Hi this is Anna Jarrett, I am here to present today s Mandatory Troop Cookie Program Online Training. The theme is Altogether Awesome! I am doing an overview and providing the basics of this year s Cookie Program. All the details can be found in your troop s Cookie manual. You will notice on the top right on most slides I have a page number referencing the Cookie Manual that you will receive once you view this training and pick up your materials from your SU Cookie Coordinator. 1
Through our financial empowerment program, girls from K-12 th grade are learning valuable life skills such as: money handling, self-reliance and following their values and beliefs making it relative to the business world. Through this program our girls are learning the 3 keys to leadership- Discover, Connect, and Take Action. Here are some examples of the badges offered through the Girl Scout Leadership Experience, the badges encompass the 5 life skills learned by the girls in our Product Programs. Schools don t necessarily have the time or curriculum to teach these skills. While developing these 5 life skills, our program utilizes a three process approach: girl led, learning by doing, and cooperative learning. 2
It s all about girls! As cookie entrepreneurs, girls learn essential life skills that last far beyond cookie season. They discover hidden talents and get to practice a lifetime of leadership skills that will carry them far into every stage of life. The Little Brownie Bakers website has so many creative resources to support girls of every age and councils at every stage of the Girl Scout Cookie Program. 3
We want to make life easier for our volunteers. A fantastic resource on the Little Brownie Bakers website is a Cookie season planning guide for leaders. This helps new leaders or even returning leaders plan the Cookie season. 4
In an effort to ensure GSNI abides by IRS guidelines, troop size guidelines as they pertain to troop proceeds for the Cookie Program have been updated. It is important that we comply with IRS guidelines so as not to endanger the not-for-profit status of GSNI, GSUSA and other Girl Scout Councils. For Girl Scout Daisy, Brownie and Junior Troops: The Minimum size is 5 girls (from multiple families) and 2 unrelated leaders, one of which is a female. For Girl Scout Cadette, Senior and Ambassador Troops: The Minimum size is 3 girls (from multiple families) and 2 unrelated leaders, one of which is a female. This minimum MUST be met by January 28, 2018. If your troop does not meet the minimum size as outlined, your troop will automatically be treated as a group of Independently Registered Members which mean troop proceeds will not be awarded. During sweeps, your troop account will be swept for the entire cost of product sold. Proceeds are NOT kept by the troop. Girls will earn S more Dough in place of troop proceeds. 5
Girls can begin taking orders from the public: Friday, January 5 through Sunday, January 28, 2018. Please remind parents that girls are not allowed to sell prior to this date, except to family members. Troops have until Monday, January 29 at 11:59pm to Submit initial orders and initial rewards in ebudde- the Cookie program data entry system. Delivery dates are February 15-20. Your specific delivery date will be provided to you by your SU Cookie Coordinator. Booth Sales will begin on Friday, February 23 and end on Sunday, March 18. A complete list of dates can be found in your troop Cookie manual. Did you know? Booth sales are not just limited to the weekend, troops can also set up sites during the week within the booth sale dates.. 6
Here are the bank dates for this year. The first bank sweep, from your troop account, will be on March 5. This will be for 50% of your troop s initial order, minus the troop proceeds. The second and final sweep for the remaining 50% and any extra cookies picked up from a cupboard will be on Tuesday, April 3. We are uploading previous year s banking information on January 12 into ebudde. However, new troops need to enter their banking information into ebudde by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, January 29. Please adhere to the required dates listed on your screen for parent delinquencies and NSFs in order for GSNI to cover the troop financially. If dates aren t met, your troop takes on the risk and is responsible for the debt. 7
Take the following steps to protect your troop from bad debt. Ensure that every parent signs the Product Program Permission/Financial Responsibility form before receiving any cookies. This includes leaders and Cookie Chairs. Have every parent count and sign receipts when picking up cookies AND when turning in money. Do not accept checks from strangers like customers at booth sites. 8
As previously announced, GSNI has moved to standardized pricing. This simply means all cookie varieties are to be sold at $5/box. This change goes into effect with the 2018 Cookie Program. Because our two specialty cookies cost more, several councils are selling them at $6 per box and $5 for the other varieties but GSNI elected to go with $5 across all varieties for standardization and simplicity. 9
We are excited the 2 specialty cookies will be returning this year: gluten free Toffeetastic and the S mores cookie. The S mores cookie is made with all natural and organic ingredients. This cookie was created to expand to a new generation of cookie sellers and buyers. 10
We offer a two tier proceeds plan. The more your girls sell, the more your troop earns! The troop proceeds plan allows a troop to increase their proceeds based on the average number of boxes sold per girl. This is calculated based on the number of girls selling, not the number of girls registered to your troop. Only Cadette, Senior and Ambassador troops can consider opting-out of rewards for higher proceeds. Troop leaders should guide girls to carefully consider which option is best for their troop. See pages 16 and 17 of the troop manual for more information on how troop proceeds can support troop activities and choosing whether or not to optout of rewards. 11
