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 2022, girls earned 63,879 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 start up); and life skills (public speaking, democracy, first aid, photography, woodworking, music). River Valleys continued to prepare girls for a lifetime of leadership, adventure, and success through in-person (serving 2,800 girls) and virtual programming (serving over 900 girls). During fiscal year 2022, River Valleys provided $3,204 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.girl Scouts couldn't wait to go to summer camp in 2022! After 2 years of on-and-off social distancing and virtual learning, girls were excited to spend time at camp with one another swimming, riding horses, building campfires, sleeping in cabins, tents and yurts, hiking, mountain biking, and more. 2,176 individuals experienced resident (overnight) camp, troop camp, and family camp. Staffing challenges prevented us from offering camp programming at camp edith mayo and camp northwoods. During fiscal year 2022, River Valleys awarded $113,820 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. Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion includes a commitment to providing adaptable, culturally relevant programming that meets the needs of girls and families. The community engagement team works to increase visibility, build trust, and create long-term investment in the Girl scout leadership experience for families and girls of color by cultivating authentic and holistic relationships with communities of color and community organizations that serve people of color in Minnesota. These partnerships form mentored troops and connectz troops, where girls can develop a sense of belonging and sisterhood with one another as they experience Girl scout programming with girls and troop leaders who look like them and reflect their lived experiences. In 2022, the community engagement team served 1,473 girls through the connectz and mentored troop pathways. The gold, silver, and bronze awards are the highest awards Girl Scouts can 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. Girl scout jeanette p. built a partnership between the Minnesota state academy for the blind and a school for the blind in tbilisi, Georgia to foster an international community and raise disability awareness. She created educational resources and a podcast, and visited the republic of Georgia to deliver learning materials to the school for the blind to help students for years to come. During the year, 556 girls earned their bronze, silver and gold award. Girl Scouts volunteered more than 20,000 hours in their communities while earning their highest 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 almost 24,500 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 91,000 packages of cookies to healthcare heroes, food shelves, and school lunch programs. River Valleys' girls sold almost 3.53 million packages of cookies in 2022.

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.

Membership and volunteer engagement:girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys' work is supported by 6,500 volunteers who deliver the Girl scout leadership experience to nearly 18,000 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 relies 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. Each month, our service unit volunteers met virtually with staff to hear council updates, share resources, and provide support to one another. This past year, our service units provided virtual programming, adapted recruitment in new and exciting ways, and utilized online technology, like zoom and rallyhood, to stay connected.river Valleys completed phase 1 of the volunteer capacity project, a project to build greater capacity and training for our service unit volunteers. The following were accomplished during the year: staff and volunteer workgroup completed recommendations for boundaries and volunteer roles, mapped preliminary boundaries and layers, and rallyhood site launched to facilitate communications with volunteers. In 2022, new troop leaders were invited to jumpstart their Girl scout year alongside other new leaders. 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.

Rental 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 stores at our camp. 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 materials totaled $13,711 during the fiscal year. This amount is recorded as a reduction from gross sales of inventory reported on form 990, part viii line 10a.