Girl Scouts - Daisy Question

I think her troop is the norm. I have one daughter in Junior Girl Scouts and one in Brownies. My experience with both troops has been like your friend's. Sometimes if the troop does a really expensive activity we have to help a little - for example, my older one went horseback riding in the fall and we each had to pay about $18. The troop covered the rest. But MOST events/activites are paid for through troop dues and cookie money. And we have NEVER paid for a patch. That sounds really weird to me. I would talk to your leader about it and see what's up!

Every troop is different, but yes, my troops were always managed much more like your girlfriend's daughter's troop. We collected a set amount of dues and used those dues to pay for most of our activities, supplies and patches/badges. We only charged per event/activity on the bigger/more expensive stuff, like overnights or workshops.
Ask the leaders and see what they say. It's too bad this kind of thing wasn't discussed with the parents in the beginning, troop finances are kind of a big deal!

When I was a troop leader I always provided our financial statement so that parents knew exactly what we had and what was budgeted for outing, materials, patches, etc. I wouldn't hesitate to ask, just do it nicely. Did your troop pay for the vest, books, registration, etc? Those things are usually pretty costly. It also depends on how much money was raised through the cookie and fall product sale.

I'm a daisy leader and we try to pay for the kids activities, BUT we are a new troop and didn't have any money to get us started so we couldn't do any thing that cost money unti after the mag/nut fundraiser in the fall and now that the cookie fundraiser is done we have some to roll over for next year.

It could be as simple as one troop provides snack for the girls and the other askes you to bring your own so there isn't that cost.Maybe one troop leader donates more supplies and another has to buy them. our girls decided to earn money for a small party at the end of the yearplus donate back to the church we hold our meetings in, the other troop is going to a water park with the money they earned --the meet at a school.

It does sound a little fishy, but if you ask nicely they might be able to explain that they are new and just don't have the money built up, or might not be raking it in as well with the fundraisers,what ever it is.

lol, i look at my neighbors who go on all sorts of vacations, drive nice cars and yet don't have the white collar job my hubby has, but they sure look like they are doing better than i am, but there are just so many variables who knows if they had an inheritance or wise investments, or work in a strip joint on the weekend.

For my Daisy troop (bridging to Brownies in 6 weeks I'm so proud of them)...

In fall I held a parents meeting. I showed them the budget my asst. leader and I set for the year. We had activities listed that the troop account would pay for.
Troop account pays for all badges/petals (including fun and required). We pay only for the girl in the troop. i.e. bowling, skating, zoo etc. and we paid for one service unit event that we knew we wanted to attend Thinking Day.

We set a $40 dues fees to offset the start of the year as we went from 7 girls in KG to 17 girls in 1st grade with only $200 in our account. That was gone when we ordered petals and insignia.

We had a few things come up that the service unit puts on which do cost money. I let the parents know at the parent meeting that if their daughter was to participate in any other events not listed on the budget that it would be an out of pocket cost to them.

What many parents don't realize is how much money comes out of my pocket personally to make sure our troop runs smoothly.

We also have a Kaper chart which the girls use to identify what their job is during each meeting...one of those is Happy Hostess. That family is told before the meeting that she is to provide snacks for the troop. Keeps troop cost down as last year I spent way too much money out of my pocket.

We have a sister Daisy troop and the parents just write checks to events/activities as they come up.

I am the type of person that would much rather write one check, pay one amount and be done with...but also realize that things come up and I may have to contribute more...

As far as the fundraisers...yes the troop makes money from those but it's not always enough depending on troop size. Petals cost $6 for a set times that by 17 is $102...plus fun patches are anywhere from $1-4...it adds up so quickly.

Definitely ask the leader...just let her know you are curious.