Girl Scout Cookies

Girl Scout Cookies are cookies sold by Girl Scouts in the United States to raise funds to support Girl Scout councils and individual troops. The cookies are widely popular and are commonly sold by going door-to-door, online, through school or town fundraisers, or at “cookie booths” set up at storefronts. The program is intended to both raise money and improve the financial literacy of girls. During an average selling season (usually January through April), more than one million girls sell over 200 million packages of cookies and raise over $800 million. The first known sale of cookies by Girl Scouts was in 1917.

Each Girl Scout council operates its own cookie sale. Approximately 70% of the proceeds stay in the local Girl Scout council to support Girl Scouting in that area, including a portion, approximately 15%, that goes directly to the group selling the cookies. The profits are divided by a formula, with local troops receiving about 10-15% of the retail price, the council more than 50%, and the manufacturer the remainder.
Wikipedia

Something about this Wikipedia caption cracks me up. Is it to help future space aliens distinguish between the girls, the woman, and the cookies?

2024

On-Line Sales

One of the many, many benefits of living in Texas is that Girl Scout Cookies become available in late January. For the rest of the world, you’ll have to wait until Feb. 16.

From the Girl Scout Cookie FAQ:

Late stage capitalism: this is an example of Cookie Arbitrage. How low-rent! Ripping off the Girl Scouts!

WLBOTT Wonders: Were these boxes of cookies intended to be single-serving?

The Big Picture

The Girl Scouts of America is organized under an umbrella organization called the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.

The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts is a global association supporting the female-oriented and female-only Guiding and Scouting organisations in 152 countries. It was established in 1928 in Parád, Hungary, and has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom.

The mission of the WAGGGS is to enable girls and young women to reach for their potential as responsible citizens of the world.

WAGGGS provides a non-formal educational program that provides training in life skills, leadership and decision making. It also offers projects and programs at an international level that enable Girl Guides and Girl Scouts to be responsible world citizens through action and activity in the community. – Wikipedia

The current chair of the World Committee / World Board is Candela Gonzalez.

Candela is a member of Asociación Guías Argentinas (AGA). Since 2017, she has been serving as a member of the National Board and as Vice President & member of the WAGGGS Governance Committee since 2018. She completed her National Trainer training at AGA and has been a Leader for 8 years.

In a professional capacity, Candela works in the Programmes division at UNICEF Argentina. She holds a bachelor’s degree In International Relations is currently completing a master’s in International Cooperation.

“Guiding has an important role in breaking down social barriers, by telling the stories of girls, and empowering them.

More than ever, Guiding must remain as a relevant space for girls and young women to become fulfilled active citizens who contribute to positive changes in themselves, their communities and the world.” – WAGGGS

Per-Capita Participation

It’s interesting to look at Girl Scout/Guide participation by country. The following chart was extrapolated by WLBOTT actuaries based on the WAGGGS Wikipedia table.

	Country	Membership	Population	% of pop
1	Cook Islands	700	17,459	4.009
2	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	2066	104,332	1.980
3	Grenada	2288	124,610	1.836
4	United States of America	3169371	331,900,000	0.955
5	Netherlands Antilles	255	27,114	0.940
6	United Kingdom	554939	67,330,000	0.824
7	Hong Kong	59030	7,413,000	0.796
8	Philippines	692629	113,900,000	0.608
9	Belgium	56879	11,590,000	0.491
10	Finland	23450	5,541,000	0.423
11	Uganda	174219	45,850,000	0.380
12	Kuwait	15000	4,250,000	0.353
13	Saint Kitts and Nevis	158	47,606	0.332
14	Netherlands	53796	17,530,000	0.307
15	Kenya	159399	53,010,000	0.301
16	Sweden	28546	10,420,000	0.274
17	Malawi	54144	19,890,000	0.272
18	Canada	92000	38,250,000	0.241
19	Norway	11792	5,408,000	0.218
20	Burundi	19929	12,550,000	0.159
21	Malaysia	52858	33,570,000	0.157
22	Zimbabwe	24270	15,990,000	0.152
23	Sri Lanka	32817	22,160,000	0.148
24	Italy	86114	59,110,000	0.146
25	Madagascar	44048	30,325,000	0.145
26	Poland	49304	37,750,000	0.131
27	India	1780545	1,408,000,000	0.126
28	Zambia	23531	19,470,000	0.121
29	Tanzania	71236	63,590,000	0.112
30	Chile	19337	19,490,000	0.099
31	Solomon Islands	697	707,851	0.098
32	Australia	25077	25,690,000	0.098
33	Rwanda	12492	13,460,000	0.093
34	South Korea	45139	51,740,000	0.087
35	Thailand	57731	71,600,000	0.081
36	Nepal	22061	30,300,000	0.073
37	Monaco	23	36,686	0.063
38	Germany	51749	83,200,000	0.062
39	France	41335	67,750,000	0.061
40	Ghana	19191	32,830,000	0.058
41	Nigeria	120000	213,400,000	0.056
42	Bangladesh	93323	169,400,000	0.055
43	Pakistan	110826	231,400,000	0.048
44	South Africa	27449	59,390,000	0.046
45	Egypt	39995	109,300,000	0.037
46	Yemen	11765	32,980,000	0.036
47	Japan	34927	125,700,000	0.028
48	Russia	1997	143,400,000	0.001

Girl Scout Cookies in the Soviet Union?

Nyet.

Historical Cookies

Although the Wikipedia page says that Girl Scout Cookie sales began in 1917, WLBOTT research suggests that they may have a history that stretches far back in time.