, you may inherit a checking account, but with a new troop, you?ll want to open a new bank account.
Here are a few helpful tips you can take to the bank:
Be sure to find a bank that has free checking and low fees.
Designate a “troop treasurer,” that is, one person who is responsible for troop funds and for keeping a daily account of expenditures.
Ensure your account comes with a debit card that you can use during activities or trips. These transactions are easier to track at the end of the year.
Be prepared and make sure another troop volunteer has a debit card for the troop account in case the main card is lost.
Handle a lost troop debit card the same way you would a personal debit card: cancel it immediately.
Keep troop funds in the bank before an activity or trip and pay for as many items as possible in advance of your departure.
Follow your council’s financial policies and procedures for setting up an account. Most council-sponsored product program activities have specific banking and tracking procedures.
Troops must complete a Bank Account Information Form and submit to the council no later than 2 weeks after the account has been established. Troops with funds totaling greater than $100 are required to open a Troop Checking Account.
Steps to Opening a New Troop or Service Unit Account
Completing IRS Bank Form W-9
Applying for Sales Tax Exemption
Disbanding Troops and Unused Troop Funds
Closing the Troop Account
Money-Earning Basics for Troops
Participation Guidance
Additional Guidelines
Sample Money-Earning Activities
Help Your Troop Reach Its Financial Goals
As a volunteer, you have the opportunity to facilitate girl-led financial planning, which may include the following steps for your troop:
- Set goals for money-earning activities. What does the group hope to accomplish through this activity? In addition to earning money, what skills do they hope to build? What leadership opportunities present themselves?
- Create a budget. Use a budget worksheet that includes both expenses (the cost of supplies, admission to events, travel, and so on) and available income (the group’s account balance, projected cookie proceeds, and so on).
- Determine how much the group needs to earn. Subtract expenses from available income to determine how much money your group needs to earn.
- Make a plan. The group can brainstorm and make decisions about its financial plans. Will cookie and other product programs—if approached proactively and energetically—earn enough money to meet the group’s goals? If not, which group money-earning activities might offset the difference? Will more than one group money-earning activity be necessary to achieve the group’s financial goals? In this planning stage, engage the girls through the Girl Scout processes (girl-led, learning by doing, and cooperative learning) and consider the value of any potential activity. Have them weigh feasibility, implementation, and safety factors.
- Write it out. Once the group has decided on its financial plan, describe it in writing. If the plan involves a group money-earning activity, fill out an application for approval from your council and submit it along with the budget worksheet your troop created.
Remember: It’s great for Girl Scouts to have opportunities like the Girl Scout Cookie Program to earn funds that help them fulfill their goals. As a volunteer, try to help girls balance the money earning they do with opportunities to enjoy other activities that have less emphasis on earning and spending money. Take Action projects, for example, may not always require girls to spend a lot of money!
Financial Management and Product Program Abilities by Grade Level
As with other Girl Scout activities, girls build their financial and sales savvy as they get older. Every girl will be different, but here are some examples of the abilities and opportunities for progression of girls at each grade level.
Financial Management and Product Program Abilities by Grade Level
Working with Sponsors and Other Organizations
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