{"id":20691,"date":"2016-11-18T18:00:08","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T23:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/modernizing-the-girl-scouts-for-the-21st-century\/"},"modified":"2016-11-18T18:00:08","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T23:00:08","slug":"modernizing-the-girl-scouts-for-the-21st-century","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/modernizing-the-girl-scouts-for-the-21st-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Modernizing the Girl Scouts for the 21st Century"},"content":{"rendered":"

For over 100 years, Girl Scouts has pursued its mission of building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. They do this by providing girls with a wide variety of learning experiences such as attending and leading troop meetings, earning badges, selling cookies, exploring the outdoors, and participating in community service. Currently, there are 2.7 million Girl Scout members around the world, comprised of 1.9 million girls and 800,000 adult volunteers [1]<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As the world changes, the Girl Scouts are faced with several external realities that present challenges to their business model. Central to these changes is the increasing role of technology in all aspects of the lives of girls and teens. According to a new study conducted by the Pew Research Center, 92% of teens report going online daily, including 24% who say they go online \u201calmost constantly,\u201d. Nearly 75% of teens have (or have access to) a smartphone and approximately 71% use at least one social media site [2]<\/strong>. As these trends increase, so do girls\u2019 expectation that using such technology would be part of their daily educational and recreational experiences. At the same time, a multitude of other extracurricular activities and entertainment options have drawn girls\u2019 attention away from more traditional activities, making them less likely to choose Scouting as the way to spend their free time. Volunteers trends have been shifting as well. As more and more women enter the workforce, fewer stay-at-home moms mean an increasing shortage of volunteers, as well as busier volunteers who have no time to waste on administrative tasks. In light of these changes, leadership at headquarters of the Girl Scouts are faced with the following questions:<\/p>\n