A girl scout troop in Washington has raised over $100,000 from supporters after a mysterious transphobic donor took back their own six-figure donation.
The Queen Anne Girl Scouts of Western Washington office was initially thrilled when the original $100,000 donation came in, according to the Seattle Met. That kind of money could send 500 Girl Scouts to camp and was a significant chunk of the council's fundraising goal, the paper reported.
But the donation turned out to be short-lived.
In May, the Girl Scouts changed their transgender policy, saying that "if the child is recognized by the family and school/community as a girl and lives culturally as a girl, then Girl Scouts is an organization that can serve her in a setting that is both emotionally and physically safe."
After the announcement, the mystery donor sent a follow-up note, according to the Seattle Met, that said: "Please guarantee that our gift will not be used to support transgender girls. If you can't, please return the money."
Council CEO Megan Ferland ultimately decided that she would indeed return the money.
"Girl Scouts is for every girl," she told the Seattle Met. "And every girl should have the opportunity to be a Girl Scout if she wants to."
To recoup the donation, Ferland was inspired to create an IndieGogo campaign on Monday called Girl Scouts is #ForEVERYGirl with a goal of re-raising the $100,000 that the transphobic donor took back.
Within a day, nearly 2,000 people had donated to the campaign, which raised over $100,00 at the time of this post. The website is currently down after media attention is sending thousands of supporters to the IndieGogo page.
They did it! @GirlScoutsWW hit their $100,000 goal in a day! @girlscouts https://t.co/ZrJUqqlmDf pic.twitter.com/lFl7kNbCtg
- Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) June 30, 2015Thank you for the outpouring of support! The @Indiegogo page is down but we are working to get it back up! #ForEVERYGirl
- Girl Scouts of WW (@GirlScoutsWW) June 30, 2015
The money the campaign receives will be used to help girls join a troop, go to camp, receive badges, and participate in other girl scout activities like building robots if their families can't afford it.
The website explains:
$100,000 is a lot of money. In fact, it's almost a third of our entire financial assistance program for this year - and girls need this support now. That's why losing this gift is such a big deal.
Donations range from $15, which would make it possible for a girl to join the Girl Scouts, all the way to $10,000, which will send an entire troop to summer camp as well as send the donor and a friend to a Glamp weekend getaway at Camp River Ranch.
To donate to the campaign, click here.