Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council
Conversations That Matter – # 6
TROOP LEVEL FINANCES SURVEY - RESULTS
1.
What is your preferred bank and why?
 Chase - many locations bank there and their staff is always very helpful and friendly
 Chase – because they have free checking for Girl Scouts
 Chase – convenient to my house
 Chase – I was told they do not charge a service fee but now find out they do.
 Wells Fargo – the only bank I have had, it is convenient to my office
 Wells Fargo – good online banking software, seemingly stable company
 Wells Fargo – many branches, easy to work with, offer the services my troop needs without fees
 Wells Fargo for Product Sales
 Wells Fargo – my SU records indicate that we have been with Wells Fargo or other banks they
have acquired since 1982. We are grandfathered.
 Wells Fargo. I like the hours – more convenient
 Wells Fargo – bank has changed names five times where the account has been for years.
 Capital 1 - no fees for normal use
 Amoco Federal Credit Union – they are great and always helpful
 Woodforest – they have a bank card
 Sterling Bank – offered no fee for Girl Scouts
 Moody Bank – because at the time all troops banked there
 Amegy – no fees to Girl Scouts.
 Comerica
 Prosperity Bank – local, courteous, no fees
 Members Choice Credit Union – free account, interest earning. Close to my house.
 Tradition – make all SU troops have account there. Small bank and helpful
 Compass – personnel are awesome
 Community Bank of Texas
 Frost – no fees
 Comerica and Sterling – nice people no fees
 Comerica – it was free of fees and treated us personally well. That mneans a lot to me with
money that is not mine.
 Woodforest. They are helpful and friendly
 BBVA Compass. No service fees, good location, online
 First Bank and Trust – because that is where I bank. It makes it easier for deposits
 We use Tradition but do not like the fees or lack of debit card. No experience with others.
 Low fees is priority – night drop box available
 Any that don’t have a service charge per month or per check
 IBC – Free checking with no minimum balance; branch in HEB is open on weekends.
2.
If you don’t have a bank account, what are the barriers that prevent your troop from opening an account?
 Fees charged monthly
 Treasurer not receiving an appointment letter
 Leader not comfortable being responsible for money that is not personally theirs
 I am very concerned about banking for us using our very limited $$
3.
If you have a bank account, how many checks do you write on average each month?
 Less than one
 2
 Maybe 3-4
 About 3 per year
 None – use debit card
 1-2 every 3-4 months
 2-3
 1-5
 0 – debit cards and expense reports
 2
 4-5 per year
 No more than one
 0-5, average 1 per month
 0 – we use bank card
 Less than 5
 5
 Use debit card. Maybe 1 check per month
 1-2
 8-10
 About 5 – more if we have an SU activity
 5
 1
 1-2
 It varies from month to month. Probably about 2 or 3 checks.
 4-5
 1-2
 1
 2-3
 1-5 – depends on activities, etc.
 1-2
 2-4
4.
If you do not have a bank account, how do you track your troop funds?
 Receipts/balance sheet
 Debit card and bank statement
 Spreadsheet
5.
Do you have a debit card? If yes, how many transactions do you have on average each month?
 Yes, 1-2 (older troop)
 No
 Yes, 2-3
 About two per month
 2-3 depending on awards, etc
 Yes, just starting this year
 No
 0 – only because troop is not very active this year
 Yes, 5
 Yes, 0 used for registration only Yes 3-4
 No
 Yes – about 5
 No – wish we did
 Yes, 2-3
 Yes – 6 transactions
 No
 No
 Yes, don’t use it
 No
 No
 No
 No
 Yes – 1 or 2 per month
 No
 Yes, 3 or 4 per year
 No
 Yes 2-7
 No
 Yes , 2 of them. 2-4 per month, total on the 2 cards
 No
6.
Would a debit card be more convenient than checks?
 Yes
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7.
No
Doesn’t matter, either way is fine
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Sometimes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No, easier to have funds stolen
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Could be helpful
No
Most charges are paid by members, not by one person
Yes, but checks help with reimbursements that …a debit card would eliminate the need for that.