Just like the girls set goals, Service Units have goals as well. Service Units who make or exceed their goal earn a monetary bonus! The money earned can be used to host a fun party to celebrate cookie success or another service unit event! 2018 Service Unit s goals are to maintain last year s final cookie boxes sold! If you would like more information on your Service Unit s goal, please contact your Service Unit Cookie Coordinator. 12
Our Resource Centers serve as cookie cupboards so troops can get more cookies for online girl delivery order, cookies in hand, and booth sales. Here are the dates and times for the service center cookie cupboards. All cupboards open February 21. Please note that, with the exception of Tuesdays in Freeport, all the Resource Center cupboards all closed every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. This gives us time to move inventory as needed or to receive cookie deliveries. We also have volunteer run cupboards. The complete list of all cupboards will be emailed to all troops in February and can be found in ebudde on your Reports tab and the Help tab. Cookies must be ordered using ebudde -the data entry system. You will use the Transactions tab to place cupboard orders for additional cookies needed. You will receive an email when your order is un-pended and ready for pickup. We recommend placing your order by Monday for cookies needed for the following weekend. 13
One of the most difficult parts for troops holding a cookie booth is to estimate the number and variety of cookie boxes to order. There is no specific formula for ordering cookies as location, weather, week of booth, saturation, etc. all factor into how many cookies may be sold at a booth. In addition to the information presented here, GSNI suggests that troops ask for suggestions from other troops in their service unit that may have sold at the same location. 14
Booth Sales are a fast and easy way for Girl Scouts to get cookies to customers. Customers using the Cookie Finder App on their smart phones will be able to find you ONLY if you register your site for approval in ebudde. Council Sales booth sites are defined as a merchant location with multiple opportunities which are secured and entered into ebudde by GSNI staff. Generally these sites are high-traffic locations such as local food chains, department stores or big-box stores including most Walmart's and Walgreens. Volunteers are discouraged from contacting these locations on their own to avoid conflicting communication with the store managers. Please remember to remove your site reservation if your troop is no longer going to utilize. Initial Booth Sale sign up for Council sites begins January 22 at 6 a.m. Troops may only sign up for 3 time slots at 3 different retailers. The secondary Booth Sale sign-up for Council Sites begins January 29 at 12 a.m. My Sales booth sites are defined as a merchant location where a volunteer may have a special connection to a location that is suitable for a troop booth sale and is NOT listed as a Council Sales site. Some examples of My Sales booth sites are banks, churches, family restaurants, or other small businesses. 15
If available, the troop must obtain permission from the merchant first before requesting approval in ebudde. All requests can be entered into ebudde starting January 5, by clicking on the Booth Sites tab. We do not recommend contacting retail locations to make reservations prior to January 1. Prior to the New Year during holiday shopping is when scheduling errors can more easily frequently occur on the retailers end. Please be considerate of all troops that may want to also utilize a location. While there are no restrictions to My Sales reservations, do not reserve all booth weekends at one location. When entering your requests, complete address information is required. The request will not be approved by GSNI without a complete address including exact street number and street. Requests are approved on a first come, first served basis. Therefore, if two troops request the same time and location, approval will go to the troop that entered their request first. Reasons a site may be denied, include but are not limited to, the site is deemed inappropriate for girls, already reserved by another troop, complete address not provided, established as a Council site, or there is a safety concern. Try a drive-thru cookie booth this season! This would be considered a My Sales Booth site. You would need to get permission from the property owner and add to ebudde. 15
When holding a cookie booth, there are some guidelines that you should follow. Troops may hold a booth anywhere within GSNI council boundaries. Adhering to these guidelines ensures a successful cookie booth for every troop. All troops hosting a booth sale are representing Girl Scouts. With booth locations getting harder and harder to secure, it is important to maintain positive relationships because we want to keep the ones we currently have. Always remember to be courteous to your fellow Girl Scout sisters! 16
