Service Unit
2017
Cookie Chair Guide
nmgirlscouts.org
important DATES
2017 Cookie Calendar December 13, 6:30pm January 3, 6:00pm January 9, 6:00pm January 11, 6:30pm January 14, 10:00am January January 21 January 25, by 5pm January 25, by 11:59pm January 26 January 31 February 13-17 February 13 March 01 March 3 March 7 March 8 March 23 March 26, by 8:00pm March 31, by 11:59pm March 31, by 11:59pm March 31 April 3 April 3, by 5:00pm April 4 April 5 April 28 Early May
Service Unit Cookie Chair Training webinar Council Troop Cookie Chair Training, Rio Rancho Elks Lodge Council Troop Cookie Chair Training, Albuquerque GS Office Council Troop Cookie Chair Training webinar Council Troop Cookie Chair Training webinar Schedule Troop and Parent Meeting to discuss cookie sale Council Cookie Rally (reg. deadline 1/13) Last day to turn in ACH form to council Initial Orders due from troops Service Units submit troop orders to council Girl Upload into eBudde Initial Order Deliveries First day of the sale All cupboards open (varies by location) Booth Sales Begin Last day for troops to deposit money for ACH withdrawal First ACH withdrawal $2 per box of initial order Last day to add girls to eBudde Last day of the sale Last day to distribute and apply sales to girls in eBudde Last day to select reward options for girls in eBudde Outstanding balance forms due to Service Units Service Unit Chairs submit troop rewards to council Outstanding balance forms due to Council Last day for troops to deposit money for ACH withdrawal Final ACH withdrawal Last day to clear outstanding balances Rewards are shipped to Service Unit Chairs
Table of Contents 1 Important dates 2 Service Unit Cookie Chair Checklist 3 Being a Service Unit Cookie Chair Online Resources 4 General Cookie Sale Information 5 Get Prepared 5 Train the Troops 6 Girl/Parent Meeting 7 Initial Cookie Order 7 Pick Up Your Initial Order 8 Cookie Cupboard Orders 8 Three Ways to Sell 9 Money Management 9 Rewards & Proceeds
Dec.
Service Unit Cookie Chair Checklist Attend cookie training and sign Service Unit Cookie Chair & ACH Forms Conduct a troop training for your service unit or invite Troop Cookie Chairs to attend one of the council trainings. Collect signed Troop Chair Agreement and ACH Forms for each participating troop. Hand out troop training materials.
January
Log in to eBudde and verify your contact information. Promote the GSNMT Cookie Rally on January 21 to boost troop excitement about the cookie sale! Deadline to register January 13. Remind troops to submit their initial orders and select initial order pick up time in eBudde, starting January 25. Verify and submit troops’ initial cookie order in eBudde by 11:59pm on January 26.
April
Feb. / March
Remind troops to sign up for cookie booths; round 1 of cookie booth selection starts on January 27 at 8pm.
Continue to support troops during their sale.
Verify that troops have distribute ALL of their cookies in eBudde and submitted their final rewards in eBudde. You will need to submit their orders to council by 11:59pm on April 3. Submit outstanding balance forms and receipts to council by April 3.
May
Attend Post Cookie Wrap-up Meeting at council.
Receive and distribute all final rewards to troops who have paid balance in full. Return any unclaimed troop rewards to council.
Thank you for ALL that you do for Girl Scouts!
Being a Service Unit Cookie Chair
Your job as Service Unit Cookie Manager is twofold: First – educate the Troop Leaders and Troop Cookie Managers. Work with them throughout the program. You will supply them with materials and answer questions. Second – serve as a liaison between the troops and GSNMT to provide support throughout the program, facilitate delivery, monitor their progress, collect and audit troop paperwork and process the rewards.
Key Responsibilities Your primary responsibilities are to: Train troop cookie chairs Collect and submit troop forms to council Distribute materials and support to the troops Submit the Troop Initial Cookie Order Receive and distribute rewards to troops
Have questions? Service Unit Cookie Chairs should contact the council product program team with any issues or questions. Council will refer all troop leaders and cookie chairs to the Service Unit Chairs for assistance. GSNMT Product Program Staff: Kimberly Hammon, Product Sales Manager KHammon@nmgirlscouts.org Sonia DeGuzman, Director of Sales SDeGuzman@nmgirlscouts.org
Online Resources
Council website: www.nmgirlscouts.org The council website will have general information on our cookie sale, forms and a link to register as a Girl Scout.
