Dear Members and Friends of Girl Scouts,This update covers three topics:
Santa Rosa Forever Green.
November 8 is our Grand Finale Forever Green event, at Paradise Ridge in Santa Rosa! To celebrate Girl Scouts’ 100th Anniversary, Girl Scouts of Northern California is honoring 100 amazing women with the Forever Green Award, recognizing their contributions to a positive future for California. I’ve loved meeting our honorees at the six events we’ve held to date, in San Francisco, Alamo, Rutherford, Chico, Eureka, and Menlo Park.
At the Menlo Park event held earlier this month, the 15 award recipients included an opera singer, the chair of the Board of Intel, and soccer star Brandi Chastain. Each woman shared the “best advice” she’s ever received. Brandi shared words of wisdom from her grandfather. He was her biggest cheerleader and came to all her soccer games. He gave her $1 for every goal she scored. And, he gave her $1.50 for each assist. His advice, and the lesson he taught Brandi: It is better to give than to receive. Santa Rosa Forever Green honorees include:
- Merry Edwards, owner/winemaker, Merry Edwards Winery
- Liz Ellis, owner & principal, Green Valley Consulting Engineers
- Peggy Furth, managing partner, SonomaCeuticals
- Joyce Hinrichs, judge, Humboldt County Superior Court
- Sydnie Kohara, broadcast journalist
I hope to see you there as we wind down this remarkable
100th Anniversary year! For tickets and sponsorship information, click here.
Saving our Camps!
I am pleased to report that we made good progress during year one of our Property Plan. Last fall, the Board Property Task Group shared a draft plan to help us save our camp properties. After receiving member input at town hall meetings and via email and letters, the Board adopted a Property Plan at its November 2011 meeting.
Girl Scouts of Northern California spends about $2.1 million each year to operate and maintain 29 Girl Scouts of Northern California properties which include 6 offices, 2 service centers, 8 program centers, and 13 camp properties and outdoor program centers. The Plan is designed to improve our properties and reduce the annual loss on our camp properties by $500,000 through a combination of revenue growth, cost
reductions and donations of time, materials and dollars.
We took actions during 2012 that will reduce our annual losses on camp properties by about $280,000 on a recurring basis, including
conservation easements on two Santa Cruz Mountain camps, increased rentals and work parties. We have plans in place to reduce losses by another $100,000 in
2013. You may click on this link or read below for a more detailed one year Progress Report about our camp properties.
This picture shows one of hte 1,420 old growth redwoods protected under our Conservation Easements!
Many members are contributing to these positive results – renting our camps, promoting our camps, attending camp, helping at work parties, and donating dollars and materials. Thank you for your support! It is making a difference!
You also can visit these pages to learn how you can enjoy and help support Girl Scouts of Northern California’s camps:
Regional Delegate Nominations Open through Nov. 30, 2012.
Are you an adult or girl 14 years and older, interested in representing your region in
discussions about GSNorCal’s property plan and other strategic and governance
decisions? If yes, then you should considering becoming a Regional Delegate.
Nominations for the Regional Delegates positions opened Oct. 1 and will be open
until Nov. 30, 2012. Elections will be held in January. You can learn more about
becoming a Regional Delegate, your Region, and the nomination process, by clicking
here.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Marina
October 2012, Camp Property Plan Progress Report
Last fall the Board Property Task Group developed, with your input at town hall meetings and via email and letters, a draft plan to help us save our camp properties. The Board adopted the plan at its November 2011 meeting. This one year update reports on our progress and the work ahead. In summary, we are making progress. Summer 2012 was a record year for attendance at both council-run and volunteer-run camps, and we were able to reduce annual losses on camp property operations by about $280,000. During 2013 and beyond, we are taking action to achieve a further $220,000 in annual savings.
Our Challenge.
Girl Scouts of Northern California spends about $2.1 million each year
to operate and maintain 29 Girl Scouts of Northern California properties which
include 6 offices, 2 service centers, 8 program centers and 13 camp properties
and outdoor program centers. This is more than we can afford. To maintain a
balanced budget, we need to reduce this annual loss by $500,000 on a recurring
basis, through a combination of revenue growth, cost reductions and donations of
time, materials and dollars.
Our Property Plan.
The Board Property Task Group, formed in April 2008, learned about the
properties through property tours, member surveys, girl focus groups, Annual
Meeting discussions, evaluations of financial and user data, a camp architect’s
report on our resident camps, town hall meetings and a hard look at our
council’s financial realities and forecasts. We also took action on Member
recommendations, including hiring a Director of Property Development during
2011, to improve marketing and information about our sites, and increase use and
rentals of Girl Scout camp properties by Girl Scout members and other
non-profits. This gave us an opportunity to “test the market” to see what
opportunities there are to increase use and rentals of our properties and to
better understand what improvements might be needed to help us increase
rentals. Based on this work, the Task Group recommended that GSNorCal use a
phased approach to improve the economics of our camps and outdoor program
centers, with no planned property sales. Our focus is on saving -- not
selling. We hope that by reducing losses on camp property operations, we will
be able to save all of our camps and outdoor program centers. The first phase
focuses on improving the economics of six Tier 1 and Tier 2 camps.
