Find out how many boxes of Thin Mints, Samoas, and Tagalongs get sold each year. 

Answer: ~200 million

Questions:

• If each box costs $5, how much revenue is that?
• Have you ever sold something for a fundraiser? What strategies did/ would you use to sell?
• Girl Scout cookies are only sold seasonally (Jan - April). How do you think that impacts purchasing habits?

Here are the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (NPR): 

"In a normal year, the Girl Scouts of the United States of America will sell about 200 million boxes of cookies, as NPR's Scott Horsley reported last year. The national organization calls it "the largest girl-led entrepreneurial program in the world," with nearly 700,000 Girl Scouts participating.

You've probably heard about cookie prices going up. The vast majority of troops are now selling boxes for between $5 and $7. If the girls hit that 200 million mark this year, cookie revenue would eclipse $1 billion. So, I asked, how much do the girls see in profits?

"Last year, our troops earned over $4.5 million in proceeds," said McClain, our council's chief financial officer.

For perspective, our council, Girl Scouts Nation's Capital, is pretty large, she added, with about 4,000 troops."

About the Author

Kathryn Dawson

Kathryn (she/her) is excited to join the NGPF team after 9 years of experience in education as a mentor, tutor, and special education teacher. She is a graduate of Cornell University with a degree in policy analysis and management and has a master's degree in education from Brooklyn College. Kathryn is looking forward to bringing her passion for accessibility and educational justice into curriculum design at NGPF. During her free time, Kathryn loves embarking on cooking projects, walking around her Seattle neighborhood with her dog, or lounging in a hammock with a book.

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