The Democrat-Girl Scouts Launch Cookie Sales Drive; Other Nonprofits Seek Revenue, Too

The Democrat: "Girl Scouts Launch Cookie Sales Drive; Other Nonprofits Seek Revenue, Too
The Gazette January 18, 2006

By Debbie Kelley, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Jan. 18--If you haven't already gotten the sales spiel for Girl Scout cookies, you undoubtedly will. This year's effort kicked off Saturday, and it's hard to escape the doorbell, grocery store booth or solicitation at work.

Girl Scout cookie sales, which totaled 199 million boxes in 2005, have been part of Americana for so long (they started in the 1930s) that it's easy to overlook the underlying premise of the business transaction: nonprofits operating profit-making ventures.

'It's becoming more of a trend in the nonprofit sector to have taxed, earned income that's not a donation or tax deductible,' said Charley Shimanski, president and chief executive officer of the Colorado Association of Nonprofit Organizations. "