Read on for Six Steps to Wrapping Up the Cookie Program, Girl Scout and Troop Rewards Orders Due April 1, End of Sale Banking, Volunteer Cookie Sweatshirt Orders Due by May 7, Cookie Booth of the Week Winners, Cookie Spirit Award Winners, Forward to Families: Rewards Choices for Girl Scouts, Service Unit Reward Support, Service Unit Reward Shipment Address Reminder and more.
In this edition:
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What’s Trending
- End of Sale Banking
- Volunteer Cookie Program Sweatshirt Orders Due by May 7
- Cookie Booth of the Week Winners
- Cookies Spirit Award Winners
- Cookie Cupboards Update
Reminders
For Service Unit Cookie Managers
You made it to the end of the 2023 Cookie Program! Without you, Girl Scouts would not have been able to participate in this great tradition. We are sending you a virtual high-five and a tremendous amount of gratitude for sticking with us through the season. This issue of The Cookie Press is packed with must-read information on steps to wrap up the sale and order rewards. Don’t hesitate to contact us or contact your Service Unit cookie manager if you need assistance. Working together, we can ensure your Girl Scouts receive those important rewards and the troop has the proceeds to power their Girl Scout experiences!
Six Steps to Wrapping Up the Cookie Sale
Follow the Six Steps to Wrap Up the Cookie Program (PDF) to ensure you have properly closed out the Cookie Program for your troop. By working through it step-by-step, you can ensure you’ve tied up any loose ends, and Girl Scouts get proper credit for their sales.
Girl Scouts River Valleys staff connected with troops to alert them of issues with cookie allocations earlier this week. If you need assistance, please contact us or contact your Service Unit cookie manager as soon as possible.
Girl Scout and Troop Rewards Orders Due April 1
Besides selling the cookies themselves, Girl Scouts say receiving rewards is one of their favorite things about the Cookie Program. It’s super-duper important to reach out to families to confirm the Girl Scouts’ reward choices ahead of the reward deadline, April 1. Each Girl Scout’s reward options are based on the sales totals entered in Smart Cookies for packages and donations sold. You must create the main recognition order and make the reward selections for each Girl Scout.
If a selection is not made by the deadline, the rewards will default to Cookie Credits. Reference the Rewards instructions in the Smart Cookies Guide for Volunteers. You can also check out this instructional video to walk you through the steps.
If your troop achieved a 240, 340, or 440 PGA, you’ll order the troop PGA rewards in Smart Cookies. If your troop did not reach these PGA levels, no action is needed. To confirm your Troop PGA, view the Troop Balance Summary Report. It’s critical to follow the steps when ordering troop rewards so each Girl Scout selling receives their items. Important items to note:
- Create the Troop Recognition Order
- Enter the number of Girl Scouts selling in each red box for the items the troop earned.
- If your troop earned the sports bag at the 440 PGA level, you must enter the number of girls selling + 2 adults in the red box (Juliettes would receive 2 sports bags: 1 for the Juliette and 1 for the Juliette Mentor).
- Example: If the troop had 4 Girl Scouts selling, you would enter 6 total sports bags (1 for each Girl Scout selling plus 2 for the adults).
- Note: The two-adult option will appear if you have two adult contacts in Smart Cookies. Contact us if you need an adult added to Smart Cookies.
- Example: If the troop had 4 Girl Scouts selling, you would enter 6 total sports bags (1 for each Girl Scout selling plus 2 for the adults).
Online rewards, patch programs, and the Combo Patch are tracked outside Smart Cookies.
End of Sale Banking
You’re making those final deposits into the troop bank account, crediting Girl Scouts with financial transactions, and preparing for the final ACH later this month. At the end of the sale you may encounter a few clean-up tasks like the ones listed below. If you do, complete a Finance/Inventory Issue Form by April 1. Once you submit the form alert our staff is alerted to further assist with the issue.
- Excess cookie inventory your troop needs additional time to sell
- Unpaid cookie money from families
- Stolen cookies/money or counterfeit money received
Review the Finance/Inventory Issue Form FAQs for more details.
Volunteer Cookie Program Sweatshirt Orders Due by May 7
Volunteers who wish to order a “Go Bright Ahead” Girl Scout Cookie Program sweatshirt can complete the order form by May 7—One order per troop, please. Payment for the sweatshirt must be done by ACH from the troop account or for Juliettes, a reduction in Juliette Program Credits. The cost does include UPS shipping fees.
Sweatshirts will be shipped to the address entered on the form later this summer.