Girls may collect donations or sell boxes of cookies to be donated to military troops through Operation Care, other organizations this also includes local First Responders. During the Initial Order stage, girls sell donation boxes for $5 per box. When a troop leader enters the girl s Initial Order into ebudde, these donation boxes should be listed under the CGOC column. The girl and the troop will get credit for selling these cookies, but won t physically receive the boxes. The customer purchasing the boxes to be donated does not select the variety of cookie. Girl Scouts should collect payment at the time of the order since there is no delivery. We have a Gift of Caring Opportunity for girls. Complete details can be found in our Contests, Rewards and More recording and in the troop manual. At the end of the sale, troops can bring any donated boxes from their booth sites to a Resource Center or distribute donated boxes themselves to an organization of their choice. A girl must sell a minimum of 18 boxes of cookies to receive the GOC patch. These patches can be ordered with Final Rewards. 17
Booth Sales are not the only way to sell cookies after initial stage of the program. Following the Initial Order, girls may continue to sell cookies through the end of the Cookie Program on March 18. Girls may take customer orders, sell through Digital Cookie, or go door-to-door with cookies in hand. This form is provided and can be used to keep track of additional cookie orders. We will be offering the Cookie Craver Contest again, complete details can be found in your troop manual and in the Contests, Rewards and More training. 18
Digital Cookie 4.0 is a program in its fourth year developed by GSUSA in conjunction with Little Brownie Bakers which allows girls to take electronic orders for cookies. To get started, watch for your registration email from Girl Scout Cookie Program. This email will be sent out mid-december. Every parent of a registered Girl Scout will receive this registration email if an email address has been provided to GSNI. Today I am touching on the highlights of Digital Cookie 4.0. We will be providing a separate online training for Digital Cookie 4.0 which will go through instructions in much greater detail. This training will be available on the GSNI website starting Wednesday, December 6. 19
A popular delivery option is to have cookies shipped directly to a customer s home! This is great for friends and family out of town that a Girl Scout cannot deliver to inperson. Shipping fees are paid by the customer ordering the cookies. The customer is informed up front of shipping fees before confirming their order. Shipping rates are listed here. The customer receives their cookies within a few days of ordering, even if it is during GSNI s initial order time. 20
Girl Scouts,13 years and over and parents will now be able to download the DOC Mobile App to their smart phones so customers can purchase cookies when face to face using DOC! After a girl s site set-up is complete, the app can be downloaded to a smart phone. On this App there are tips for selling, a Share feature so a girl can enter someone s email, and an option for the customer to place an order. Safety tip reminder Parents or girls should never hand their phone to the customer, especially if they do not know the person. 21
Once a Girl Scout has registered her site, she will be sent to a screen similar to this one. This is her dashboard or home page. Now a girl (with her parent if 12 years and under) can navigate through the tabs at the top of the screen to personalize her information, set-up her customer facing page, and send emails to customers. She can also work on the Cookie Program badges for her Girl Scout level and learn more about the sales tips and techniques through the games and videos section. 22
For you as the Cookie Chair or Leader, you have the ability to see information and be able to track the online sales of girls in your troop on your Troop Dashboard. You can view information on total online sales, sales by cookie type, volume of sales by week and sales by delivery method -Shipped, Girl Delivery or Donation. This is a view of the bottom portion of the troop dashboard. Cookie Chairs or Leaders can see their girl s progress at a glance to encourage their customer service skills. You will see all the girls in your troop and details including the parent email connected to her account, date of birth, if they have set up a site, sent customer emails, and/or have orders, including any pending orders. To see more details about each girl s order, Cookie Chairs or Leaders can click on the green underlined number in the # of orders column. Please note, at the end of Initial Sales, Sunday, January 28, at 11:59 p.m. through Friday, February 4, at approximately 1 p.m. there will be a pause of DOC orders flowing into ebudde during initial order submission time. Customers can still place orders during this time, however, the orders won t be transmitted to ebudde until the pause has ended. 23
On your DOC troop dashboard, you can see if any of your girls have pending orders. See your Troop Dashboard for more info. Looking in ebudde, when the parent approves the order, a Girl Delivery order will be labeled with DOC DLVR and the amount the customer paid will show as a positive number in the Paid column and as a negative number or credit in the balance due column. The system does NOT automatically assign cookies for Girl Delivery orders to the girl, you will need to add these to her total. 24
Brand new for this year- the ebudde App. Now volunteers can place initial orders from their mobile devices as our powerful ebudde software goes mobile. On this convenient troop app a video training and ebudde help are built right in. 25
Now let s discuss where you will add girl orders, choose booth sites, and so much more. ebudde is the all in one place to run your Cookie Program. Your Email address is used to gain access to ebudde. The login screen also allows you to update your information including changing your email address, password, security questions and personal information. We will do weekly uploads into ebudde of troops, registered Girl Scouts and adult Leaders and/or Cookie Chairs. A Leader and/or Cookie Chair must be registered Girl Scout members with a current criminal background check completed in order for the troop to be added into ebudde. After the initial login, if you forget your password, you can click the fourth bullet link to reset your password via two options presented. ebudde will be open December 6, 2017. 26