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Cookie sale tracker: www.ebudde.littlebrownie.com eBudde is the engine that drives the business of Girl Scout Cookies. This cookie order management system links troops, service units, councils and Little Brownie Bakers so communications and orders run smoothly. The eBudde Help Center is designed to guide you through the basics and help you overcome any special challenges that may come your way. In the Help Center, you're connected to a world of resources specially designed to help you have a great cookie season. Product Program Facebook Group This page should be used by Service Unit chairs and troop cookie chairs only. It was created for troops to easily communicate with each other during the sale; i.e. troop to troop transfers, booth location information, allowing troops to pick up last minute booth cancellations. You must be invited by council staff to join this page. If you have not received your invitation to this group, please contact Kimberly Hammon. Service Unit Cookie Chairs can also add Troop Leaders and Cookie Chairs to the Facebook Group.
General Cookie Sale Information What is the Cookie Sale? The Council Product Program department focuses on money-earning activities that help sustain our Council and troops through two annual programs- the fall MagNut Program and the spring Cookie Program. Proceeds earned from the Cookie Sale can offset either all, or a large part, of the cost of Girl Scout activities (and relieve parents of this obligation, too!) Financial Literacy Program Selling cookies is about more than just a girl handing over a box of cookies for money. It’s about learning the five financial literacy skills essential to success and to life: Goal Setting, Decision Making, Money Management, People Skills and Business Ethics. Each age level has their own financial literacy and cookie badges that girls can earn while participating in the sale. There are many resources on the cookie program through GSUSA, Little Brownie Bakery, Digital Order Card and GSNMT’s website. Sale Dates The cookie sale runs from February 13, 2017 through March 26, 2017. Troop Proceeds Troops will earn 65 cents for every box of cookies that they sell. In addition, if your troop participated in the 2016 MagNut sale and increased your sales by 35% over your 2015 MagNut sales, then your troop earns an extra penny for every box of cookies that your troop sells. Cookies Flavors (in order by popularity) $4.25 a box Flavors $5.00 a box • Thin Mints • Do-Si-Dos • Gluten Free Toffee-Tastic • Samoas • Trefoils • Girl Scout S’mores • Tagalongs • Savannah Smiles All cookie orders are placed in cases. Each case contains twelve boxes of cookies. No one can check out cookies by the box. Troops are responsible for selling all cookies checked out to the troop. Cookies must be stored in a cool, dry, pet-free and smoke-free environment at all times.
Types of Payment Cash and checks can be accepted as payment for cookies. However; checks should only be accepted by people you know. The council will not reimburse troops for NSF checks. A credit card option is available through the Digital Cookie phone app.
Troop Participation Requirements for 2017 Cookie Sales • A troop consists of a minimum of five girls and two unrelated adults holding the 01 and 02 positions. Exceptions may be made for C/S/A troops. They can contact Kimberly Hammon for approval. • Identify a troop cookie chair (Two are preferred for checks and balances) • Attend council troop cookie training: webinar training 1/11 @ 6:30pm & 1/14 @ 10:00am in person 1/3 @ 6:00pm (Rio Rancho Elks Lodge) and 1/9 @ 6:00pm (Albuquerque Girl Scout Office) • Complete Troop Cookie Chair Agreement at training • Complete ACH form and submit a voided check or copy of your bank statement with form at training • Verify that girls participating are registered Girl Scouts and have a product permission form on file prior to the start of the sale. I will be sending you a list once a week of girls that have submitted their product permission form and whether or not they are registered. Please share this with the troops in your service unit. • Troop and participating girls must be free and clear of debt to council I will email you a list of troops and girls that are not allowed to participate in cookie sales.
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Get Prepared •
Attend Service Unit Chair Training with the council staff. The council training webinar is December 13, 2017 @ 6:30pm
•
Turn in Service Unit Cookie Chair Agreement and ACH Form.
•
Obtain password for eBudde from Council Product Sales Manager.
•
Familiarize yourself with eBudde. Verify that your contact information is correct.
•
Receive troop training materials. They will be shipped directly to you.
