Girl Scout Camps: A Strategic Evaluation
Kathryn Michaels was the CEO of the Girl Scouts of Sunny Florida (GSSF). Eighteen months earlier, the GSSF Board created and charged a Long-Range Program and Properties task force (LRPP) to evaluate the best use of the council’s five camp properties in a strategic and financially responsible manner that would best meet the current and future program needs of girls. GSSF served close to 20,000 girls. At the onset of the process, the GSSF board decided to close and sell at least one camp by the next year and to use those proceeds to replace this shuttered capacity at the other camps, as well as fund deferred maintenance projects at other camps. Using the qualitative and quantitative data gathered by the LRPP, the primary question is which camp should be sold and that is the best interest for the council’s long-term viability.
In completing this assignment, students should be able to:
1. Apply the concept of “industry foresight” to non-profits.
2. Evaluate non-financial data in strategic decision making.
3. Discuss how financial analysis is one of many factors in decision making by preparing revenue projections based on various scenarios to determine which factors have the biggest impact on revenue changes.
4. Choose strategy techniques, such as the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) framework, to analyze data, both qualitative and quantitative, and recommend a course of action.