Description
The Volunteer of Excellence award recognizes those volunteers who have contributed outstanding service while partnering directly with girls in any pathway to implement the Girl Scout Leadership Experience (GSLE) through use of the National Program Portfolio or who have contributed outstanding service in support of the council’s mission delivery to girl and adult members.
 

Criteria

• The nominee is an active, registered adult Girl Scout.
• The nominee has successfully completed a term of service and all requirements for the position.
• The nominee has performed beyond expectations for the position to deliver the GSLE to girls using the National Program Portfolio, or
• The nominee’s performance has been beyond the expectations of the position and has supported the council’s mission-delivery goals in one or more of the following functional areas: Membership Development/Community Cultivation, Volunteer Relations and Support, Program, Leadership and Governance, Fund Development, and Council Support Service (such as IT, Customer Service, and Merchandising).
• The nominee actively recognizes, understands, and practices the values of inclusive behavior.

Nomination
A nomination form is completed and submitted to the council’s recognition committee, along with supporting documentation indicating how the nominee meets the criteria. The recognition committee reviews the nomination documentation, then approves or denies it.
 

Examples of nominee
• A volunteer Program Advisor works over the course of the year with a teen advisory committee of 30 current Girl Scout Seniors and Ambassadors who plan and deliver four performance day camps, using content from the aMuse Journey, targeted to girls in underserved areas of the council. As a result, those areas have a combined total of 210 new Junior girl members and 16 new adult volunteers; 92 percent of the girls at camp also signed up for other opportunities during the year.

• A college-student volunteer who was recruited by IT to help with data entry sees a posting on the council’s Facebook page encouraging recognition of volunteers on Leader’s Day. She sees an opportunity to use the council’s Web site to make this type of volunteer recognition easy and relevant for everyone to use. In coordination with council staff, she helps launch a recognition page on the Web site that leverages tools like e-cards and online voting campaigns, highlights real volunteer success stories, and provides valuable information on ways to thank all volunteers throughout the year. As a result, 4,700 personal thank-you’s are sent to volunteers by council leadership and staff, volunteers, parents, and girls in a year’s time. Nominations for council- and GSUSA-earned awards also rise by 35 percent, and on satisfaction surveys, volunteers report feeling highly valued 22 percent