Welcome to the sixteenth edition of The Cookie Press for the 2024 Cookie Season!
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Six Steps to Wrapping Up the Cookie Program
- Girl Scout and Troop Rewards Orders Due April 2
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End of Sale Banking
- Volunteer Cookie Hoodie Orders Due April 22
- Cookie Pro of the Week Winners
- Cookie Spirit Award Winners
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For Service Unit Cookie Managers:
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Service Unit Reward Support
- Service Unit Reward Shipment Address Reminder
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Six Steps to Wrapping Up the Cookie Program
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You are so close to the cookie finish line! Our sales season wraps up on March 31 with the final day for troop-secured booths, shipped cookie sales, online orders for in-person delivery, and individual sales. Follow the 6 Steps to Wrap Up the Cookie Program document to ensure you have completed all the steps to close out the cookie sale for your troop. By working through this document step-by-step, you can ensure you’ve tied up any loose ends and your troop members get proper credit for their sales. These six steps include:
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Check your troop cookie totals.
- Check your Girl Scout cookie totals.
- Process donations (if your troop participated in donations).
- Distribute Troop Direct Ship sales (if applicable).
- Check your troop finances.
- Order the rewards.
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Our staff will be reaching out to troops with a courtesy email by March 31 if they have over-allocated, under-allocated, or not allocated any cookie inventory in Smart Cookies. If you receive this email and need assistance, please reach out to your Service Unit Cookie Manager or Girl Scouts River Valleys.
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Girl Scout and Troop Rewards Orders Due April 2 |
Each Girl Scout’s rewards are based on the sales totals for packages and donations sold and transferred in Smart Cookies. Some reward levels do require a choice between an item and a Cookie Credit. You can collect the reward choices for the girls in your troop is several ways:
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Families can indicate their reward choices in the My Rewards Tab in their Digital Cookie account. From the troop’s Digital Cookie account, you can then download the Rewards Selection report from the dashboard.
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Important note: these choices DO NOT transfer to Smart Cookies. You must make the selection in Smart Cookies. If the total packages displayed in Digital Cookie do not match the girl’s total in Smart Cookies and they are unable to unlock the next reward selection level, simply have the family report the choice to you.
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Ask families to make their choices on the 2024 Cookie Rewards Flyer (PDF), take a photo, and text it to you.
- Create a Google Doc to indicate reward choices.
- Use text or email.
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Once you have all the reward choices, then you’ll order the items in Smart Cookies on or before April 2. If a selection is not made by the deadline, the rewards will default to Cookie Credits. Reference the instructions in The Smart Cookies Guide for Volunteers for ordering rewards. Or check out this video to walk you through the steps:
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If your troop achieved a 240, 340, or 440 PGA, you’ll order the troop PGA rewards in Smart Cookies. If your troop did not reach these PGA levels, no action is needed. To confirm your Troop PGA, view the Troop Balance Summary Report. Follow these steps to order troop rewards:
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Create the Troop Recognition Order
- Enter the number of Girl Scouts selling in each red box for the items the troop earned
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If your troop earned the dry bag backpack at the 440 PGA level, you must enter the number of girls selling + 2 adults in the red box (Juliettes would receive 2 backpacks: 1 for the Juliette and 1 for the Juliette Mentor). For example, if the troop had 4 Girl Scouts selling, you would enter 6 total backpacks (1 for each Girl Scout selling plus 2 for the adults). Note: The two adult option will only appear if you have two adult contacts in Smart Cookies. Contact us if you need an adult added to Smart Cookies.
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Online rewards, patch programs, and the Combo Patch are all tracked outside of Smart Cookies.
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Reward Substitution at the 1,000 Package Level
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The Eno Hanging Lounge Chair at the 1,000 package level is no longer available. We are substituting the Eno Lounger DL Chair along with the ENO blanket at this sales level.
