Early Bird

• Patches! All girls and adults who register for the 2024-2025 Girl Scout year between April 20 – May 15 will receive the Early Bird patch featuring Luna the Barn Owl! Patches will be mailed directly to adult and girl members. Back this year – each patch comes with an activity for girls to do on their own or with their troop.

• Swag! - All Girl Scouts (even adults!) who register between April 20 – 28 will receive an exclusive In My Girl Scout Era tee to showcase your Girl Scout era. Note: We will collect sizes after April 30, all size preferences will be due by May 7.

• Experiences! There are a variety of experiences that can be earned by renewing your 2024-25 membership:

○ All troops who renew a minimum of 80% of their troop between April 20 – May 15 will have the opportunity to attend a virtual troop meeting hosted by our very own CEO, Beth Shelton! Virtual troop meeting details will be sent via email in May to troop leaders who earn the incentive. The troop meeting can be done at any time for your convenience.

• Drawings! Girl Scout troops that renew by April 28, 2024 and meet the following criteria qualify for some great drawings!

○ Virtual Cooking Class + Grocery Gift Card | ONE troop with a 100% renewal rate will win! Expires September 30, 2024

○ CEO Troop Visit | SIX troops with an 80% or higher renewal rate will win a personal visit to a troop meeting or activity from Beth, GSGI’s CEO! Expires March 31, 2025

○ $10 off $50 Purchase at any GSGI Retail Shop x 4 Visits | SIX Troops with an 80% or higher renewal rate will win! Expires September 30, 2024

○ $50 Shopping Spree at a GSGI Retail Shop | TWELVE troops* with an 80% or higher renewal rate will win. *MUST have submitted their Troop Finance Report on time (June 2023). Expires September 30, 2024

○ Juliettes that renew by May 15, 2024 are entered to win one of six Woobles Owl Kits!

Annual membership for Girl Scouts is $25* and is payable online using a credit/debit card or Cookie Dough/program credits. This membership is valid from October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025.

*We recognize not every family may have the ability to pay for that membership – there are many options available to pay besides online credit card payments.

Families who renew their Girl Scout membership(s) through MyGS will have the ability to select one of three payment types – Credit card, Program Credits (Cookie Dough, Munch Money, or Juliette Program Credits), or financial aid.

To use program credits: You can apply your Girl Scout’s program credits (Cookie Dough, Juliette Program Credits, or Munch Money) to your family’s 2024-2025 membership(s) by selecting Program Credits as your payment option during checkout. If your Girl Scout is currently in grades 5 and up, her program credits do not expire, as long as she is registered for the 2024-2025 membership year by September 15, 2024. You can check out all Program Credit policies here on The Bridge.

Apply for Financial Aid: If your family does not have the ability to fund your Girl Scout membership(s) you will have the option to select “Financial Aid” as a payment option during checkout when you renew your Girl Scout membership(s).

Troop Leaders and Troop Support Volunteers make such a difference to the Girl Scouts in their troops. We are offering the gift of free membership for adult members of GSGI. You will see this discount reflected at checkout. Please select credit card as your form of payment in MyGS to process your free membership. You will not have to enter any card information, but you do have to select that form of payment in order for your membership to be discounted in the system and complete the transaction

Renewing (or adding!) family members in your household will be through your myGS household account. For detailed instructions, please refer to the My Account Tip Sheet: Renewing Girl Scout My Account Tip Sheet: Renewing Girl Scout Members, which includes directions for families and troop leaders completing Girl Scout membership renewals.

Ready to get started?

Troop leaders – don’t forget to get permission from troop parents, including payment preferences! Use the Membership Renewal Roster to help keep yourself organized!

Pro tip! Email your completed renewal roster to info@gsiowa.org, and your Volunteer Experience Manager can help process these renewals all at once!

Use these instructions when renewing members in your troop:

Accessing Your Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa (GSGI) Account:

• The My Account page provides a snapshot of your household and troop information. Log in to start exploring now! If you are accessing your account on a mobile device, it will look slightly different. You will need to login by going to the menu at the top right of the screen and select “Login” to gain access to your account. Once you are logged into your myGS account, you will have to select the drop-down menu at the top of the screen to view all the options listed below.

• If you are using a web browser, click the LOGIN button at the top of the page and enter your username and password. Your username is the email address on file with GSGI. If you have not accessed your account since November 2020, you will be asked to reset your password. Once you have logged into your household’s MyGS Account, use the following steps -

• Click on “My Troops”.

• Select the specific troop number from the menu under “My Troops”.

•Select the girl members to renew.

