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Girl Scouts USA

Is this your company?

Will crap stick to the wall if you throw it with enough force? - Anonymous employee Girl Scouts USA Employee Review

1.0
Sep 7, 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Girl Scouts are upstanding, inspirational human beings, and the majority of volunteers that I interacted with were wholly dedicated to the organization's mission and invested in these girls' lives.

Cons

Let's get the petty stuff out of the way: The pay sucks. There's no room for advancement. No career development. Micromanagement from the top-down. No trust in lower level employees or in volunteers. No guidance provided to new employees. No vision for what the organization should be. Staff turnover is very high and morale is nonexistent. Office politics are brutal, with staff members being more than willing to build their careers on the backs of their colleagues. Some staff members exceed their goals and have their accomplishments ignored, while others miss their marks by huge margins and are still kept on staff year after year. A half-hearted attempt at strategic planning is underway at the moment, but so far it's only resulted in a major facility/program being shuttered due to under-use and the Legal team being fired. Nearly every high-profile, glitzy fundraising event turns in a financial loss for the organization. The new CEO seems to mean well, but after six years of losing at least $1M a year, this organization needs a complete overhaul before it bleeds to death, starting with most of the C-Team. But even worse than that? The Chicagoland council doesn't know its audience. Upper management has no idea who these girls are, in part because the potential audience is so enormous (population-wise and demographically), and they have no interest in figuring out how they can better serve girls. They don't care to distinguish between rich North Shore suburbanites, working class Indianans, and their diverse urban audience--programming, marketing, and membership use a one-size-fits-all approach that misses so many girls who'd otherwise love the Girl Scouting experience. The board makes decisions without asking those served by the organization, and management follows in lockstep without questioning the wisdom. The rest of us fight for the scraps, trying anything we can think of allowed by our limited resources to attract girls and constantly failing. The Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana doesn't serve girls, it serves itself.

Explore other reviews about Girl Scouts USA

5.0
Feb 6, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Really enjoyed the experience! Great for students.

Cons

I didn’t think there were many cons

2.0
Jul 13, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Decent benefits, less hours than a conventional full-time job, good mission (although they're losing the plot with that more recently). Your experience will vary greatly depending on who your direct report is.

Cons

Terrible leadership, staff morale is low and people have complained about the toxic work environment for years to no avail. There is poor communication in regard to organizational changes (which are nearly constant). This business has had incredibly high turnover from the top down for some time now, lots of things fall through the cracks since there is a constant scramble to find staff to complete all of the work that needs to be done. This puts a lot of stress on the staff that actually stick around, their loyalty will only result in menial raises and twice the responsibility. The employee handbook is merely a suggestion to management staff, as the rules are insolvent, unenforceable and serve as nothing but a shield for management. The culture here is "rules for thee, and not for me," favoritism is rampant. Accountability is nonexistent for managerial staff who violate policy or mistreat employees, the org would sooner fire someone before they ever seek to resolve an issue. They have layoffs every 9-12 months or so. If you are looking for a long term position you should probably stay away, this company is likely a year or two away from going belly up if things don't change, but the new CEO just hired several of her friends into C-suite positions so they could siphon money out of the org in its last days, you can check the 990 if you're curious. For a nonprofit that should abide by the Girl Scout Law/Promise they essentially do everything except practice what they preach. They misuse resources, people, finances, relationships and the members they claim to serve, a recipe for disaster for a business model that relies on community and sisterhood.

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