How to Start a Troop

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Your talents and experience have the power to change girls’ lives. As a Girl Scout troop leader, you’ll help craft their experiences—from the way they run their cookie businesses to the way they speak up in meetings. As girls learn, grow, and lead, you’ll grow too—honing your own leadership and organizational skills. It's a win-win. Let’s get started!

Interested in starting a new Girl Scout troop? Check out the information below to get started!

1. Fill out the Start a New Troop Form: Every Girl Scout troop needs two unrelated registered, background-checked, and trained troop leaders. At least one troop leader must be female.

To get the troop formation process started, head to our New Troop Form and fill it out.

With this form, you’ll let us know who will be in your future troop (leaders and girls), the grade level(s) of the future troop, your future troop’s community hub (like a school or neighborhood), and more!
2. Two Adults Register as Troop Leaders: After you’ve completed the New Troop Form, it’s time to register! A support and onboarding specialist will create your forming troop in our system, and send you a customized link to register as a troop leader.
3. Troop Leaders Successfully Complete Background Checks: Completing registration will trigger the background check process and each troop leader will receive an email from our secure vendor Asurint to submit information for a background check.

If you run into issues or need support completing your background check, visit the Background Check page.
4. Troop Leaders Complete Online Training: Once you've been placed into the leader role for your forming troop, you'll receive an email from us with the subject line, "Let's get started as troop leader!" and will include information about troop leader online training to complete.

Your support and onboarding specialist will check in to offer help in case you run into any problems.
5. Five Girls Register as Girl Scouts and Join the Troop: After you've both completed online training, it’s time for girls to join your troop! Your support and onboarding specialist will give you special instructions on how to welcome girls that you’ve already connected with into your forming troop.

If, after a week, your troop still does not have five registered girls, then it will be placed in our open troop catalog to give any interested girls in your area the opportunity to join!
6. Your Forming Troop Receives a Troop Number: Your support and onboarding specialist will be monitoring all forming troops in your area. Once your troop has at least five registered girls, we will reach out and let you know that your troop is ready for it's troop number!

After that, your troop will receive an email with your new troop number, some next steps, and lots of resources to help you feel confident and comfortable leading.
7. Your Troop’s First Year: As the leaders of a new troop, you may have questions—we are here to help! Over the course of your first year, your support and onboarding specialist will reach out to see how things are going, offer support and guidance, and—most importantly—thank you for choosing to volunteer.

COVID-19 Health and Safety: Girl Scouts troops in Oregon and SW Washington may elect to meet in-person. Troops who choose to meet in person must follow all Girl Scouts Together guidelines. Girl Scouts Together is your one-stop-shop for the information and resources you need for successful Girl Scout activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Have a question or need support? We'll be here for you every step of the way, so why not start now? Reach out to us by email or give us a call at 800-338-5248 and we'll help you get the answers and info you need.

How to Start a Troop

1. Fill out the Start a New Troop Form

2. Two Adults Register as Troop Leaders

3. Troop Leaders Successfully Complete Background Checks

4. Troop Leaders Complete Online Training

5. Five Girls Register as Girl Scouts and Join the Troop

6. Your Forming Troop Receives a Troop Number

7. Your Troop’s First Year