Are you ready to kick off your Silver Award and make a real difference in the world?

Start by exploring the resources available through GSUSA or your local Girl Scout council’s website.

On this page, we’ve shared some extra tips, drawing from our years of experience in guiding Girl Scouts toward success.

​ Let’s get started! Here are two key things you should know before you begin.

1.  Make sure that you understand the difference between 
Community Service
and 
​Take ACTION 
​​

2.  Learn how to use smart planning 

Silver Award Success Tips, building on the basic Silver Award steps

1   Identify issues you care about.
2   Build your Girl Scout Silver Award team or decide to go solo.
3   Explore your community.
4   Choose your Silver Award project. 
5   Make a plan and submit your Project Proposal.
6   Put your plan in motion.
7   Spread the word and submit your final report.

Step 1  Identify issues you care about

Start with an issue, not with a project.
​A Silver Award Project solves an issue in the community.  This is why the first step in the Silver Award process is "What is your issue?" not "What is your project?"  The project development isn't until step 4, after your research and building your team. 

Try this to build your skills.
Describe your issue in two ways without mentioning your project.
1 Describe your issue in 5 words or less.​​
2 Describe your issue in a paragraph include:
  • Why you care about it. 
  • How it affects your community.
  • How you noticed it.
  • The root cause you discovered.
2   Build your Girl Scout Silver Award team or decide to go solo.

Involve others

You can decide whether to work in a small team of 3 to 4 Cadettes or create a solo Silver Award. Remember that this is a leadership project. Don't do all the work yourself! Delegate! Engage others in the community to help you.  Consider involving adults who care about your issue, other scouts or maybe even peers beyond your troop.
3. Explore your community.

​Do your research 

Spend some time volunteering for agencies relate to what you care about.
Interview adult experts on your topic.  Learn everything you can about your issue. 
While interviewing agencies for project ideas don't ask what they need. They will probably say money or supplies.
Ask agencies questions like this:
  • If you had 20 more volunteers how would you use them?
  • What issues are ongoing that you don't have time to solve?
  • What do you wish more people know about your issue or about the work you do?
4  Pick your Silver Award project. 
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Identify a root cause that you can have a measurable effect on.  

Can you halt deforestation? Probably not, but could you hold a booth at an Earth Day event and teach 100 people how to reduce their use of paper
5.  Make a plan and submit your Project Proposal.

Go Beyond Community Service

Collections are a onetime fix  (no matter how many times done and considered community service. A collection can be part of your Silver, but not the whole award.
Fix /Build /Beautify It projects
A Silver Award should educate & inspire.  Just fixing things up or planting a  garden is community service.  Nice, but not addressing an issue. Building a garden & using it as a tool to be used as part of a program to train about planting drought resistant gardens or creating butterfly or bee habitats would give it Silver potential. 


​Think big

Consider sustainable elements 

Avoid Fundraising
A Silver Award is required to
​ take 50 hours.  That's a big time investment.  Make it worth your time. Try to make your Silver Award impact a large number of people in your community.
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A  Silver Award doesn't require that you train someone to continue your project. (That is a Gold Award requirement).
Sustainability at the Silver level can be achieved by addressing the root cause of your issue through educating people or adding a "pay it forward element" where you ask others to join you in spreading your message or helping by working alongside you. 
Girl Scouts, whether girls or adults, are not allowed to raise money for  other organizations. ​​
6  Put your plan in motion.

Use SMART planning to create a project with results you can measure

​Measurable Goals are optional in the Silver Award Proposal, but goals are easy to set and a great way to know that you were successful!
​Measurable goals have tangible results. How much, how many, how often – use numbers !
Our Silver Award Team will educate 100 people at a farmer's market about the danger of leaving dogs in parked cars.
Our Silver Award Team  will conduct a city wide campaign for one month to increase driving safety by educating about distracted driving. 
Our team plans to hold a booth at 2 Earth Day events to educate attendees about light pollution. 
7   Spread the word and submit your final report.
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Reflect

Reflect - Learn from you successes and mistakes and .  What would you change if you did it started over? What was your favorite part?

Share your story

Practice telling people about your project. What was your issue? Why did you choose it, what did you accomplish?
Share your story with other scouts, kids at your school, people in your city or state! Get a write up in the newspaper like some of the Cadettes featured here.

​Need inspiration ?  
Click here for ​Great Silver Award Ideas