To the Board of Directors and Executive Leadership of Girl Scouts of Nassau County (GSNC):

We, the undersigned GSNC volunteers, families, alumnae, and supporters, respectfully request that GSNC immediately rescind the mandate requiring troops to move their funds to Crowded. Instead, any transition must be reframed as a voluntary pilot program initiated only if formally approved by a GSNC delegate vote, with individual troops retaining ultimate autonomy to choose the best option for their needs.

While we support responsible financial oversight, a mandatory conversion to a remote fintech platform should not bypass representative governance or compromise troop resources, volunteer practicality, local community relationships, and member privacy.

Our Concerns

• Unclear long-term fees will reduce the funds available for girls:
  While GSNC has stated it will cover the platform's associated fees for the first two months, leadership has not been transparent about what fees will look like after that initial period ends. For troops that currently benefit from free local checking, forcing a transition to a platform with unresolved, long-term costs threatens to divert vital funds away from families, donors, and troop programming.
• Harm to the Local Economy: Forcing troops to leave local banks strips deposits, financial relationships, and jobs out of the Nassau County economy.
• Fintech Stability Risks: Crowded is a relatively new, digital-first fintech startup founded in 2021, not a local bank. It lacks the proven track record required for a massive, countywide mandate.
• Security & Privacy Vulnerabilities: Forcing a move to a third-party digital platform exposes sensitive troop, volunteer, and family data.
• Impractical for Cash Operations: Crowded does not accept cash deposits at bank branches or by mail. Allpoint ATMs cannot replace local branches for change funds, cash deposits, and face-to-face service during critical cookie and product sales.
• Lack of Direct Customer Service: Remote fintech platforms cannot match the reliable, in-person troubleshooting that local bank staff provide when cards are lost, signers change, or accounts are frozen.
• Complicated FDIC Protection: Crowded is not a bank; it relies on complex pass-through FDIC insurance eligibility via partner banks. GSNC has failed to provide written transparency regarding account ownership or protections if the fintech provider or its partner fails.
• Bypassed Democratic Governance: This major financial mandate was never presented for input or vote at a delegate meeting or the Annual Council Meeting, violating the foundational role of service-unit delegates.
• Contradiction of Girl Scout Values: True stewardship means keeping troop funds in accountable local institutions, supporting local workers, and ensuring girls' proceeds benefit girls—not avoidable platform fees.

We Respectfully Request That GSNC:

1. Rescind the mandatory directive immediately, preserving each troop’s right to use an approved local bank or credit union.
2. Make Crowded strictly optional, ensuring zero penalty or administrative disadvantage for troops maintaining local accounts.
3. Publish a transparent cost comparison, outlining all card, ACH, cash-access, and account-transition fees.
4. Publish an independent security review, detailing privacy, cybersecurity, data-sharing, customer service escalation, and pass-through FDIC coverage.
5. Present the matter to service-unit delegates at a properly noticed meeting before any future councilwide banking changes are considered.

Girl Scouts deserve financial systems that are safe, practical, community-minded, and shaped by the voices of the volunteers and families who make the program possible. We urge GSNC to return this decision to a fair, informed, member-led process.
 
 
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