Missouri Girl Scout leaders threatened legal action against a troop that made bracelets to raise funds for starving children in Gaza, provoking outrage and ridicule from the girls’ supporters and advocates for people trapped in the Palestinian territory by the latest humanitarian crisis.
Girl Scouts of the USA said its eastern Missouri chapter had only been following fundraising rules, but that it was “disappointed and disheartened by the tone” of the communication with the troop in St. Louis.
“What do you think a group of 10-year-old girls would want to do if they felt helpless?” Abuhamdeh asked during a Zoom meeting promoted by Ceasefire for Kids, which advocates for children in Gaza. “They would want to help. How do they want to help? They want to make bracelets. They’re 10 years old. That’s what they felt like they could do.”
Link to the bracelets **** Please note they are sold out at the moment, but will be making more soon.
Sounds like the issue was that the girls were using the GSA name and logo without permission and without following the formalities that a 501©(3) must follow, and the IRS could theoretically revoke GSA’s status over it. Seems pretty unlikely that this small fundraiser would trigger such a harsh response from the IRS.
Or, if this has anything to do with money raised by selling cookies, it could be catastrophic for GSA. The cookie money has to go toward supporting GSA’s primary charitable endeavors, educating and enriching girls in America or whatever their mission statement is. If cookie money starts being used to fund something else, the IRS can treat it the cookie money as “unrelated business income,” and start taxing it, and also the cookie enterprise would be subject to labor laws, which I think would probably be the end of GSA, given their dependence on unpaid child labor.