The Girl Scout Volunteer Toolkit, also known as VTK for short, is a digital tool for troop leaders. Affectionately called the “Administrative Assistant”, VTK makes it easier for leaders to manage troops, plan meetings, download meeting plans, and engage both with parents/guardians and girls. This article for troop leaders discusses how to get the most out of this tool.
Who can access VTK?
All troop leaders registered for 2020-2021 and placed in an active troop have full access to VTK functions. Daisy, Brownie, and Junior leaders are especially encouraged to give it a try!
Parents/guardians also have partial access in VTK—they can view their child’s information and meeting plans.
Service unit managers, troop mentors and Juliettes now have access to VTK.
Accessing VTK
VTK can be used from any computer or electronic device with internet capability. Access VTK by logging in to My Account. Then, you’ll login with your email address and member community password.
Please note: The Volunteer Toolkit works best when using Google Chrome as your browser.
On Volunteers.GirlScoutsRV.org
On GirlScoutsRV.org
Once logged in, you will see options to manage your troop. If you manage more than one troop, you will see drop-down tab located above the Finance tab that allows you to switch back and forth between your troops.
Primary VTK Features
Manage Your Troops
Daisy through Ambassador troop leaders have access to multiple full-year plans, including Journey year plans and badge year plans. These pre-made plans provide everything you need to get started. You can set your meeting calendar to include locations, dates, and times. You can customize activities, delete ones that your girls don’t want to do, and replace them with new ones. The VTK also allows leaders to keep attendance and track the badges each girl earns.
Communicate with Troop Families
Since it is connected to the Girl Scout member registration system, the VTK allows all leaders to manage troop contacts and communicate with families. You can easily generate customized emails that tell families what to expect at each meeting. The email is sent from a “no reply” address.
Navigating Through the VTK
The following five tabs make up the VTK.
My Troop- Click on a girl’s name to see detailed information like her address, birthday, and phone number.
- You can see a list of awards, badges, and attendance in each girl’s record.
- Click on email contacts to email all the families in your troop.
Features for All Troop Levels
Organize Troop Meetings
- The petal/badge and Journey Year Plans are organized by 15 meetings in default order. You can drag-and-drop these to reorder them.
- Use the Specify Dates and Locations tab to set your meeting dates/times and troop meeting location.
- Under Calendar, you can set meeting dates, frequency, and times (make sure to add in any holidays that will change your regular meeting times). Click “Update Calendar” to save your changes.
- Under Location, you can add your meeting location and address. Click “Add” to save your changes.
- To combine troop meetings, you can organize multiple meetings on the same date.
- Click on the troop meeting date in your year plan.
- In the pop up box, click on the calendar and choose to combine meeting dates.
- Choose one date for both meetings and click save.
Milestone Dates
Look for Milestones in orange to remind you of upcoming dates for council events, product sales, and other important dates you need to know.
Customize Activities For Indoors and Outdoors
In each meeting where there are outdoor links, you will see an evergreen tree symbol you can click on to see a choice between doing the activity inside or outside. Depending on what you choose, the activity will be customized to the setting (and if you choose to do the activity outside, the tree turns green).
Features for Multilevel Leaders
There are year plan options for K-5 and 6-12 multilevel troops. There are three STEM year plan options for K-5, and 2 STEM year plan options for 6-12.
Using Create Your Year Plan
- Use the search box or the filters option to view meeting options.
- Choose the meeting plans you want. Make sure if a badge has two meeting plans (part one and two) that you choose both meeting plans.
- Click Add To Year Plan to add your meetings.
Combining Meetings on One Date
Combining meetings on one date allows multilevel leaders to have their Daisy, Brownie and/or Junior meetings on the same date.
- Inside the Year Plan tab and click on the green-colored meeting date box for the date you want to combine meetings.
- Find your meeting date and click on the calendar icon. This will open a box with the choice to Change Date/Time, Cancel Meeting or Combine Meetings.
- Choose Combine Meetings and click on the meetings you want to combine.
- Click Continue and use the calendar to choose the date for those meetings to occur.
- Click Save and when you view your Year Plan, you will see multiple meetings on that date.
- Choose a meeting by clicking on the colored meeting date box. You must specify your meeting dates and location under the Year Plan tab to see your Meeting Plans.
- In each meeting you will see:
- Overview – Click on the overview to see a quick summary of the meeting you are viewing.
- Activity Plan – Gives you details of each meeting’s activities.
- Materials List – Tells you everything you need for that meeting.
- Edit/Send Meeting Email -Gives you a scripted email for families that you can edit as needed to remind them of what the girls will be doing at that meeting.
- Record Attendance and Achievements – This is where you can keep track of what badges girls have earned and who was at each meeting. It is populated into each girl’s information in the My Troop tab.
- Meeting Aids – Includes worksheets, songs, and other types of reference materials you will need for meeting activities. If there are outdoor components to the meeting, you may also see videos to help you get girls outdoors.
- Meeting Agenda – Lists all the activities for the meeting with the recommended times for each activity. You can change the order of activities by “dragging and dropping,” or delete activities by clicking on the activity title. You can also edit the times allowed for each activity. Activities with an outdoor component will have an evergreen tree you can click on to get girls outside with the activity.
- Add Agenda Item – This is where you can customize your meeting by adding additional activities (like celebrating Juliette Low’s Birthday) to customize your troop meeting.
- Your Opinion Matters! – For meetings with an outdoor component, take the time to do a quick survey to let GSUSA know what you thought about the activities. This will help them to continue to improve VTK with your input.
- Add a Note – You can leave notes to the other leaders in your troop to see. Parents cannot view notes.
- Select Year Plan to return to your troop’s year plan.
Additional Resources to Guide You Through VTK
Blog PostsUse the VTK Overview Presentation and the accompanying facilitator guide at leader meetings and other trainings to support troop leaders on how to access and use VTK.
Check out pages 13-14 of the New Leader Guide for basic information about VTK.
Frequently Asked Questions
We’ve put together a list of frequently asked questions to help you get started. Don’t see what you’re looking for? Contact us with any additional questions.
Why can’t I register for programs, camp, etc. through the VTK?- Currently, you can only register or renew membership through the Volunteer Toolkit.
- To register girls for programs and learning opportunities, visit GirlScoutsRV.org/Events.
- To register girls for summer camp, visit Camp.GirlScoutsRV.org/Register.
- As noted above, you cannot access council events or resources found on our websites inside of VTK. VTK is an additional tool that is separate from the GirlScoutsRV.org and Volunteers.GirlScoutsRV.org websites.
- Financial tracking. Continue to access troop financial forms from our website.
- Information on Highest Awards, bridging, safety awards, and additional badges and awards are not included in the VTK. Refer to the Girls’ Guide to Girl Scouting or the troop leader section of this website.
- Parents/guardians can log in to their online account using the My Account tab on our website and view parts of the VTK, although they cannot make any changes.
- Using the Troop tab, parents can view their girl’s membership, but cannot see other girls’ information.
- They can view the Year Plan and Meeting Plan, and search for resources.
- Parents/guardians can use their online account to make changes to their Girl Scout’s information (contacts, membership, family profile), but cannot change the troop information.
Summary of Resources
- Volunteer Toolkit (VTK) – Digital tool for troop leaders accessible through My Account.
- GirlScoutsRV.org/Events – Register girls for programs and learning opportunities (not found in VTK).
- Camp.GirlScoutsRV.org/Register – Register girls for summer camp (not found in VTK).
- Troop Leader Section – Find information on Highest Awards, bridging, safety awards, and additional badges and awards (not found in the VTK).