No
We use both. They are both equally useful
No
Yes
Yes
Yes often only option (GSSJC online program registration)
No – too many issues
No
What concerns do you have about having a troop bank account?
 Everyone should have one
 Who will be in charge of the maintenance of the account
 None – think that makes things easier
 Nothing but debit card
 Bank fees, a signor abusing the account
 Hurdles banks like to create to prevent supporting small balance zero interest non-profit
business accounts
 Sum monitors bank statements for any inappropriate spending
 None
 None
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None
Bounced checks from people paying us for stuff
None
None
None
Service Fees eating into troop funds
Collecting on NSF checks to troops
Fees
Making certain all receipts, etc. are recorded
8.
What type of support would be helpful to you when you are completing your financial information (i.e.
budgets, end of year financial report)
 Computer/Webinar training on how to use the annual financial report
 I don’t need help
 Example of how to complete the form online
 Financial Report
 None. Our service unit treasurer teaches us helpful information/classes.
 Instructions
 Local training at beginning of year of what works well and training at the end of year to help
walk through process
 Let new troops know at the beginning of the year where the excel file is and what is expected at
the end of the year.
 There seemed to be a couple of bugs in the financial form making it difficult to make corrections
on the form
 Already have excel knowledge and track income and expenses throughout the year.
 None, reporting is easy for me.
 Spreadsheet to track expense. Silver Spur has a great one.
 Easy to use software ahead of time. My treasurer handles it all
 We use Silver Spurs excel file input/form – very easy
 In reflection, as a 1st year leader, perhaps a mentor to help fill out 1st end of year report; after
that there weren’t any problems.
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9.
What information do you struggle to collect when completing your financial report? (for example: as the
treasurer, you may not have information about cookie sale proceeds)
 No way to tie Cookie sales to deposits if TCM is not specific as to what those troop cookie
deposits are specifically.
 None
 Receipts
 Keeping all receipts to show troop transactions
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Seems to work out just great. Keep receipts is important
Nope, I keep track of everything.
Treasurer should be given Fall Product and Cookie final paperwork to keep with Financial Report
Treasurer should have online access to account for copies of bank statement.
Receipts
Rounding up the receipts
If you keep up with the information EVERY month, there is no struggle at the end of the year
None, our troop uses two cookie moms. One is in charge of tracking cookies and one is in
charge of tracking money.
None
Receipts from parents
Cookie and Fall product numbers
Cookie sale proceeds
Receipts from various chairs
None
If all receipts, deposit slips, etc are handled correctly all information should be there.
10. What type of automation could we put in place to make financial processes better?
 It is fine the way it is
 Think it is great the way it is
 Provide spreadsheet classes to help volunteers learn how to use spreadsheets
 Leader appointment letters are NOT timely. Need them to open bank accounts!
 The excel file works great. The only improvement would be a web application that does the
same thing. It could import data from the troop account like Turbo Tax does.
 Submittal of bank statement alone would be awesome!
 Electronically submit your financial report.
 Spreadsheet
 Council send back cookie and fall product info in May
 Preferred bank and banker to open accounts (it was not an easy process). Maybe make it all online.
 Electronic submission
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11. How do you share your best practices with other service units?
 We have attended area meetings but I don’t remember this topic coming up.
 I don’t unfortunately. I honestly have barely enough time between my troop and my home life for
the basic SU duties. I rely on my membership manager for communication outside the SU.
 Have not met other units
 I do not communicate with other service units. I don’t know any leaders from other service units.
 I told them at “Conversations that Matter”, our SU pays for all training, end of year party, financial
aid and special projects.
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We haven’t been asked but would be glad to share information.
Not so far.
12. Additional thoughts?
 GSSJC is missing the mark BIG TIME! NO – ZERO – follow-up on registration of bank accounts
Council Wide. Holy Cow.
 Troop and SU financial statements should be online reports. That would ensure that the council
received more of them each year. There could also be checkins during the year as well.
 Only problem troops have with bank accouns is to keep current persons signed on the account
so they can access the bank account.