Train the Troops Service Units can conduct their own trainings for TCCs not able to attend Council Troop Cookie Training. Following (listed below) are the Council Staff-led Troop Cookie Trainings. For Council-led TCC Trainings, register online at http://bit.ly/2hhtgna or you can register by emailing Kimberly at KHammon@nmgirlscouts.org
Webinar: • January 11, 2017 6:30 pm • January 14, 2017 10:00 am In Person: • January 3, 2017 6:00 pm Rio Rancho Elks Lodge • January 9, 2017 6:00 pm Albuquerque Girl Scout Office You will need to collect a Troop Cookie Chair form and an ACH form with either a voided check or copy of a troop bank statement from each troop that is participating in cookie sales. Please stress the financial responsibility of the troop chair when they sign the TCC agreement. Hand out troop training materials. Service Unit Chairs are responsible for entering troops into eBudde. The user name is the troop chair’s email and the password is Dosi@8734. Once they login for the first time, they can change their password. Remind troop chairs that you will give them access to eBudde once you have received their TCC agreement and ACH form. It is very important for each Troop Chair to login to eBudde and verify their contact information as well as enter their bank account information for the ACH Draws. All cookie sale forms including the online girl product permission form can be found here. We will also post how-to sheets on how to navigate eBudde and the sale.
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Girl/Parent Meeting The cookie program is a financial literacy program and a troop effort. Troop Cookie Chairs should meet with both the girls and the parents in their troop before the start of sale to discuss troop goals and participation. Each girl and parent cookie volunteer must be registered and turn in a product permission form or volunteer agreement form before they can participate in the sale. Only approve Troop Volunteers once their 2017 membership registration and background check have been approved. Do not enter them into eBudde until confirmed.
Encourage troops to use our sample budget when setting their goals Sample troop budget based on $2,500 with 12 girls in the troop Checking Account Supplies Badges (Girl Rewards) Membership Fees & Council Service Fees Insurance/Misc. Program Activities Field Trips Year-End Bridging/parties
5% 15% 20% 5% 40% 10% 5%
$2,500 $125 $375 $500 $125 $1,000 $250 $125
Initial Cookie Order Stress to the troop chairs that the 160 box per girl is a recommendation and will depend on their troop goals and parent participation. Troops must enter their initial orders in eBudde under the “Other� column. Last year we had several troops putting their orders in eBudde under the Import column and clicking save and then not realizing that their order was not saved. Please remind them to only add orders to the Other column. If a troop has not submitted their ACH form to council by January 25, 2017, they will not be able to submit an initial order in eBudde. This includes newly formed troops as well. They can pickup cookies once the cookie cupboard opens on March 1. All troops will also be able to choose their pickup time in eBudde when they submit their initial order in Nut-E.
30%
26.5%
13%
8%
11%
6%
5%
0.5%
Pick up Your Initial Order Troop reminders: Be on time- early or late arrival will cause congestion in the pickup line. Make sure to bring enough vehicles to pick up the whole order-partial pickups are not allowed. Count all cookie cases carefully. Council is not responsible for any shortages once the receipt is signed.
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Cookie Cupboard Orders Troops may pick up additional cookies beginning March 1-24. They are required to submit a pending order through eBudde by the Monday before. To make sure that we have enough cookies for everyone, any troop chair that places a pending order after Monday will have to wait until the following week to pick up their order. Only volunteers with a TCC agreement or Volunteer agreement will be allowed to pick up cookies at the cookie cupboard. No exceptions.
Three Ways to Sell Troops that pick up their cookies before the start of sale date are not allowed to advertise or begin selling until February 13th. Remind troops that anyone caught selling before the February 13th start date can result in the whole troop being excluded from this year’s cookie sales. Troops that pick up their cookies after February 13 can still begin selling on February 13 using their goalgetter card and through their online store. Stress the online safety rules to the troop chairs and have them go over them with their girls and parents. Violating these rules can result in the girl not being able to participate in the sale. Digital order card now gives customers an option to order and pay for cookies online with the option to have them shipped or delivered by their favorite Girl Scout! All parents with an email on file will receive an email invitation to register for online store access.
Money Management Forms of payment are cash, check or credit card through the Digital Cookie app. It is up to each troop to decide whether or not they will accept checks from their parents/ customers- the council will not reimburse the troop for any returned checks or bank fees. During booth sales, credit card sales should be taken using only one girl’s digital cookie app. Once the booth has concluded, the troop cookie chair should go into eBudde to reconcile the booth sale amongst the girls who participated in this booth sale: • distribute boxes sold • distribute the money collected during this booth sale (including those sales processed using the Digital Cookie app)
Receipts, Receipts, Receipts!
