Finding Troop Co-Leaders and Volunteers

Finding a Co-Leader

As a troop leader, you have a lot on your plate so having a troop co-leader and/or volunteers can be helpful for a few reasons. Having a co-leader on your team helps you divide and conquer and doesn’t put all of the workload on one person. You’ll always need at least two unrelated adults at each troop meeting, so having a second adult helping you lead the meetings will help you meet safety ratios. Plus, co-leaders bring different skills and expertise to the table. These differences will help you decide who should do what. Perhaps one leader can take charge of leading field trips while another leader could handle logistics and communication for troop meetings! Planning troop meetings, communicating with families, and being amazing mentors for your troop gets easier when you get a co-leader on board!

Where can you find a co-leader? There are a few ways! If Girl Scouts have joined your troop, you can hold a family meeting and ask for family volunteers. Be clear in your expectations of what a co-leader will be doing in your troop. Being transparent and specific helps you find the right fit! However, your co-leader doesn’t have to be a parent or guardian of one of the Girl Scouts in your troop. You can ask a friend, neighbor, or family member to be your co-leader if you think they would make a great leader for your troop! Troop leaders (and other troop volunteers) do not have to identify as female to help out with troop activities. You can also post on social media using sample posts created by GSRV! Best of all, when your co-leader signs up to lead a new troop, their membership is free and so is a membership for one new Girl Scout.

Once you’ve found a co-leader, it’s time to figure out how you work together, manage conflict, and foster a healthy relationship. Whether you’ve known your co-leader for years, or you two just met to get your troop off the ground, working with someone in a new capacity, like troop leading, can shift the dynamics of even the longest relationships. First, you may want to take some time to get to know each other! What are their hobbies? Do they have experience with Girl Scouts? What type of time commitments do they have outside of Girl Scouts? Next, you’ll want to cover some important topics that will help you build a great working relationship. We recommend discussing things like communication styles, division of labor, and what you want your troop’s experience to look like. Are you splitting duties 50/50? If not and one person is taking on more responsibilities than the other, are you both okay with that arrangement? Remember that this can and should be an ongoing process—if a few months into your year you decide that you’d like to step back a little, or your co-leader would like to play a bigger part in the troop leading, re-evaluate and re-define. You can use our co-leader conversation guide as a starting point to get to know your co-leader.

You should revisit these topics often as your troop, personal lives, and availabilities change. Communication is key! Scheduling regular check-ins can help you remember to check in about how things are going. Use this opportunity not just to hash out troop meeting details, but also to find out how you’re both doing. Share recent challenges, questions, and anything else that’s happening in your life that might have an impact on your role as co-leader. Having these regular check-ins builds in set times throughout the year for you and your co-leader to take a breather to listen and offer support and guidance to each other. This also prevents issues from being pushed to the back burner and potentially snowballing into bigger problems. During these check-ins, don’t forget to celebrate your wins!

The relationship between co-leaders is not only important to the experience of the troop, but also to your experience as a volunteer! Your relationship is an investment—as co-leaders, you’ll build from one another’s strengths, share in the fun, and learn from each other’s perspectives, so take some time to put these tips into place because they’ll pay off in the long run!

What if you have individuals who would like to volunteer with the troop but don’t want to commit to being a co-leader? That’s still great! You shouldn’t have to do everything alone. While you do have to have a minimum of two adults at every meeting, having a few extra hands available to help you run a meeting can help tremendously. Below are a few tips for finding troop volunteers (or a co-leader).

Finding Volunteers

Tip #1: Reach Out to Your Troop Families toggle arrow

First and foremost, ask the parents, guardians, or relatives of the Girl Scouts in your troop. These adults are likely already invested in the success of your troop. They might love to help out but may just need a little nudge and encouragement. Bring it up while you’re raising excitement at your first troop family meeting. During the family meeting, have all of the adults fill out the Family Interest Survey. This will give you an idea of who can volunteer and in what capacity. As you go through your year, you’ll have these surveys to reference when you need to make specific asks. For example, maybe one of the parents indicated on their survey that they are interested in sharing their dance skills with the troop. Your troop expresses interest in learning more about dances from different cultures around the world. You can ask this parent to help plan and lead the next troop meeting that discusses this topic.

Remind your families that Girl Scouts can’t happen without a minimum of two registered and background-checked adults at each meeting (or more if you’re going on a field trip!). If adults in the troop can’t step up to help at a meeting or field trip, their Girl Scouts will miss out on those experiences.

Hold a family meeting to figure out what obstacles are preventing your families from volunteering with the troop and see if there are ways to get around these barriers. Each Girl Scout troop is different! Put your heads together to find ways that your families can create a system that works for the unique needs of your troop. Is childcare for younger siblings during troop meetings getting in the way of parents volunteering? Consider forming a childcare co-op where some parents care for the younger siblings and other parents help with the troop during meetings and events. Do you have some interested volunteers who don’t feel comfortable leading group activities? Put them in charge of preparing supplies or making field trip reservations. There are volunteer needs that fit everyone’s talents (and comfort levels)!

Set up a regular system for communicating like text messages, emails, Rallyhood, or a private Facebook group. If families are aware of what’s happening in the troop, they’ll be more likely to chip in and help. Update your families about badges the troop is earning, upcoming field trips, etc., and how many volunteers you’ll need to make these activities happen.

Be specific with your ask. Some parents will not follow through if you send out a general request for volunteers (“Can I get help from two volunteers at next week’s meeting?”) but will say yes to a specific ask (“Can you pick up nut-free snacks for our meeting next week?”).

Tip #2: Ask a Friend toggle arrow

Do you have a friend that’s looking for new ways to get involved in their community? If you already know someone you work well with, who is great with kids, and who believes in the Girl Scout mission, then look no further! They don’t have to be a parent – just an enthusiastic go-getter who’s ready to see the magic that happens when Girl Scouts lead the way.

Tip #3: Connect with Alums toggle arrow

Past Girl Scouts make fantastic co-leaders. They’ll be able to teach your troop all the traditions that make Girl Scouts special and speak to their own experience as a former Girl Scout. Curious if you have any alums in your area? Reach out to us at girlscouts@girlscoutsrv.org and we can look into it for you!

Tip #4: Tap Into the Power of Social Media toggle arrow

Ask your network! You can use this social media template to spread the word to your online community. If one of your own friends and followers can’t do it, they just might just know someone who can!

Tip #5: Ask the Experts toggle arrow

Still having trouble finding a co-leader? Reach out to your community/area leader—they might already have someone in mind who’s waiting to find the perfect troop (yours!).

Being a troop leader is one of the most rewarding experiences you can have—and we want you to be in Girl Scouts for the long run! Behind every leader is a great team. You are not alone! It can take a little time and effort to find that team, but in the end, it’s all worth it.