To understand our impact, we worked in partnership with the University of Bristol and leading impact specialists to bring together detailed evidence gathered over the course of 2 years from girls, parents and carers, and volunteers. We have applied robust methodologies so we can compare Girlguiding young members to girls across the UK, and applied HM Treasury Green Book guidance to better understand our social value.1 We also drew on wider evidence from independent studies from the University of Edinburgh to demonstrate the longer term impact of Girlguiding.

Here’s a short summary of our impact on 4 key areas:

Girlguiding empowers girls and boosts their confidence and wellbeing

Girlguiding helps empower girls and boosts their confidence and wellbeing at a time when they need it most. UK girls face a confidence and wellbeing challenge, reporting lower confidence and wellbeing than UK boys.2 What’s more, the confidence gap increases as girls enter adolescence. And similar gaps are emerging with girls’ and boys’ wellbeing. So it’s clear that Girlguiding is needed to build girls’ confidence and wellbeing in the face of these challenges.

Girlguiding supports younger girls’ social development

Girlguiding is inspiring girls to build friendships and strong social skills. This study shows that Girlguiding girls are more likely to have positive social behaviours compared to UK girls. These skills support girls to build healthier relationships, and to build stronger, more connected communities.

Volunteers enable girls’ social and emotional development

Girlguiding girls trust and value volunteers. Building good relationships with trusted adults helps girls do their best and feel their best. We’ve found Girlguiding girls with strong relationships with the volunteers that run their unit also have better outcomes around social skills and dealing with emotional difficulties. The study suggests that having a trusted adult could be one of the most critical ways in which Girlguiding improves the lives of girls and young women.

Volunteers also benefit from this relationship. The most common words volunteers use to describe their experience is rewarding, fun and enjoyable - and many report that Girlguiding boosts their health and wellbeing.

Girlguiding builds a healthier, happier UK

We know Girlguiding’s impact goes beyond its membership. We estimate that Girlguiding generates a social value of between £2,300-£9,900 per member per year depending on age. When multiplied by the number of young Girlguiding members of this age, this equates to an estimated social value of £1 billion overall. Wider studies also indicate that Girlguiding has a long-term impact on young members’ wellbeing and their physical and mental health in adult life. As well as being active in communities across the UK we also know the positive effect we have on girls has a wider impact on society. By improving girls’ wellbeing and having a longer term positive impact on their health, we generate a social value for society as a whole.

1 The Green Book: Central Government Guidance on Appraisal and Evaluation, HM Treasury, 2026

2 The Good Childhood Report 2025, The Children's Society, 2025