The default password is Toff8260 and must be used the first time you login for this year. This is for everyone, even if you have used the system before. Once you use this password you will be directed to a new screen where you will be asked 3 security questions, to add your name and contact information and to create your own password. 27
The ebudde Help Center is a great tool to help you navigate and answer any ebudde questions you may have. We will post GSNI resources on the Help Center tab as well as at www.girlscoutsni.org/cookieresources. Along with the Help Center, we have an ebudde manual created specifically for GSNI. This manual will be emailed out to all troops in December to help you navigate the system. 28
On your Settings tab in ebudde, you can enter or verify your banking information. We will be uploading the previous year s banking information on January 12. Please go in after this date and verify it is correct. If you are a new troop, you will have to enter your troop s banking information. Click on the Edit button and enter the bank name, account number and routing number for your troop s bank account no later than January 29. Click the Update button at the bottom once all edits have been made. On this tab you can also add your troop goal and opt-out of rewards ONLY if you have an older girl troop. Older girl troops are defined as Cadettes, Seniors and Ambassadors and page 17 of the troop manual provides more information to help troops make this important decision. 29
On your Girls tab, you will see all the girls registered in your troop. If there are any girls missing from this please double check with the parent to be sure she is registered. Once the parent verifies her registration, you may contact Customer Care at 1-844- GSNI4ME to find out why she is not listed under your troop. We do weekly uploads into ebudde, these will be completed by Tuesday evenings. The girl name will be added along with her ID and her grade level. You can add her Sales goal on this tab and select her t-shirt size in preparation for earning the t-shirt reward. If a girl is transferred out of your troop, her name will remain on this tab but we will now be able to mark a girl inactive on the Girls tab so she will not show on your troop s Girls Order tab. 30
The Initial Order tab is where you will enter girls initial orders by the deadline of Monday, January 29, at 11:59pm. These orders should include the girl s traditional order cards and any Girl Delivery Digital Cookie orders. Be sure to double check the totals listed on each girl s order card for accuracy. To enter, click on the girl s name and on the bottom of the screen her name and boxes will appear. In these boxes you will enter the total quantities needed for each cookie variety. After you have entered her totals be sure to Click OK on the right side and then hit Save at the top. You may make as many edits as you need, but DO NOT click on the orange Submit Order button until you are completely done entering and editing each girl. 31
If your Service Unit uses the scheduling feature in ebudde, you will use the Delivery tab to schedule a time to pick up your troop s initial order. This tab will be open on Saturday, February 3, at 8am and will be closed Tuesday, February 6, at 11:59pm. The first prompt will be Who is picking up your cookies? You can select either: Someone from my Troop or Some other troop and add their troop number. The second prompt will be Will you be picking up for more than one troop? If yes is checked, then you will need to add that troop number. Your Service Units delivery station date and time will be automatically added to this tab. All you need to do is select your preferred time window. Typically the time windows are between 5 and 15 minutes depending on what parameters your Service Unit has set. If you need more than one time window ebudde will make you aware of this. Once done selecting a time, click Submit My Info. 32
On the Girl Orders tab, you can allocate any extra cookies sold after Initial Order by any girls in your troop. Simply click on the girls name you want to edit. A new screen will appear and you can add more cookies to her total sales. All cookies sold by each girl count towards her final rewards. DOC orders will be automatically loaded for any online sales under the appropriate girl as well. Cookie quantities and varieties must still be added for DOC Girl Delivery orders. See previous slides, troop manual and Digital Cookie Online Training for more information. If a girl sells cookies at a booth site, her sales can be added to the Girl Orders tab. There is also an easy to use function in ebudde called Record Booth Sale, that helps with booth sale management. This function is also available as an App so the leader has the choice! This function allows the leader to easily manage the cookies sold at booths by evenly distributing the total quantity sold to all girls who attended that booth sale location. This tab also allows you to add any money collected from parents to help keep accurate accounting of all monies received. Once money is added to the Paid column it will then be subtracted and an accurate amount will show under the Balance Due column. After all edits are made, be sure to click Save. 33
