Q&A with Danielle Shockey, Girl Scouts of Central Indiana CEO

The Girl Scouts of Central Indiana, which serves 45 counties, recently decided to close its seven field offices, which also served as program and retail spaces, and have its 26 field staff members work in coworking spaces and launch pop-up shops on the weekends to serve members. The headquarters office will stay open.

The move reduces the group’s office space by about 20,000 square feet and will save it hundreds of thousands of dollars. CEO Danielle Shockey talked with IBJ about the new strategy, which she calls a “community-centric service model.”

Why make this change?

We knew we were bloated in office space … and we also knew we weren’t serving our volunteers and our members, our girls and our families, in all of our locations, because they still had to drive in upwards of 45 minutes to an hour, depending on what was closest to them.

So we’re trying to solve really a couple things: How could we get our resources to more of our girls and our families; have a Girl Scouts presence in more communities; and increase our service, our resources to our members, and frankly save costs?

And so this new model has allowed us to do all of those things. We’re saving about $312,000 a year in operating costs once it’s fully actualized, which we’re going to then reinvest in our camps and programs.

Tell me about the pop-up shops.

From the time we launched in October through [Dec. 13], we hosted 120 pop-up or pop-ups-plus programs across our 45 counties. … For example, when we’re out to Remington on Saturday afternoon, all the folks that are near that area can come in, they can shop, the girls can earn a badge or patch, be with other Girl Scouts. It’s really trying to elevate the pop-up program … bringing a program and the resources that used to exist at the seven locations to more communities.

What is for sale at a pop-up shop?

Girl Scout uniform parts. … Girl Scout swag. The badges and patches are a big part of it. And then there’s also curriculum resources for troop leaders.

Have other Girl Scouts groups taken this kind of approach, or is this new?

It’s brand new. … I’ve actually talked to my CEO peers to share this model. Where that might go, I don’t know. To say that there could be, like, a one-size-fits-all model, I don’t know that would ever be the case.

How do you plan on reinvesting the money in the programs and camps? 

We are looking to re-create each of our camps as a destination with a focus unto itself. So, the idea being that it would really drive a Girl Scout to not only go to Gallahue [Camp] because that’s the one closest to her, but rather, ‘I really want to go to Camp Ada because Camp Ada is now the culinary and arts camp.’ …  So, in addition to traditional Girl Scout components, really building out some other focus areas that are unique to each camp property with that reinvestment.•