• Any member(s) who will not returning next year by selecting “Not Returning”.

• If you’d like, you can hide inactive and non-returning members to sort out who is returning and needs their membership renewed.

• Select girls individually or select all (“Not Returning” girls are excluded from the list if you selected to filter them out).

• Select the adult members to renew.

○ Note: If you have more than one role within your troop (Leader, support volunteer, CPR/First aid, etc.) you will have to select each of those roles.

• Indicate a member(s) who is not returning next year by selecting “Not Returning”.

• Hide inactive and not returning members to sort out who is returning and needs their membership renewed.

• Select adults individually or select all (“Not Returning” adults are excluded from the list).

• Uncheck any adults not renewing right now but are returning as members next year.

• Scroll to the top and click “Add Renewal”.

• Confirm Member detail for each renewal.

• Confirm member's first and last name.

• Select Membership Year – Next Year – 2025 for $25. All adult memberships will be free.

• If member is a graduating senior, the option to purchase lifetime membership will display.

• Select “Payment Type”.

• Click “Next Participant”.

• Once you have added all Girl Scout member renewals click “Review Cart”.

• Check the box to accept the Girl Scout Promise and Law.

• Enter payment details. All adult memberships will be free. You must select credit card payment as your form of payment, but you will not be asked to enter a credit card number in order to process your free adult membership.

• Psst… Credit Cards are the only payment types that will show up for Troop Leaders. If you would like to renew your whole troop at once, please see this form.

• Review payment details.

• Click “Submit Payment” to complete your troop’s renewal(s).

○ PLEASE NOTE: Troop leaders cannot add new girls to their troop. At the bottom of the “My Troops” tab, there is an option to “Invite friends to join my Troop”. If you are contacted by a family who wants to join your troop, you can send them an email invite, but because the family needs to create their own household account, troop leaders cannot register new girls directly into their troops. Please share the My Account Tip Sheet: New Girl Scout Members and ask families to follow those steps to create their account and register their Girl Scout(s). New families are also welcome to contact GSGI directly for assistance with this process at info@gsiowa.org or 800-342-8389.

Make sure your troop finance reports are completed!

○ Troop leaders – please use this form to ensure that you have completed your Troop Finance Report. This is to be completed each year.

○ Note: if you are a Service Unit Manager, be sure to submit the Service Unit Finance Report with this form. This is to be completed each year.

•Troop Funds: While not required, troops can choose to use troop funds to renew girl memberships for troop members. Simply follow the directions in the My Account Tip Sheet: Renewing Girl Scout Members to renew your troop’s memberships and pay with the card associated with your troop bank account during the checkout process.

Use these instructions when renewing any Girl Scout membership under your family’s GSGI household account:

• Log into your household’s MyGS account.

• Click on “My Household” on the left-hand side if you are not taken directly to that page.

• Select All to renew a membership, troop affiliation, and/or a volunteer role.

• Check the membership box to renew a membership (not necessary for lifetime members).

• Check the troop box to renew the specific troop.

• Check the volunteer role to renew the troop position.

• Click “Add Renewal”.

• Confirm Girl Scout member details for each renewal.

• Confirm Girl Scout member's first and last name.

• Select Membership Year – Next Year – 2025 for $25. All adult memberships are free. You must select credit card payment as your form of payment, but you will not be asked to enter a credit card number in order to process your free adult membership.

• If a member is a graduating senior, the option to purchase lifetime membership will display. As a recent graduate this will be a discounted rate which makes a perfect gift option for your Girl Scout to continue with the movement!

• Select “Payment Type”.

• Click “Next Participant” (if adding renewing more than one member).

• Once you have added all Girl Scout member renewals click “Review Cart”.

• Check the box to accept the Girl Scout Promise and Law.

• Enter payment details.

• Review payment details.

• Click “Submit Payment” button to complete your family’s renewal(s).

When new members join Girl Scouts between April 1-September 30, 2024, they have the option to get two years of membership for the price of one! If a family is interested in joining Girl Scouts now, they can follow the detailed instructions in the My Account Tip Sheet: New Girl Scout Families. While the price of this membership option is regularly $35 for two years, they will receive $10 off (which is one year of membership for free) during checkout. This is a great option for girls who are in Pre-K (four years old) now and don’t want to wait until the fall to become a Girl Scout!

We are still offering the gift of free membership to all adult members through our Show Love campaign. All new adults who register to be a GSGI member will receive both years of membership for free!

We are here to help with any assistance needed for Early Bird and renewing 2024-25 memberships, please call us at 800-342-8389 or email us at info@gsiowa.org.