Girl Guides of Canada cookies are the official fundraiser for the organization and this is the only approved fundraising vehicle. The sale of cookies benefits all levels of Guiding and participation is expected for both fall and spring cookie campaigns. The benefit for girls selling cookies to raise funds is that they can register for the Cookie All Star program which offers a tiered reward system for girls.
Approval for any other type of fundraising is required and all fund development should be done in accordance with the Governance Policy of Girl Guides of Canada (members can find the Governance Policy in section 01-19-01).
Fund development includes both the passive provision for, and active solicitation of, gifts from supporters of GGC.
Fund development activities that GGC may undertake to meet specific material, resource or programming needs may include grant-seeking, fundraising and providing for major and planned gifts.
Fundraising Approval Process
To seek approval, the adult member must complete and submit an application for Fundraising Approval (FR.1).
Should the purpose of fundraising be for travel, then the FR.1 is submitted in conjunction with the Travel Pre-Authorization (SG.8) to trips@guidesontario.org for assessment. A full and detailed budget is also part of this submission for trips.
At this time, FR.1 forms are only being accepted for travel taking place in 2022 onwards.
A minimum of 25 per cent of the total amount fundraised for GGC activities, events and travel must be raised through cookies sales.
How is the 25% for cookies calculated?
Based on the overall amount you wish to fundraise, estimate the number of cases of cookies you need to sell. For example, if your fundraising goal is $2,000, then a minimum of $500 of that must be raised through cookie sales. That means you have to order and sell 40.82 or 41 cases of cookies to achieve your goal.
How can we divide fundraised monies?
Your unit can determine in advance if all participants will equally share in the group sale of cookies or if you are going to apply the fundraising individually based on each participant's sale.
If you are raising funds to participate in an independent interprovincial or international trip, there is an Excel template that you will use to assist you in easily tracking the amounts per participant.
What are the rules about fundraising?
There are specific types of fundraising that is not permitted. Full details are found in the Governance Policy. There is also a specific policy regarding funds raised for travel-related activities. The first step is the SG.8approval.
Note: All money collected by fundraising belongs to GGC and must be spent on the project, trip or event for which it was raised. Funds cannot be assigned to another activity.
How are donations handled by Ontario's Unit Banking?
For the full details, review the Unit Banking FAQs on this topic.