Strengths SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
Current strengths
• Schuylkill County girls up by 106 from 2008.
•Lycoming County girls up by 127 from 2008.
•Columbia County girls up by 48 from 2008.
•Snyder County girls up by 20 from 2008.
•Union, Northumberland, Montour, and Sullivan counties are all very close to
2008.
•Nine of 23 Sus have exceeded where they were at the end of 2008.
•Various service units are working run events and recruitments.
•Zero turn over in membership staff.
•A sense of community within 6 of the 8 counties.
•Increased visibility within community.
•SU teams are excited about sharing events and have asked for training on how
to improve SU programs.
•Grew from four to 11 ALFs in the last year and a half.
•Grew from three Gold Award advisors to eight in the last year.
•Core group of SU Team Members are willing and ask for regional volunteer
meetings, fostering a sense of ownership and creating a sounding board for new
ideas.
•Campus Girl Scouts have asked to start taking a larger role in their local areas.

SWOT ANALYSIS
Weaknesses
Current weaknesses
•Regional demographics change drastically from one SU to another.
•Since beginning membership trends analysis, retention varies greatly. The
clearest picture thus far is that adult retention is down on average by about 15%
and girl retention is down by approximately 4%.
•For the last three years, we have begun recruiting on average 1000 new girls each
year, about 1/3 of our membership in the North.
•Five of our 23 service units have no SU teams.
•Numerous school districts in our area are unwilling to allow us to send flyers.
•Strained relationships with United Ways in Columbia County.
•Same group of people have been delegates for three years, resulting in a lack of
delegates.
•Membership responsibilities have been skewed, keeping staff from foocusing on
areas that need more support.
•Many volunteers have gone without training.

SWOT ANALYSIS
Opportunities
Current opportunities
• Local camp has contacted us, asking to collaborate in new ways.
•Outreach opportunities in different locations, where girls are at risk.
• Staff is excited about these opportunities and to grow their membership.
• This could create better funding opportunities with some of our Uws or help
to mend some relationships.
•Core group of SU Team members is creating a group of people to serve as advocates,
willing to speak on our behalf, run events, serve on committees, help to get flyers out
in schools, etc.
•Use advocates to create better mentoring for new volunteers.
•Encourage SUs to collaborate on older girl events.
•Encourage new volunteers to becoming more involved regionally to keep growing
North community, creating better advocates for GSHPA.
•ALFs are willing to go to other regions to train, as well as an ALF from the Northeast
has expressed interest in helping to train in the North.

SWOT ANALYSIS
Threats
Current threats
•The Boy Scouts – Venture Club is becoming very popular with older girls, as a result
people often see a lack of older girl opportunities, especially in adventure based
programming.
•There are many rumors about what is happening to Camp Lycogis.
•People not willing to accept change and as a result new volunteers are soured from the
beginning.
•Smaller communities make it very hard for new volunteers to get involved and as a
result often oust those new people from the community.
•North Region has been very hard hit by econonmy, making it harder to find volunteers
that can literally not afford the time and resources.

SWOT ANALYSIS
North Region
S
Strengths
W
Weaknesses
•4 of 8 counties increase in membership.
•The other four counties are extremely close
to 2008.
•Drastic changes in demographics from SU to
SU.
•Varying rentention.
•No turn over in Membership staff.
• Lack of SU teams.
•Feeling of community.
•Uncooperative school districts.
•Better local visibiility.
•Strained UW relationships.
•Growth in ALFs and Gold Award Advisors.
•Lack of delegates.
•Core team of volunteers.
•Skewed responsibilities.
•Active campus Gilr Scouts
•Untrained volunteers.
O
Opportunities
T
Threats
•Local camp contact
•Outreach
•Core team of volunteers- advocating.
•Better mentoring using advocates.
•SUs collaborating on older girl events
•ALFs interest in training in different regions.
•Boy Scouts- Older Girl Opportunities
•Camp Lycogis rumor mill.
•Small communities.
•Unwillingness to accept change.
•Competitors new products and innovation