How to Start a Troop

Parents and community members make a key difference in the lives of girls by guiding them through the Girl Scout experience!

At GSSJC, we will support you with getting started as a troop leader volunteer and with starting your troop! We offer support every step of the way.

Here’s how:

We offer convenient, online trainings that give you everything you need to know to get started on your schedule.
We offer guidance from our volunteer support staff team.
We connect you with an experienced volunteer mentor in your community that can offer support locally.
We have troop activity plans to help you quickly and easily prepare for troop meetings.
And flexibility—leaders set the troop meeting times, locations and frequency for their troop!
Use the New Leader Guide to help you get started.

We know you may have more questions so here are a few of the most frequent questions we hear:

How much time will I need?

Troop leaders choose the meeting day, time and frequency for their troop. We know you have a lot of things to juggle, so being a troop leader fits into a variety of schedules.

We recommend that troops meet twice per month but once a month is also great.

How do I start the process to create a new troop?

It is super easy to start the process to create a new troop! All you have to do is visit our Join page and click on Create a Troop. Once there, please fill in your contact information, the grade level(s) for your new troop and check the Criminal Background Check agreement that is required for all our volunteers.

Once you submit this request, we will receive it and a member of our Placement Team will reach out to you to help answer any questions you have, help you with your volunteer registration and assign you a troop number!

If you would like to discuss the process on how to start a troop or need help with recruiting more girls or adults into your troop, please feel free to schedule a call with a member of our Placement Team!

What happens once I'm assigned a troop number?

Once you are assigned your troop number and pass the free online background check you must:

Complete online training.
Add and recruit girls into your troop. Our troops need a minimum of five girls to get started – if you need help with adding girls, please reach out to your placement specialist.
Secure a second leader (our troops need at least two leaders to get started).
Decide when and where to meet.
Open a bank account for troop money-earning activities such as Fall Product and Cookie Programs.
Hold a parent meeting to get parents' support as troop helpers and volunteers.
Hold meetings and have fun!