Each year Girl Scout groups are encouraged to learn valuable life skills while having fun supporting their community. One of the most fun and rewarding traditions is one we all know and love - selling cookies! This delicious fundraiser dates back to the 1920's, but nowadays setting up cookie booth locations can be an organizational nightmare without the right tools.
Coordinating the nearly 900 cookie booth locations for the Girl Scouts of Citrus Council is no easy feat, and Service Unit Manager Marcy Hutchens had managed the schedule through a spreadsheet in years past. With 46 troops participating, she was taking calls constantly for various volunteers who needed to schedule or reschedule shifts. It was time-consuming and frustrating at times. Hutchens was eager to explore an alternate option, and SignUpGenius was just the fix she needed!
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Hutchens moved cookie booth sign ups online and found that the use of SignUpGenius was very liberating. "SignUpGenius, gave me freedom from being tied to my leaders all weekend," she says. "I had numerous leaders thank me for making cookie booths sign ups so easy this year. They loved that they had the ability to look at the entire weekend and then choose a location on their own time. When a booth was slow, they looked to see if there were any booths near by that were available to move to. Also, the leaders were able to print out their schedule and have one sheet of paper with all their booths. They loved that!"
Hutchens was most impressed with some of the useful features that SignUpGenius provides. Troops initially participate in a 5-round lottery to reserve the best booth locations, which has proved to be confusing in the past. With SignUpGenius, she could easily control her sign up, opening the cookie booth sign up to everyone once the lottery results were set. Email notifications kept her organized as people signed up. Booth check-ins were simplified by printing the list for each location directly from the sign up. Custom reports helped Hutchens group lists by user so she knew what troops had which booths. After the cookie booths concluded, she could quickly create a list by location and send thank you notes.
Hutchens notes the importance of cookie selling to these young girls. "Cookies enable girls to grow their 5 skills: Goal Setting, Decision Making, Money Management, People Skills and Business Ethics. I can tell you I saw my little 6 year olds' courage and confidence grow over their time at the booths," she shares. By saving time organizing, leaders were able to spend more time teaching and leading this next generation.
Do you use SignUpGenius? Share your story with us in the comment section below or on our Facebook page and we may feature your group!
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