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You’re making those final deposits into the troop bank account, crediting girls with financial transactions, and preparing for the final ACH later this month. You may encounter a few clean-up tasks at the end of the sale. If you do, complete a Finance/Inventory Issue Form by April 2. Here are a few examples of tasks that require this form to be completed to alert our staff so we can assist on the issue:
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- Excess cookie inventory your troop needs additional time to sell
- Unpaid cookie money from families
- Stolen cookies/money or counterfeit money received
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Volunteer Cookie Hoodie Orders Due by April 22 |
Volunteers who wish to order this year’s cookie hoodie can complete the order form by April 22. Payment for the hoodies must be done by ACH from the troop account or for Juliettes, a reduction in Juliette Program Credits. Hoodies will be shipped to the address on the form later this summer. One order per troop, please. The cost does include shipping and handling fees.
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Cookie Pro of the Week Award Winners |
Announcing this week's Cookie Pro of the Week Winners:
D/B/J Winner: Leila F. Troop 18851
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C/S/A Winner: Ciarah H. and MacKenzie G. Troop 57566
You can read about all of our Cookie Pro of the Week Winners on our website. Girl Scouts in the winning troops will receive the 2024 Cookie Pro patch and all weekly winners will be eligible to win "Cookie Pro of the Year" which is a grand prize of a $200 credit towards admission of either an Escape Room or Trampoline Park. If you can believe it, this is already our last week of Cookie Pro winners. Keep your eye out for next weeks TCP where we will announce our Cookie Pro of the Year winners!
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"Smells Like Cookie Spirit" Award Winners |
It’s another week of celebrating the awesomeness of our cookie volunteers! Check out our latest Smells Like Cookie Spirit Award winners:
Lynn Schmidt:Lynn ( SU 138 ) is the best SU Cookie manager around. She is well organized and a wealth of information. More important than this though is the way she supports all of us. I have asked her SO many questions over the years and am struck by how patient and kind she is as she finds solutions to my questions and concerns. She embodies the true Spirit of Girl Scouts and leadership.
Michelle Morlan: Not only an amazing cookie mom but also our troop leader, Michelle is nothing short of amazing. Managing multiple booths on the same day and often at the same time, all with a calm grace. To top it off - I became cookie mom for my youngest and she has stood with and coached me the whole way. Everytime she sends something out- she selflessly sends me the original documents and spreadsheets so I can tailor it to my own troop. I don’t know how we would have done the last 5 years without her. I truly won the jackpot when I signed up my oldest to her troop.
Winners of the "Smells Like Cookie Spirit" award will receive a prize pack of Girl Scout cookie scented body care products from Native and a big hi-five from the Product Program Team! Nominate a cookie volunteer for consideration today. All submissions will carry over each week.
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Service Unit Reward Support |
One of the most important deadlines of the cookie season is the reward deadline. As a Service Unit Cookie Manager or Manager, you can help ensure everyone receives the correct rewards they earned to wrap-up their season on a high note. What can you do to assist?
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Reach out to troops to remind them of the April 2 deadline
- Run the Troop On Hand Inventory Report to review the list of troops that have not allocated their cookies or are showing negative inventory. Connect with these troops to offer your assistance
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Review the Troop Balance Summary Report and alert troops at the 240/340/440 PGA levels that they must order the rewards in Smart Cookies
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While troops will be locked out of editing reward orders after April 2, Service Units will be able to make edits to troop reward orders until April 3 at 11:59 PM. You can view the actions needed on your SU Dashboard in Smart Cookies under the Action Items section. You can click on the link under each action item listed below and export the results to Excel to help you view the affected troops and the action they are missing:
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Troops with no Main Recognition Order: this will show you the troops that have not started an order.
- Incomplete Recognition Orders: this will show you a list of troops where an action is missing for a reward.
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If reward choices are not made at applicable package levels for Girl Scouts by April 3, the rewards will be defaulted to Cookie Credits.
Note: If you want to view the Senior and Ambassador troops that opted out of rewards, you can view the Troop Balance Summary report to see the opt out under the troop proceed plan.
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Service Unit Reward Shipment Address Reminder
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We will ship rewards to the address you have listed in Smart Cookies. To verify or update your address, go to Smart Cookies: My Service Unit>Service Unit Info. Review the information on this screen. If the information for the volunteer and address is correct, no action is needed. If the volunteer information is incorrect, you can update the information in each field, then click on Update Information to save your edits. Review and edit this information if needed by April 3. Rewards will ship the week of May 27. We’ll provide more information on how to distribute rewards ahead of receiving the shipment.
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Have a question? Don't be shy!
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