Cookie Dough Concerns

The Shocking Bill Your Daughter's Girl-Scout Cookie Money Is Paying
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/06/29/the-shocking-bill-your-daughters-girl-scout-cookie.aspx
The Motley Fool, June 29, 2013   Dan Caplinger
For many parents, there's less incentive to work hard on fundraising efforts when they know that an alarmingly large portion of the proceeds from their labors will go not toward current programs for girls but rather toward getting a distant national organization out of its financial bind. To avoid the challenges the GSUSA now faces, other popular nonprofit organizations need to look closely at their employee benefits to keep would-be donors from balking at the prospect of funding pensions rather than supporting the current programs that do so much good.
How the Girl Scouts built their $700 million cookie empire
Small Business on NBCNews.com, 2012
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42270952/ns/business-small_business/t/how-girl-scouts-built-their-million-cookie-empire/#.Uga0Sry9zws
In 1998, HQ introduced “age appropriate awards” for cookie sales activity that gave their army of salesladies a new incentive to close as many deals as possible during the short, seasonal sales windows.

Badges include the Cookie Count, Smart Cookie, The Cookie Connection, Cookie Biz and, for serious salesladies, Cookies & Dough.
Bureaucracy Eats Girl Scout Cookie Profits -- Some Volunteers Complain That Troops Get Only Crumbs
The Seattle Times, May 1993 (older article, but info still pertinent, especially the stifling of dissent)
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19930513&slug=1701067
Though Denton's boycott failed to spread much beyond West Haven, where several troops refused to sell, many leaders around the state privately applaud her. Explaining why she doesn't speak out, one says: "I'm afraid I'd be dismissed. I've been with my girls since they were 5 years old - it would kill me."

Such concerns are well-founded, for the Girl Scouts do not take kindly to renegades. "You either march to their tune, or they will kick you out of the band," says Randall, the California attorney. Connecticut Trails' statement notes that its 12 paid field executives exist to "ensure proper enforcement of its policies."

Pat McCarthy of Lebanon, Conn., a Brownie leader who circulated a petition to have Denton reinstated, finds the stifling of dissent ironic for an organization that awards badges to girls who lobby for a cause.

"Horrified" by Beth Denton's firing, McCarthy says she contacted the state human-rights commission before starting her petition drive, "so I don't fall prey to the same retaliation."

At a February meeting, she says she confronted Del Pizzo, the council's executive director, with this question: "Would I be fired if I exercised my First Amendment right to free speech and peaceful protest? The answer was yes, I probably would."

Girl Scouts dominate
cookie sales market

USA Today,  March 15, 2013
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/03/15/girl-scouts-dominate-cookie-sales/1989791/
The scouts' seasonal sales totaled $785 million last year, making it No. 3 in the industry.

The purpose of the annual cookie sale is to teach girls about goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics. The girls receive merit badges for each skill.
World's largest girl-led
business creates leaders
Fox News, February 2013
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2151918968001/worlds-largest-girl-led-business-creates-leaders/

Girl Scouts Anna Maria Chavez on how the $790 million dollar cookie program teaches girls five essential life skills.