A Shared Commitment to Girls

Resources from corporate and foundation partners ignite innovative program activities girls love.

	CORPORATE AND FOUNDATION SPONSORS Arts: The Annenberg Foundation Education: Delta Air Lines Environment: Jessie Ball duPont Fund, Herford N. Elliott Trust Financial Literacy: J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation, Mutual of America, NASDAQ Educational Foundation, Visa USA Hispanic Outreach Initiative: The Goizueta Foundation Literacy: SBC Foundation Science/Technology: Intel Foundation, Lockheed Martin Self-Esteem: Unilever United States Foundation Sports: Women's Sports Foundation STUDIO 2B: MetLife Foundation Girl Scouts Beyond Bars: Hasbro Children's Foundation, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

By Lisa Dewey

What do you get when you combine the resources of today's leading corporations and philanthropic institutions with the expertise of the largest informal education organization in the world for girls? Add in a desire to positively impact the community and the results are innovative program activities that truly make a difference in girls' lives.

Since 2000, GSUSA has raised over $11 million from foundation and corporate grants. An additional $19 million has come from government grants. These resources enable Girl Scouts to expand program activities, extend targeted outreach, and keep Girl Scouts current and relevant.

From Theory to Practice

For example, the Girl Scout Research Institute's research on tween and teen concerns and interests resulted in the study The Ten Emerging Truths: New Directions for Girls 11-17. This study formed the basis for the development of STUDIO 2BSM for girls ages 11-17. MetLife Foundation was a critical first supporter of STUDIO 2B. They funded innovative program activities for preteens and teens. That's how the process works: translating the theoretical into new, inspiring, fun activities, and ways to connect with girls.

"Our partners enable us to broaden the span of our outreach," said Sandra Bugg, Director, Funded Initiatives, Membership, Program, and Diversity at GSUSA. "Because of their support, we have been able to provide councils with funding, resources, and technical assistance to deliver Girl Scout program in ways that meet the unique needs of populations we've been challenged to reach in the past."

Intersection of Interests

Partnerships begin in many different ways: from a Board member tapping professional contacts to GSUSA or a council completing a grant application to a volunteer reaching out to a neighborhood business. What's key to the process is that everyone holds a shared commitment to girls, locally or nationally. Then, interests must intersect: what opportunities can be made available through math, the arts, science and technology, finance, sports, the environment, or other areas to fulfill shared goals?

Consider the example of the Girl Scout/Unilever self-esteem project, uniquely ME! This project and its bilingual materials address the problem of low self-esteem among girls ages 8-14. Girl Scouts of Central Maryland is one of the councils that have connected with its local Unilever office. Working in close partnership, the council and Unilever are helping girls develop healthy self-images.

Angela Johnston, Program Specialist at Central Maryland, works closely with Unilever's outreach coordinator, Wade Brown. Their network extends even farther to include the public school system, city council, youth correctional facilities and group homes, and local businesses. "Wade has a heart—a real passion—for his community," said Angela. "We share the same vision: to meet needs that are around us while touching girls' lives with a fabulous self-esteem program."

Common Agendas

It was the same vision of potential that first linked GSUSA with Sir Ken Robinson, Senior Advisor for Education Policy at the J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles, California. Sir Ken helped GSUSA develop an arts education program that brought together music, dance, art, writing, and other artistic expressions. "The arts are about expressing personal ideas and values. And they offer profound ways of engaging with the ideas, feelings, and cultures of other people," said Sir Ken.

The Annenberg Foundation also contributed a generous grant to GSUSA to promote active participation in the arts. GSUSA will distribute this money to councils to assist them in strengthening existing activities and developing new ones.

Bringing It Home

While partnerships may be formed on the national level, it's at the local level that the impact is realized. That's how the Lockheed Martin Science Career Exploration Fund works. Girl Scouts connect with Lockheed Martin employees within their own communities to explore science, math, engineering, and technology in a supportive, hands-on, and noncompetitive environment.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's support of the Girl Scouts Beyond Bars life skills curriculum is another example of a significant nationwide program that is helping one girl at a time. Said Carmel Owen, GSUSA Senior Director of Development/National Funding, "Because of the combined efforts of councils working on the local level, reaching out to their girls, we have the ability to make a national impact on girls with incarcerated mothers."

Follow the Reader: A Girl Scout Family Reading Project, a joint initiative between SBC Foundation and GSUSA, also brings enrichment to families through its bilingual literacy series. Follow the Reader consists of booklets for Daisy, Brownie, and Junior Girl Scouts and their families. These booklets meet the important need for bilingual Girl Scout materials that lend family support to the lifelong habit of reading enjoyment. The SBC Foundation is the charitable giving arm of SBC Communications, Inc.

Life Skills

For young women and girls to discover their talents and fulfill their potential, they need opportunities to develop skills they can use in the real world. Got Money?: Saving and Investing and the CentsAbility curriculum teach girls financial literacy and budgeting skills. These materials come from a long-standing relationship between Mutual of America and GSUSA. From Mutual of America's standpoint, the partnership reflects its commitment to corporate citizenship, but the results can be difficult to measure.

Tom Moran, president and CEO of Mutual of America put it this way: "I would love if everyone who uses Got Money? was able to become more financially sophisticated. But the real opportunity is being able to help today's girls—tomorrow's future leaders—develop a sense of confidence."

Adapted from LEADER, Winter 2004. © Girl Scouts of the United States of America.