Get Started
You just got your troop number. Here's what you do next.
You just got your troop number. Here's what you do next.
Take a breath. You don't need to figure everything out today. This page walks you through the steps in order, from the moment you get your troop number to your first few girl meetings. Open one section at a time and work through it at your own pace.
Most of what you need to do before your first meeting can be done in a few evenings. The rest will come together as you go.
Before you contact anyone or plan anything, take 15 minutes to think about what you want this troop to be. You don't need a formal mission statement.
Write your answers down. You'll share a version of this with parents at your first parent meeting, and having it written down will keep you grounded when things get busy.
You need honest answers to a few questions:
How much time can you realistically give?
Be honest with yourself. A troop that meets twice a month and does one field trip a semester is a perfectly good troop. You don't need to be a Pinterest troop.
What are your boundaries?
Are there days you can't meet?
Activities you're not comfortable leading? (Some volunteers aren't good with paperwork, or don't feel comfortable leading ceremonies, or have never camped. Others aren't comfortable leading crafts or STEM or remembering to send emails. If there's something about being a co-leader that makes you especially nervous or anxious, write that down because you can be intentional about asking someone else to take on that piece!)
A maximum number of girls you can handle?
A maximum number of badges you're willing to lead? (I recommend a goal of leading 1 badge per year, the same as the other families, but different volunteers have different limits.)
Pre-decide these things now so you can communicate them clearly to parents later. You can always change your mind, but it helps to be decisive when announcing your initial boundaries so that folks know that anything beyond these decisions, will need to be discussed and not assumed to be okay.
What do you want the girls to get out of this?
You don't need to answer this perfectly. "I want them to have fun, try new things, and make friends" is a completely valid vision. So is "I want to focus on outdoor skills" or "I want them to earn lots of badges." There's no wrong answer.
Some decisions need to be made before you talk to parents. These are your executive decisions -- things the troop leader decides, not votes on. You can always adjust later, but starting with a clear plan prevents the first parent meeting from turning into a two-hour debate.
Meeting Schedule: Pick potential days, times, and frequencies that work for your family. "Every other Monday from 6-7pm September thru April" is a common starting point. "No School, No Scouts" is a good policy -- if the kids have a day off from school, you take a day off too.
Meeting Location: Schools, churches, community centers, and libraries are common options. Some are free, some charge a small fee. Your Service Unit may know which locations are already being used by other troops. (This can also be brainstormed during the parent meeting.)
Troop Size: Decide your maximum. Smaller troops (8-12 girls) are easier to manage, especially your first year. You can always grow later. If you already have more than 12 interested girls, consider having parents tag team on badges (so one family leads and one is the "assistant" who still knows the plan ahead of time), so you can split the girls into groups of 5 or 6, and each parent can lead one of the subsets. You as the co-leader would then either float between the two groups or you could stick with one group and your co-leader could stick with the other. The point is each badge-leading parent to only have to manage 5-6 girls at a time (versus a gaggle of girls).
Troop Dues: A small amount per semester ($10-25) covers crafts supplies and basic expenses. Some troops charge more for specific activities. Decide a starting amount -- you can adjust after your first troop year when you have a better sense of costs.
Communication Method: Pick one primary way to communicate with parents and commit to it. Email, a group text chain, a GroupMe, the Band app, a Facebook group -- whatever works for you (if you're the one who will be spearheading communication). The key is using one consistent channel so information doesn't get lost.
Remember: These decisions will feel big right now, but none of them are permanent. You're setting a starting point, not signing a contract. Everything can be adjusted at your summer re-evaluation.
Your Council and Service Unit are your support system. Reach out early so you're on their radar.
Your Council is the Girl Scout unit that oversees troops across multiple counties in your area. Find your Council's website by searching "Girl Scouts <your city and state>" -- it'll be a site like GSXYZ.org. This is where you'll find training info, event calendars, forms, and your Council's specific policies.