Tier 1 Camp Properties (Bothin, Butano and Skylark Ranch): These
are the most used and most expensive camps to operate and also are the
properties from which we are most likely to be able to generate significant
additional revenue.
Tier 2 Camp Properties (Sugar Pine, Twin Canyon and Two Sentinels): These are the camp properties where we are most likely to be able to achieve break-even
operations.
2012 Progress Report
We made good progress during year one of the Property Plan and are on track to build on that progress during FY2013. The five activities summarized below, reduced our annual losses by about $280,000 on a recurring basis, and there is still room to do better, especially in rentals, donations and work parties.
Property Reserve Portfolio: $114,000. In March 2012, we announced transactions called “conservation easements” on Butano Creek and Skylark Ranch. Sempervirens Fund, a conservation organization, paid Girl Scouts of Northern California $2.86
million, and, in exchange, we are not allowed to cut down trees or develop the
properties outside a defined “camp activity area.” Our Board and Investment
Committee established a Property Reserve Portfolio with a goal of growing the
portfolio over time and generating needed funds to maintain our Tier 1 camp
properties. Assuming 4% growth – the fund will generate about $114,000 each
year. On average, we should be spending or reserving about $114,000 each year to
pay for required capital repairs on Butano Creek and Skylark Ranch. So the
Property Reserve Portfolio helps us maintain and sustain these beloved
camps!
Rental Fees: $110,000. We rent Girl Scouts of Northern California Properties to our members and to other non-profits. We raised fees in 2012 and saw results from the
Director of Property Development position we created in 2011 to increase
promotion and rentals to Girl Scouts and other nonprofits. Through August 2012,
we generated almost $110,000 more in rent than we did during 2011.
Donations: $38,000. During 2012 we received the largest donation in the history
of our council -- $1 million from the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation to improve
Camp Butano Creek. The Butano improvements will help us increase rentals and
also reduce repair costs. We also received $38,482.31 in donations designated to
our Tents and Trails Campaign, found online here. Many Tents and
Trails donors donated to the general fund for all camps and others chose to
donate to specific camp properties:
- All camps as needed: $33,104.01
- Sugar Pine: $200
- Hidden Falls: $1,404.50
- Skylark Ranch: $1,100
- Twin Canyon: $2,673.80
These donations make a big difference in our ability to keep our camps open.
Gifts of time and labor. During FY2012 140 volunteers pitched in at 8 work parties held on 7 different camp properties. Our goal for FY2013 is to increase this to 325
volunteers at 13 work parties!
Two Sentinels ($20,000). This is an amazing volunteer-run camp run on a beautiful
property in the High Sierra. The property is only open when camp is in session.
The Two Sentinels volunteer group stepped up and took full responsibility for
operation and maintenance of the camp, and will work with our staff property
team before and after each camp season, so we can make sure the camp meets
safety standards and is appropriately insured. This change in how we are
operating this camp property, achieves our goal for Two Sentinels, bringing it
to “break-even” operation, and reducing our forecast average annual loss (which
included average planned capital repairs) by about $20,000 each year.
Looking Ahead to 2013
The actions we took during 2012 reduced annual camp property losses by about $280,000 on a recurring basis. Our goal for 2013 is to reduce annual losses by another $100,000, primarily through increased rental and program fees and progress on the Twin Canyon Break-even plan.
Rental and Program Fees. Our goal is to continue to increase use of our properties by members and other non-profits. We also are raising rental fees to keep up with rising costs, which include insurance and maintenance costs. We plan to generate an
incremental $50,000 through these actions during 2013. You can learn more about
property rentals at our website.
Work parties. We have planned 13 work parties for the 2012-2013 Girl Scout year, including 4 already completed this fall. 40
volunteers pitched in at last weekend’s Butano work party, and we are expecting at least 25 at Skylark Ranch on November 3. Our goal is at least 25 volunteers at each work party – so that would be 325 volunteers during FY2013, up from 140 during the 2011-2012 year. Priscilla McKenney, our Director of Property
Development, wrote after the Butano work party: “I worked with 9 Girl Scouts who were really great workers. We were working on the restoration of one of our trails- primarily improving the eroded steps. This troop wants to come back and continue working on this trail!” You can see the girls’ restoration project in this photo!
You can learn more about how to help out at the Work Party section of our website.
