Please remember Volunteers and Girl Scout council staff don’t sell cookies and other products—girls do.
No matter how much your troop plans on saving or spending, you’ll need a safe place to deposit your troop dues, product sale proceeds, and other funds. If you’ve stepped up to lead 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:
- 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 like a Girl Scout, and make sure another troop volunteer has accessible 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 GSHCC's financial policies (located in the appendix) and procedures for setting up an account.
GSHCC’s requirements/procedures to open a troop bank account:
- Troop has a minimum of two leaders who are not related to each other, at least one of whom is a female. These leaders have a current criminal background check (CBC) on file.
- Troop has at least two girls who are not related to each other.
- A minimum of two troop leaders have completed mandatory Leadership Essentials training.
- Each troop bank account signer (at least one of whom is a troop leader) submits the Troop Bank Account Authorization Form 2020-2021.
Once the requirements are met, a volunteer or a staff member will contact you with further instructions to establish a troop bank account.