Your Service Unit (SU) is a regional cluster of troops, usually based by geography (city, county, or school district). Your SU has a Service Unit Manager (SUM) or Service Unit Director (SUD) who is also a volunteer and is your most direct point of support. This is the person to email with questions like "Where do troops in our area meet?" or "How do I get started with cookies?"
If you don't know who your Service Unit Manager is, call your Council's Customer Care number and ask. They'll connect you.
Emails to Send Now:
Email your Council's Customer Care to confirm your troop registration is complete and ask any setup questions.
Email your Service Unit Manager to introduce yourself, let them know you're a new leader (and/or new to Girl Scouting completely), and ask about the next Service Unit meeting, and whether the SU has a website or Facebook group.
If your Service Unit has a Facebook group, join it. This is often where local events and advice get shared informally.
Your Council will require specific training before you hold your first meeting. The exact courses vary by council, but the process is the same everywhere:
Log into MyGS (mygs.girlscouts.org). This is your central hub for all things Girl Scouts.
Navigate to gsLearn from the left menu. Your required courses should appear on your dashboard automatically. If they don't, email Customer Care -- some courses need to be manually assigned.
Complete the courses your Council requires. Common required courses include a new leader on-boarding path, child safety / protection training, and a grade-level course for your troop's age group. See our Find My Role page for details on what training to look for by role.
Complete your Criminal Background Check (CBC) if you haven't already. This was likely started during your registration process. It can take a few weeks to process, so don't wait.
Don't try to take every available course right now. Focus on the ones marked as required. The optional courses are there when you're ready for them.
It's normal for even the required online courses to be taken over the span of a week or two because there's a lot of content. You're not expected to memorize anything. The idea is to give you a starting point on the vocabulary and rules that apply in various situations, so you can ask more nuanced questions later.
Your first parent meeting is where you introduce yourself, share your vision, and ask families to commit to helping. This is a parents-only meeting -- the girls aren't there.
Where are the girls? Ideally at home. This meeting is for adults only. It's hard to have a focused conversation about roles, expectations, and logistics with kids running around. If childcare is a barrier for some families, consider meeting on a Friday evening and bring spouses so one parent can watch the kids at the restaurant playplace while the other parent participates in the meeting.
You'll want to prepare for this meeting across at least three evenings: the first evening, you'll send a million emails to Customer Care to get specifics related to parent training options, and the second evening, you'll use that information to update your handouts. The third, you'll prepare the rest of your spiel.
You'll want to download the Troop Parents & Roles spreadsheet, and a copy of the Troop Committee Role Sample letters (found in Downloads). Read through the letters, taking special note of where there are blanks to be filled in for peoples' names and contact details, council courses, etc. If you don't know what to put in those blanks, that becomes an email to Customer Care. You very well might create a separate email to Customer Care for each of those letters and that's okay--they can handle it. Keeping questions from each letter as a separate email to Customer Care will make tracking the answers you get back, easier.
Your Intro and Vision. Keep it to 2-3 minutes. Share your name, why you volunteered, and your honest vision for the troop (from above). Include your limitations -- parents appreciate honesty about what you can and can't do.
Troop Committee Roles Overview. Print or share the Find My Role page. Walk parents through the roles and let them pick one. Have a sign-up sheet or use SignUpGenius or SignUp.
Badge Picking. Explain that every family leads one badge per girl. You can let families sign up for specific badges at this meeting or do it later via SignUpGenius. Warn the families that if they don't pick a badge, then they will be dropped from the troop communications.
Logistics. Cover meeting dates, times, location, troop dues amount, your preferred communication method, and how to register with Girl Scouts and complete the criminal background check.
The completed role letter for each role
Blank Health History Form for the girls
Instructinos for online registration and background check
First Aid kit supply list (ask each family to contribute 1-2 items)
Craft Box Supply List (ask each family to contribute some items)
Reminder: The most important thing about this first parent meeting is the vibe. You want parents to leave thinking "This is do-able" not "This is a lot." Keep the meeting under 2 hours (strive for an hour, but realize it may run long depending on the number of folks attending). Be warm, be organized, and let them know they'll figure it out as they go, just like you are.