Cookie Booth of the Week Winners
Keep sending those CBOTW submissions in, we love to see them! Congratulations to our Week 5 Cookie Booth of the Week winners Troop 57886 and Troop 18169 . After we gather as many submissions as possible, we’ll announce our Cookie Booth of the Year in April!
Week 5: Daisy/Brownie/Junior Booth of the Week
Troop 57886
Week 5: Cadette/Senior/Ambassador Booth of the Week
Troop 18169
Cookie Spirit Award Winners
Hip hip hooray! Let’s hear it for this week’s winners of the Cookie Spirit Awards!
Jacqui Zimmerman (Rosemount Valley Service Unit): “Having people you can count on is hard. Having people who you know will have your back is also hard. Jacqui is an excellent example of both. As a troop leader, cookie manager, and Service Unit cookie manager, this season has a lot of stressors. I appreciate her willingness and flexibility and “get it done” attitude! She makes cookie season more fun!”
Angela Gusk (Cambridge/Isanti Service Unit): “I am nominating Angela for the Cookie Spirit Award. Angela has been our Cookie Mom for a few years for all physical inventory for our robust Junior Girl Scout Troop of 14 girls. This year our initial order was 6,900 cookies with an added 1,500 cookies picked up the following weekend. She literally rearranges her living room and takes things off the walls to ensure the cookies fit. She has been amazing with her availability for pick up/drop-off of any cookies. She also does all inventory before and after cookie booths AND ensures the cookies sold match the money brought in. Angela is instrumental in having an amazingly successful cookie season for our troop!”
Both Jacqui and Angela will receive a $25 Target gift card and a big high-five from Girl Scouts River Valleys! Nominate a cookie volunteer for consideration today. Submissions carry over each week.
Cookie Cupboard Updates
Need cookies for donations or last-minute orders? Council Cupboards are currently closed for the season, so check out the Girl Scouts River Valleys Cookie Swap to find troops that are looking to transfer cookies or connect with your Service Unit cookie manager.
Invitation code: Cookies23
If you notice an error between Smart Cookies and your physical inventory or notice a transfer from a Cookie Cupboard is missing, please complete the Cookie Cupboard Error Report Form.
Forward to Families
Here’s the latest update to copy, paste, and forward to families in your troop:
- Cookie reward orders are due soon! If your Girl Scout has reached a sales level that requires a choice between an item and a Cookie Credit, provide me with those choices no later than [INSERT DATE] so I can make the selection in Smart Cookies. If I do not hear from you, the choice will default to a Cookie Credit. Remember, this year, at the 130-package level, Girl Scouts can choose to be a part of the LemonAid program where their donation (facilitated by Girl Scouts River Valleys) will support the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Roseville, MN. Plus, Girl Scouts who make this choice will earn a cool patch to boot!
Service Unit Reward Support
One of the most important deadlines of cookie season is the reward deadline. As a Service Unit Cookie Manager or Manager, you can help ensure everyone receives the correct rewards they earned to wrap up their season on a high note. What can you do to assist?
- Reach out to troops to remind them of the April 1 deadline.
- Run the Troop On Hand Inventory Report to review the list of troops that have not allocated their cookies or are showing negative inventory. Connect with these troops to offer your assistance
- Review the Troop Balance Summary Report and alert troops at the 240/340/440 PGA levels that they must order the rewards in Smart Cookies
While troops will be locked out of editing reward orders after April 1, Service Units will be able to make edits to troop reward orders until April 2 at 11:59 pm. You can view the actions needed on your Service Unit Dashboard in Smart Cookies under the Action Items section. You can click on the link under each action item listed below and export the results to an Excel spreadsheet to help you view the affected troops and the action they are missing:
- Troops with no Main Recognition Order: this will show you the troops that have not started an order.
- Incomplete Recognition Orders: this will show you a list of troops where an action is missing for a reward.
If reward choices are not made at applicable package levels for Girl Scouts by April 2, the rewards will default to Cookie Credits.
Note: If you want to view the Senior and Ambassador troops that opted out of rewards, you can view the Troop Balance Summary Report to see the opt-out under the troop proceeds plan.
Service Unit Reward Shipment Address Reminder
We will ship rewards to the address you have listed in Smart Cookies.
To verify or update your address:
- Log in to Smart Cookies
- Under My Service Unit select Service Unit Info.
- Review the information on this screen.
- If the information for the volunteer and address is correct, no action is needed.
- If the volunteer information is incorrect, you can update the information in each field.
- Then click on Update Information to save your edits.
- Review and edit this information if needed by April 2.
Rewards will ship the week of May 22. We’ll provide more information on how to distribute rewards ahead of receiving the shipment.
