This overview enables Girl Scouts to use online resources in a safe and fair manner.
"Must do" for all Girl Scouts:
Read and sign the Girl Scout Internet Safety Pledge with their parent or guardian.
Obtain parent/guardian permission to participate in any Girl Scout product activity. In addition, permission must be given and oversight must be available for any product activity using online resources.
Know and follow the rules for selling and delivering cookies, whether door to door, at cookie booths, at special events, or as follow-up to an email commitment.
Virtual Vocabulary:
- Online marketing: telling people about your product via the Internet: asking people to let you know if they are interested in purchasing product.
- Online selling: collecting money for Girl Scout product online. Note that this is not allowed by GSUSA.
- Girl Scout - approved vendor: Little Brownie Bakers
"Can do" for all Girl Scouts
Use Girl Scouts of the USA approved vendor email tools to inform friends, family, and former customers within council ZIP code(s) when they are selling cookies.
Use group email overseen by an adult (such as Brownies574Colorado@gmail.com), a parent/guardian's address in partnership for sending emails to friends and family, and/or a static group web page for marketing.
Manage an online database of customers on the vendor's site. They can also create their own database, as long as the privacy of customers is respected.
"Cannot do" for Girl Scouts and their parents/guardians
- Girls cannot exchange money online for product sales
- Girls cannot accept commitments for product sales from outside the council's ZIP code(s), unless from family members
- Girls cannot market on parent's social networking site if they are under age 13. Parents can, of course, state on their social networking site "My daughter is selling Girl Scout Cookies. Contact me if you are interested" and act as the conduit for interested friends and family.
What Girl Scouts can tell customers:
- Who they are — a Girl Scout, but also a friend, a relative, a daughter of a friend, and so on
- What they are selling — share personal and group's goals, as well as how product sales benefit Girl Scouts of Manitou Council
- How much the product costs
- What options they have for purchasing cookies as a gift for others (Gift of Caring)
- How to purchase product: girls ask for a commitment — what would they like to order?
Any of the following may apply:
- Tell them when the order is due and when cookies will be available for delivery.
- Ask when it would be convenient to deliver the cookies with an adult's supervision.
- Ask customers to give a callback number and a delivery address in council ZIP code(s), and then follow the rules for selling cookies for their grade level. Girls should not give out their personal email or address.
Girl Scout Juniors and Cadettes
Girls read and sign off on the Girl Scout Internet Safety Pledge
Girl Scout Juniors, Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors (age 13 and older)
Girls read and sign off on the Girl Scout Internet Safety Pledge.
Girls 13 and older can use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to market product as long as they have a parent/guardian's permission, are under adult supervision, and follow guidelines in Volunteer Essentials.
Girls 13 and older can use YouTube for marketing, but must have parental permission.
Girls 13 and older may market on a parent's social networking site in partnership with an adult.