Sample Agenda (Adjust to Fit Your Style)
Introductions (10 min). Go around the room. Each parent shares their name and one word to describe their daughter. This is quick, warm, and breaks the ice.
Your Vision & Limitations (5 min). Share what you prepared earlier. Be honest about what you can and can't do. This sets the tone for a collaborative troop, not a one-person show.
Troop Committee Roles (15 min). Walk through the roles. Hand out the overview or direct them to Find My Role on the website. Let parents pick roles. Don't pressure anyone -- they can decide by next week if they need time.
Distribute Handouts & Supplies Lists (5 min). Hand out role letters, health history forms, first aid kit supply list, and craft supply donation list.
Logistics (10 min). Meeting schedule, location, dues, communication method, how to register onlie, background check process.
Uniform (5 min). What the uniform looks like for girls at this level, where to purchase it, and that each family can decide for themselves which of the 2 uniform options they want.
Badge Sign-Up (5 min). Explain the "one family, one badge per girl" approach. Either sign up now or tell them you'll send a SignUpGenius or SignUp link. They do need to have signed up for a badge and meeting date before the first troop meeting occurs.
Questions (10 min). Open the floor. Answer what you can, and for anything you don't know, say "Great question -- let me find out and get back to you. Are you on the roster?" That's a perfectly acceptable answer.
Note: Don't panic if not every role gets filled at this meeting. It's common for parents to want a few days to think about it. Follow up with a email the next day thanking everyone for coming and reminding them of any open roles. Most will respond within the week.
What to Expect: It will be chaotic. The girls will be excited. Some will be shy. Some will be loud. At least one will need to use the bathroom within the first five minutes. This is normal.
Your only goal for this meeting: The girls have fun and want to come back.
That's it. You are not trying to earn a badge. You are jot trying to teach the Girl Scout Law. You are trying to create a space where the girls feel welcome and excited about this new thing they're part of.
A sample agenda can be found here.
Reminder: Plan for 60 minutes total. If things go faster, let the girls play. If things go slower, cut the Either/Or activity short. Flexibility is your friend. The girls will not remember whether the craft was finished. They will remember whether they had fun.
What to Expect: It will be less chaotic than the first meeting. The girls now know each other's names, they know the space, and they know you. This meeting can start introducing some structure.
Sample Agenda for 2nd Girl Meeting
Opening (5 min). Start teaching the Girl Scout Promise and/or Law. For Daisies, the Promise is plenty. Practice it together and move on -- they'll learn it through repetition oer the coming weeks.
Badge/Petal Activity (25 min). This is the first time a parent is leading a badge activity. The badge booklet has everything you need. The parent leading the badge should have reviewed the booklet ahead of time and picked the most fun activities.
The "Magic Trash" Game (10 min). At the end of the activity or meeting, give the girls a few minutes to clean up. Use the game of Magic Trash. The Co-Leader picks in their head, a single piece of trash that is "it". The Co-Leader announces "1,2,3, Go!" and the girls then scramble to pick up as much trash as possible to show the Co-Leader, before throwing it away. The more trash they pick up, the better their chance of having picked up the Magic Trash. Once everything is all cleaned up, the Co-Leader announces which piece of trash was actually the Magic Trash and who picked it up. Then that person is the girl who starts the Friendship Squeeze during the Closing Ceremony.
Closing Ceremony (5 minutes). Gather in a circle. If you know the Frienship Circle (everyone crosses arms and holds hands with the people next to them), teach it here. If not, a simple "What was your favorite part of today?" go-around works.
By your third meeting, you're no longer "getting started" -- you're running a troop! Congratulations!
From here, your meetings will follow a rhythm: opening, badge activity (led by whichever family signed up for that badge), optional snack, cleanup, closing. The specifics will vary based on what badges you're working on, but the structure stays consistent. Girls (and adults) thrive on predicable structure.
When you're ready for what comes next, visit our Your Troop Year page (coming soon) for guidance on navigating your first Investiture, first field trip, first cookie season, and all the other "firsts" that make up a troop year.