Grow with Girl Scouts
Each year presents new opportunities for Girl Scouts to grow into who they are meant to be!
Think about all your troop has accomplished this past year. You all have learned so many entrepreneurial skills, volunteered in the community, roasted s’mores around a campfire, and everything in between. As a troop leader, you’ve planted the seed. Sign up for another year today to keep watching them grow!
Download the Early Bird Troop Toolkit for more information and instructions
Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee has always appreciated the value and support our leaders bring to our organization. We are excited to honor our volunteers by paying the GSUSA registration fees for two leaders for every troop.
- BEFORE RENEWING YOU MUST COMPLETE THIS STEP: Intent to Renew
Fill out this form to redeem your troop’s two free adult memberships.
This form must be completed BEFORE you participate in renewal so that we can manually apply the membership.
Adding new leaders? If you are welcoming new volunteers or leaders, please include this information in the form above.
- If you are adding a leader who is not currently registered, have them register starting April 1 for the 2026 Membership year.
- If they will be using one of the free memberships, they should leave their fee in the cart and reach out to their Regional Executive directly.
- Incentives for Spring Renewal
* National membership dues are $45 per girl and $30 for adults, and these fees go directly to GSUSA. With this incentive, member registrations will be subsidized by GSMIDTN to cost $25 per girl/$10 per adult through April 30 and $35 per girl/$20 per adult through May 27.
† Incentive tiers are not cumulative. You will receive an email with redemption instructions from your Regional Executive.
‡ Please ask your Regional Executive how to redeem or see page 6 of the Early Bird Renewal Toolkit. Additional adults registered will be eligible for the discounted membership relative to the tier in which they registered.
§ Renewal percentages will be based on the number of paid girl registrations for the 2025 Girl Scout year for memberships dated no later than March 31, 2025 at 11:59 PM. This number will be compared to paid girl registrations for the 2026 Girl Scout year within the appropriate tier.
** Troop incentives are one per troop unless otherwise listed.
- Step-By-Step to Renew
2026 Early Bird Renewal Instructions
[click here for a step-by-step visual guide]
- Visit gsmidtn.org/CouncilAlignMENT and login with your username/password.
- Navigate to your “Troop Management (2025)” box in the bottom left hand corner.
- Then, click on “Troop Member Roster (Re-Register Option).”
- Select “Re-Register Troop” at the top of the page.
- Utilize check box function to select current girl and adult members who plan to re-register. Click the blue “Re-Register” button to continue.
- At this point, you may add any Gift to Girl donations next to the individual making the donation.
- Leaders should enter all donations and click “Add Donation” before checking any of the Xs.
- Click the red X next to all girls and adults you wish to pay for.
- All items that do not have a green check mark will remain in your Troop Shopping Cart until selected.
- Girls and adults will not be officially “registered” until paid.
- Use your troop debit card to pay for membership fees and Gift to Girl donations.
- Continue until you have made it to the Payment Confirmation page.
- If you choose to navigate away from the checkout page before submitting payment, your Troop Shopping Cart can be found next to the “Re-Register Troop” button above your roster.
- Submit online registration by May 27, 2025.
- Ways to Pay
Your troop will not be available in the Troop Marketplace for parents/caregivers to place their girl in your troop. The easiest way to ensure that returning girls are placed in your troop is for parents/caregivers to pay you and you register them through Early Bird Renewal. Your troop has 2 different options for handling renewal payment.
- OPTION 1: Troop Renewal – Troop Payment The troop renews girls from the Troop Leader’s CouncilAlignMENT account using the troop’s debit card with funds earned through Product Programs or other money-earning activities.
- OPTION 2: Troop Renewal- Caregiver Payment. The troop renews girls from the Troop Leader’s CouncilAlignMENT account and collects payment from caregivers prior to renewal. We recommend you DO NOT renew girls until AFTER you have collected the membership fee payment. We suggest holding a caregiver meeting or dedicate some time at the end of a troop meeting for caregivers to turn in their payments via cash or check. You can deposit the payments into the troop account and then use the troop debit card to renew those girls.
- Renewing with Financial Assistance If a girl member of your troop needs financial assistance, please complete the renewal process and pay for all members NOT receiving financial assistance. Once you have completed payment, email your Regional Executive ASAP to have financial assistance applied to the girl members. If you do not notify your Regional Executive of girls in need of financial assistance, the girls are subject to registration cancelation due to nonpayment and will not count toward Troop and Service Unit incentives.
- Ways to Communicate with Families
Option 1: Troop Renewal- Troop Payment
Hello Volunteers, April is fast approaching, which means it’s the beginning of the Early Bird renewal period! During Early Bird, GSMIDTN offers incentives to individuals, troops, and Service Units to renew their Girl Scout membership early. Early Bird runs from April 1 to May 27, 2025.
Our troop can earn perks if we renew 100% of our current girls or recruit additional girls up to 100% of our current number, so we want to raise this opportunity up to our parents and caregivers early and often.
I have attached the Incentive Overview that was provided by council, so we can discuss if we think 80% renewal and Good Standing is a goal we can hit, and if so, when we want to make sure we register by for the appropriate benefits. Early renewal not only helps Council measure projected membership numbers and helps the Service Unit look ahead for next year, but will help us as a troop decide how many new girls we can accept into our troop and allow us to get started on planning sooner.
