When Jennifer Smith Turner joined the Girl Scouts of Connecticut as CEO in 2007, she inherited an organization in transition. Under her leadership, the Girl Scouts finalized the realignment of five independent scouting councils into one statewide organization while continuing to grow membership to a record 46,500 girls.
As she eyes her June retirement, after nearly 40 years in public service and non-profit work, Smith Turner talked with the Hartford Business Journal about her organization’s future challenges and opportunities, as well what she’s learned from the thousands of girls she’s been honored to serve.
Q: What do you see as the top organizational benefits that Girls Scouts has achieved by realigning five independent councils into one statewide organization?
A: I believe we’ve achieved a higher visibility as a statewide organization since our incorporation. We are viewed as a voice for girls throughout the entire state and we utilize this distinction in many different avenues, including the state legislature. We also provide greater access and more programming, allowing girls across the state to experience many more activities and events than before.
Q: What are the key changes you’ve seen within the nonprofit sector during your decades of service?
A: One of the key changes is that people are entering the nonprofit sector later in life, often from different sectors. For nonprofits, this is a great way to tap into people with a new skill set. Also, many nonprofits are consolidating their services and organization. Lastly, on the fund raising side, nonprofit organizations are being challenged to build a quantitative skill set to measure the value of what they provide for large, institutional donors.
Q: What role has Girl Scout outreach to inner-city youth played during your leadership tenure?
A: The council has always had a great emphasis on reaching underserved girls, both in the urban and rural sectors. A key initiative that we’re growing is our Hispanic Membership and Marketing Initiative (HMMI), which is designed to attract members of our Hispanic community into our Girl Scout community. This past year, we hosted our third annual Nuestra Voz Latina, a day-long leadership conference focused on the Latina girl experience which more than 60 of our girls attended.
Q: What do you see as the key challenges facing your organization in the coming years?
A: One key challenge is the retention of our older girls and keeping them engaged in Girl Scouting for longer periods of time. Another challenge is [navigating] the economic climate in which the council — and many other nonprofits — is faced with in terms of securing funding.
Q: How has Girl Scout programming changed to keep the interest and meet the needs of 21st century girls?
A: Girl Scouting offers a variety of ways — we call them pathways — for girls to get involved outside of the traditional troop model. They can choose those pathways that best fit their schedule and interests such as events, travel, camp, attending a series based on a particular interest. We are also very active in addressing new concerns and issues that have arisen for girls, including bullying, which has received national attention. We developed our signature program — Girlz R.U.L.E. — as a way to reach girls in the middle school level and teach them how to build healthy relationships and avoid bullying behaviors.
Q: What has been your proudest accomplishment as CEO of the Girl Scouts?
A: One is the creation of Camp CEO, a special three-night camping experience bringing together our older Girl Scouts and prominent CEOs around the state. It was a terrific experience to bring these groups together to learn from one another. I am also proud of the number of Girl Scouts in Connecticut who have received their Gold Award, the highest and most prestigious award a Girl Scout can earn. More than 240 girls in Connecticut have received their Gold Awards since our incorporation, an enormous percentage of our demographic.
Q: What lessons have you learned from the girls in your scouting programs?
A: I’ve learned that our girls have an amazing capacity to be generous and concerned about others. I’ve also seen that our girls are eager to learn from adults, and that we should remember that we are role models for them, all the time.