Issue receipts whenever transferring product or money from SU to troop, troop to troop, troop to girl, or girl to girl. This takes away the financial liability of the person giving the money or product to the person receiving the money or product.
Rewards & Proceeds Troops that participated in the MagNut Sale in the fall and increased their sales 15% from the previous year earned extra proceeds for cookies. The extra proceeds will be calculated at the end of the sale. Council will notify all Troop Cookie Chairs of the extra proceeds deposit. All troop cookies must be distributed to the girls. This includes all booth cookies and any unsold cookies that the troop has leftover. Failure to do so will cause the girls not to receive their appropriate rewards. For most prize levels, girls have the option of choosing the themed reward/girl experience or the program voucher. Girl experiences have to be attended on the date specified. If a girl knows in advance that she cannot attend on that date, then she can choose the program voucher offer instead. No shows will not be offered a voucher in lieu of girl experience.
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Every Cookie Has a Mission The Girl Scout Cookie Program is a hands-on leadership and entrepreneurial program.
The program generates funds for a girl’s troop, while allowing her to earn individual rewards and contributes to Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails’ effectiveness to provide leadership experiences for girls. All proceeds stay in the local community.
Every year, customer purchases help fund programs that Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails offers to our over 3,000 girls and provides direct support to individual troop treasuries. 2% is used to provide financial assistance through the opportunity fund. 16% is troop proceeds for use by the troop for activities and/or community service projects and for girl incentives. 48% is returned to leaders and girls in program opportunities, camp operations, insurance, program supplies, financial assistance, training, background checks, website, and other business operations. 34% is the cost of the cookie program, including cookies paid to the baker.
Each box of cookies sold provides income to the Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails and helps offset operational costs for: • Delivering programs to over 3,000 girl members in a 23 county territory spanning 71,486 square miles. • Maintaining two camp properties covering over 1,700 acres--insurance, upkeep, proper land stewardship, tents, beds, commercial kitchens, and program supplies. • Providing membership and/or camp scholarship to girls whose families need financial assistance to participate. • Providing training to over 1,000 adult member volunteers. • Providing financial support for GSNMT sponsored events to keep activities affordable. • Operating the Albuquerque and regional service centers. • Providing volunteer screening and background checks. • Providing required insurance for Girl Scout activities.
The Girl Scout Cookie program has given me the opportunity to set and work towards a goal. “Since I was a Daisy, 10 years ago, the Girl Scout Cookie program has given me the opportunity to set and work towards a goal. I have learned that when you invest your time and effort, you can be rewarded greatly. We’ve spent hundreds of hours selling cookies over the years, but it’s all been worth it. Our troop has gone to Surf Camp in California and canoeing through the Boundary Waters in Minnesota, mostly funded by cookie sales! I will take these memories with me as I head off to college next year.” --Samantha, Ambassador Girl Scout
join us ...
Cookie-Pa-Looza!
! w o January 21, 2017 N r e t s i g e R Saturday, January 21, 2017 CSAs 8:30am - 11am DBJs 12pm-5pm
Embassy Suites on Lomas & I-25 $5 per Girl Scout Registration deadline: January 12 Registration information online: www.nmgirlscouts.org
Daisy, Brownie, & Junior Girl Scouts At Cookie-Pa-Looza, Daisy, Brownie, & Junior Girl Scouts will earn the 2017 Cookie Pin! Practice the five skills with your Girl Scout sisters, play games, make crafts, and sample a cookie. Plus, check out the 2017 girl rewards! For Daisy, Brownie, & Junior Girl Scouts, there will be four 75 minute sessions offered. Girls will sign up for one 75 minute session to better prepare them to be true Girl Scout Cookie Professionals! Parents and guardians: We have activities for you, too! A free Cookie Program parent training will be provided in the afternoon while girls are earning their cookie pin.
Cadette, Senior, & Ambassador Girl Scouts CSAs, are you ready to take the cookie program to a whole new level? With help from your Girl Scout sisters, we have planned a special event just for you! • Start your day with a tasty breakfast and inspiring speaker. • Earn your 2017 cookie pin and be totally prepared to set goals that will take you anywhere you want to go! • Complete Cookie Captain training so you can be a mentor and role model for younger Girl Scouts. Cookie Captains will put their skills to work the same afternoon helping Daisies, Brownies and Juniors earn their cookie pin. Lunch will be provided for CSAs who assist in the afternoon. Plus earn hours toward your Service to Girl Scouting or Program Aide awards!