On your Transactions tab, you can place orders for more cookies to be picked up at a GSNI Resource Center cupboard or volunteer cupboard. The cupboard days and times are displayed to easily see when a cupboard is open. Start by clicking Add a Transaction and a new screen will appear where you can enter the quantity of each variety of cookie you need to order. You will select your preferred cupboard location, date and time for pickup. Please be aware of cupboard hours. Once done entering all information, click Save/Print or Okay to save your order. Cookies need to be picked up from the cupboards in case quantities of 12 boxes. However, the cases can be mixed varieties of cookies including both the Toffee-tastic and S Mores. Once the cupboard manager has approved your order it will become un-pended and an email will be sent to you letting you know you are set to pick up your cookie order on the selected date. 34
The Rewards tab will be used twice by the Troop Leader or Cookie Chair. First it will be used to submit the troop s Initial Rewards by Monday, January 29 at 11:59pm. This tab will also be used to submit Final Rewards, by Wednesday, March 21, at 11:59pm. ebudde will automatically calculate what rewards each girl has earned, you will only need to make edits if there is a reward choice or a t-shirt size to add. If t-shirt sizes are entered on the Girls Tab, then these selections will automatically populate into your Final Rewards tab. Gift of Caring patches and Booth Sale patches must be added manually for girls that earned. Volunteer patches may also be ordered manually to recognize a leader, cookie chair, or another adult volunteer in the troop that contributed to the Cookie Program. A maximum of 5 Volunteer patches may be ordered per troop. You have three choices: View, Fill Out or Girl Report. You may edit all the girls in your troop s rewards at one time by going to the Fill Out button and clicking Edit All. This function can only be done once. Once all edits are done, you will click SUBMIT Reward Order. Special Family Reward! A Sisters patch is being offered for families with two Girl Scouts selling a total of 300 boxes of cookies- each girl must have a minimum of 135 boxes listed in ebudde. Parents or Leaders must contact the Product Program team to earn this patch. This patch is not offered through ebudde. 35
On the Booth Sites tab, you will find Council Sales sites that have been secured by GSNI or you can add your own My Sales site. In this example, the drop down is Council Sales sites. You can then click on the plus sign next to the city to see the booth sites available in that community. Then click on the retail location you want to reserve. Available days and time slots will appear. If the date is green that means there are times left to choose, if the date is blue, then all times are taken. Once you find the date and time you prefer the window on the right will appear. You can then click in the open time slot to add your troop number. Then click Submit. In this example, I chose Algonquin as my city and the Goodwill store for a Friday from 4-7pm. 36
If you select My Sales in the drop down, you will then need to click Add a Location. The new screen is where you will enter the information about your booth site: name of business, address, contact information of the person you received approval, and the date and time you will be at this location. Full address is required to receive approval for the site from GSNI. Once done entering all information you will click Add. My Sales requests are approved by GSNI on a first come, first served basis. A site may be denied if it is deemed inappropriate for girls, already reserved by another troop, complete address is not provided, established as a Council Sales site, or there is a safety concern. Please note, these sites must be prearranged and approved with the business owner/manager prior to entering into ebudde. 37
On the Reports tab, there are many useful reports, most can be viewed as an Excel document or as a PDF. There is a Cupboard list with addresses and a Delivery Station report with the address of your assigned Service Unit delivery location. The bottom section contains all Digital Cookie reports. The DOC Orders by Girl is another way to view and filter by girl to see which girls have Digital Cookie Girl Delivery orders and what variety and quantities of cookies are needed. 38
The Troop Sales Report is another very useful report. It details all cookies sold including Digital Cookie sales and Gift of Caring donations received by the girls. This report also shows your per girl average (PGA) selling, so you can easily keep track of how close you are to the next proceed tier. 39
Adults must be registered as the Troop Leader or Troop Cookie Chair with an approved criminal background check in order to be added into ebudde. To protect your troop have all parents sign the Product Program Permission/Financial Responsibility form. Only registered Girl Scout members for 2017-2018 membership year are allowed to sell cookies. Troops MUST participate in both the Fall Product and Cookie Program in order to qualify for additional money earning activities! 40
Thank you for your participation in 2018 Cookie Program. For assistance and questions, contact your Service Unit Cookie Coordinator or a member of the Product Program Team. 41
Thank you for attending this training! There s just one more thing to do! Grab a pen and paper and write down this link, it begins with https. This cannot be clicked on, you must type it into your web browser, just at it is listed. You can pause this training so you can write the entire link down correctly. After typing it into your browser follow the instructions on the screen and submit your form. There are 5 questions you will need to answer on the Google form. You are then eligible to receive your troop s Cookie materials. 42