Bothin Outdoor Program Manager. Bothin is our most-used and our most expensive property to operate and maintain. It is a great site for year-round gatherings. Our goal is to make it easier for members and other non-profits to rent Bothin and enjoy all
that it has to offer. Towards that end, we are hiring a new position – a year
round Bothin Outdoor Program Manager. The Bothin Outdoor Program Manager will
help coordinate program experiences at Bothin and also serve as the summer Camp
Director. Our goal: to make it easier for Girl Scouts and other non-profit groups to rent Bothin and experience all that Bothin has to offer, including the Challenge Course, Bothin Organic Garden, Archery and nature walks. We also are excited to be offering a week day volunteer-run archery program at Bothin, which is already sold out!
Butano Creek Improvements. We will begin work this year on improvements to Butano Creek funded by the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation, increasing capacity and making this camp work better for Girl Scout programs and camp and week day rentals to other non-profits.
Twin Canyon Break-even Plan. The volunteer-led Twin Canyon Working Group, began work last March, at the request of the Property Task Group, to develop a plan to get Twin Canyon to break-even operation by the 2017 budget. The Twin Canyon Working Group presented its plan to the Property Task Group earlier this month. They’ve done a great job, working closely with Diablo Day Camp volunteers, who run a wonderful summer day camp on the property for over 1,600 girls. The Twin Canyon Working Group has also worked with community members and presented a five-year plan that includes increased day camp fees, fund raising, and donations of time and
materials. Their plan for 2013 will reduce losses by about 50% with the
remaining 50% loss reduction occurring through fund raising and increased
rentals between 2014 and 2017.
Sugar Pine. Sugar Pine is in the group of properties that we think we should be
able to get to break-even operation by increasing camp capacity to improve the
economics of this camp. However, to increase the number of girls at camp, we
need to remodel the kitchen and add some platform tents. We have included these
costs in our 2013 budget, but will not spend the money to increase capacity at
Sugar Pine until we see results indicating that 2013 revenue is on track to meet
our budget goals.
Other Camp Property News
Camp Improvement Plans. We have worked with a camp architect to develop improvement plans for our three most used camps: Bothin, Butano Creek and Skylark Ranch, with a goal of increasing capacity and rentals, enhancing program experiences
and reducing repair costs.
Ropes and Challenge Courses. The ropes course at Skylark Ranch and challenge course at Bothin are open for day rentals – and we are starting to increase week-day rentals. Click
here for ropes course rental information. You can learn more about ropes course rentals in our new GSNorCal blog by clicking here.
Bothin (Marin County). We opened an amazing Challenge Course and held a successful “Journey Weekend” and have more scheduled for 2013.
Deer Lake (near Truckee). Because of late snow and early school start dates, the
season keeps getting shorter and that makes it increasingly difficult to manage
the costs of operating this camp property. During 2012 we held a successful
Labor Day weekend family camp and will continue to explore ways to increase use
of this beautiful mountain property by Girl Scout members and other non-profits.
To improve the economics of operating this camp for such a short season, we
need to increase the number of girls who can attend each session of camp. This
would require an investment of dollars to increase the camp’s capacity. Our
Plan calls for us to improve the economics of our Tier 1 and Tier 2 camps before
we make a decision about whether we can afford to invest in increased capacity
at Deer Lake.
Hidden Falls (Santa Cruz County). This lovely property is re-opened for troop camping (it was closed pending required and expensive road repairs). This camp has quite a bit of deferred maintenance and needs still more road work. Once we’ve made more progress on improving the economics of our Tier 1 camps, our Property Task Group hopes to form a Hidden Falls Working Group (as we have with Twin Canyon) to help us develop a long-term plan to improve the economics of Hidden Falls.
Rainbows End (Santa Clara County). We have the permits in hand (at long last) to repair the bridge to this property (home to Camp Metro day camp in the summer), as required by the County. This is an underused property and we will be working with local service units during 2013 to determine whether there are opportunities to
increase its value to and use by members.
Ida Smith (San Francisco County). We expect this property to be returned to Girl Scouts by the Water District during 2013, and will work with local members to develop a plan for its use, improvement and funding.
The Cove (Napa County). This is a very rustic property, so it is not nearly as expensive to operate as some of our other camp properties. We’ve had success renting it to nonprofit groups that teach outdoor survival skills! Unfortunately, we had to
cancel our fall 2012 work party because of low participation.
Cordelia (Napa County). We continue to use the outdoor space for program and the
building (which was damaged in a 2005 flood) as a Council storage facility.
It is great to see increased use, work party participation and dollars for our Camp Properties. We are making progress because volunteers, parents, camp alumnae, staff and donors are working together towards a shared goal – to build and execute long- term sustainable plans to maintain and operate our camp properties. That’s how we save our
camps!
If you are interested in learning more about the Property Plan and progress to save our camps, I encourage you to visit the following sites: