How to Start a Troop

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Start a Girl Scout troop in your area

You can make a difference in the lives of youth in your community. Be the one who brings people together by teaming up with friends or neighbors to start a Girl Scout troop. Girl Scouts is about fun, learning, and sisterhood, so if you’re organized, kind, and welcoming, you are ready to get a troop started!

Start a Troop

Benefits of starting a troop

Girl Scout troop leaders play the roles of cheerleader-in-chief, champion of kindness, and role model for what it means to lead with your heart. And along the way, they unleash their own confidence as they discover their leadership style and deepen their connection to their communities, just as their Girl Scouts do.

Parents and community members make a key difference in the lives of youth by guiding them through the Girl Scout Leadership Experience! Starting a troop provides you with flexibility as leaders set the troop meeting times, locations, and capacity based on their schedules. At GSNorCal, we want leading a troop to be a great time, which is why we'll support you every step of the way. We provide our leaders with:

Convenient, at-your-pace online training and periodic live webinars.
Individual guidance from council staff and trained volunteers.
Online resources to help you quickly and easily prepare for meetings.

What is the process?

1. Request a troop number

Click the “Start a Troop” button to answer a series of questions about your new troop.

Choose whether to become a traditional Troop, with a leader and assistant or co-leaders, or a Co-Op Troop, with all families working together to share the responsibilities.

Follow the prompts for other questions such as school affiliation, grade(s), meeting zip code, etc. If you’re not sure yet about meeting days and times, use your best guess or choose “TBD”; you can always update it later.

2. Register as an adult member and complete a background check

Become a member of Girl Scouts. Adult membership dues are $25 per year. (Financial aid is available.)

Once you've completed your registration, look for an email from Sterling Volunteers to begin your background check.

3. Connect with a Community Manager

Once you have a processed background check, your Community Manager will reach out by phone and/or email to introduce themselves and schedule a time to chat. They are your go-to person at Girl Scouts of Northern California and will get you set with required trainings and other steps to get you started in your volunteer role.

Haven’t heard from them yet? Please let us know! Contact Us.

4. Grow your troop

We have lots of resources to engage youth in your community to generate interest in your troop. Your Community Manager can share GSNorCal resources that you can customize for your troop. Don’t forget to list your troop number to make it easy for them to register!

Also, make sure to register any of your own family who plan to participate with the troop.

5. Meet your troop families

Before you start planning troop activities, you need to first meet the Girl Scouts and their families. The troop leadership team should organize a meeting that covers these essential topics:

Meeting time, place and frequency
Collect necessary forms: Annual Permission, Health History
Communicate expectations of youth and family involvement
Learn about youth (and families) interest in Girl Scouts
Recruit more leaders and volunteers. You'll want at least two people on your leadership team, and the more the merrier!

Most importantly, have an amazing Girl Scout year! Don’t forget to follow Girl Scouts of Northern California on social media and join gsCommunity to get real-time updates on happenings in our council.

Start a Troop

If you’re interested in leading a troop, but you have more questions, we would love to connect with you. Fill out this form to have a member of our staff contact you.

I want to be contacted to learn more about starting a troop!

First Name

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Phone

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School or Community Served

Campaign

Initial Campaign

Potential leader

Which grade would your new troop serve?