In addition to troop perks, girls get a discount on their membership and a patch. Until April 30th, girl renewals will only cost $25. After that and until May 30th, registrations will cost $35. This is compared to the usual $45 that will be expected after May 27th. In order to relieve parents and caregivers of financial burden, our troop has voted to utilize troop funds to renew our girls. Thank you for all you do! If you have questions about Early Bird, please reach out.
Option 2: Troop Renewal- Caregiver Payment
Hello Volunteers, April is fast approaching, which means it’s the beginning of the Early Bird renewal period! During Early Bird, GSMIDTN offers incentives to individuals, troops, and Service Units to renew their Girl Scout membership early. Early Bird runs from April 1 to May 27, 2025.
Our troop can earn perks if we renew 80% of our current girls and maintain good standing or recruit additional girls up to 80% of our current number, so we want to raise this opportunity up to our parents and caregivers early and often.
I have attached the Incentive Overview that was provided by council, so we can discuss if we think 80% renewal is a goal we can hit, and if so, when we want to make sure we register by for the appropriate benefits.
Early renewal not only helps Council measure projected membership numbers and helps the Service Unit look ahead for next year, but will help us as a troop decide how many new girls we can accept into our troop and allow us to get started on planning sooner.
In addition to troop perks, girls get a discount on their membership and a patch. Until April 30, girl renewals will only cost $25. After that and until May 27, registrations will cost $35. This is compared to the usual $45 that will be expected after May 27.
In order to make renewal easier on everyone, we will be inviting caregivers to bring their membership fee (either via cash or check) to our meeting on [DATE]. We will dedicate time at the end of the meeting to renewing girls. Cash/check payments will be deposited in the troop account and those girls will be renewed using the troop debit card. Financial Aid applicants will be processed individually.
Thank you for all you do! If you have questions about Early Bird, please reach out.
- New Opportunities for Bridging Troops
Daisy to Brownie
- Go camping at one of our camp properties
- Take an overnight trip with your troop
- Attend Brownie First Nighter
- Try activities like archery, cooking over a campfire, Lego robotics, and rock climbing
- Attend a Brownie Core Camp program
- Spend a whole week at summer camp
Brownie to Junior
- Spend up to 3 days traveling with your troop
- Attend a Junior Core Camp program
- Attend Junior Journey Weekend
- Earn your Bronze Award
- Try activities like flying squirrel, swing by choice, kayaking, and canoeing
- Go horseback riding
Junior to Cadette
- Go on a Destination or a council-sponsored travel trip
- Earn your LiA, PA, and PA Skilled Bar Awards
- Earn the Cadette Community Service Bar
- Earn your Silver Award
- Attend Cadette Journey Weekend
- Try activities like high ropes challenge and zip line
- Take a week-long trip with your troop
- Become a Vaquera and be around horses all the time
Cadette to Senior
- Go on a Destination or council-sponsored travel trip
- Earn your CIT and VIT Awards
- Earn your Senior Community Service Bar
- Earn your Gold Award
- Attend Senior Journey Weekend
- Be on the Teen Advisory Committee
- Become a Vaquera and be around horses all the time
Senior to Ambassador
- Go on a Destination or council-sponsored travel trip
- Earn your CIT and VIT Awards
- Earn your Ambassador Community Service Bar
- Earn your Gold Award
- Attend Ambassador Journey Weekend
- Be on the Teen Advisory Committee
- Apply for scholarships for college
- Frequently Asked Question
- Why should my troop consider renewal?
- Current memberships (except Lifetime Members*) expire September 30, 2025. Renewing shows the troop is continuing and ready for the next year of adventures. Make sure volunteers and girls have renewed! The earlier the commitment, the easier it is to keep things together.
- *Lifetime Members do have a membership ready for 2025, but their troop does not. Lifetime members who are volunteers still need to renew their troop registration.
- Can I renew my Girl Scout’s membership individually on CouncilAlignMENT?
- Technically yes, but we encourage troops to use Early Bird Renewal as an opportunity to decide about returning as a group.
- What is Early Bird Renewal?
- Early Bird Renewal is an opportunity for troops to renew their membership for the next Girl Scout year (October 2025-September 2026).
- How do the incentives work? See the chart at the top of the page for incentives and their corresponding deadlines!
- What is considered Troop 100% Renewal?
- To be eligible for certain rewards, a troop must have 100% membership renewal. E.g., if a troop had 12 members during the 2025 Girl Scout year, 12 girls must sign up for the 2026 Girl Scout year.
- Renewal percentages will be based on a comparison to the number of paid girl registrations for the 2025 Girl Scout year as of March 31, 2025.
- How will troop leaders know how many girls are in their troops?
- Current troop rosters are available for viewing in CouncilAlignMENT under a troop leader’s “Troop Management” box.
- As a troop leader, what should I do with the “inactive” girls on my roster? Will they affect my renewal numbers?
- Your renewal goal is based on girls registered as of 11:59 p.m. March 31, 2025. Inactive girls should be submitted to your Regional Executive in March to remove them from your roster.
- What if girls are not coming back next year?
- Troop volunteers and/or girls in the troop will need to recruit new girls to join the troop and “replace” the girl(s) not returning. Girls not returning due to graduation/aging out of the girl program are not required to have a replacement within the troop. Please verify these members with your Regional Executive.
- It feels like I’m just being penalized because I have girls not returning.
- Our intent is to be inclusive and help expand Girl Scout membership in Middle Tennessee! We understand 100% renewal is a stretch goal, and the incentives we are offering reflect that. We hope that by are extending an invitation to a new girl, they would help enhance your troop and make for the best Girl Scout experience.
- Why should my troop consider renewal?