For Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho, fundraising has become much more than selling cookies.

Cookie sales still account for a significant portion of the Spokane-based organization's revenues, but it has increased its donor base substantially in the past two years, to about 630 total donors in fiscal year 2011 from just under 400 in fiscal year 2009.

The increase has come during a multiyear, $5.5 million capital campaign. Moving forward, however, Spokane-based Girl Scouts council CEO Pam Lund says, "The long-term goal is to retain these donors annually."

The organization's total income was down in fiscal year 2011 compared with the previous year, to about $4.2 million from about $4.8 million. Bobbie Domonouski, the local Girl Scouts organization's director of fund development, says the 2010 income includes a number of one-time contributions for the organization's capital campaign. If capital-campaign contributions are subtracted from both years, the organization's total income rose slightly in 2011, she says.

Total annual expenses were at about $2.7 million each year.

Domonouski says almost 500 of the organization's donors last year were individuals, up from about 425 the year before and 325 in 2009. The number of corporate donors increased to about 130 in 2011 from 90 and 70 in 2010 and 2009, respectively.

The ratio of donors has stayed relatively consistent through the years, she says, with about four individual donors for every one corporate giver. The dollar volume of donations is almost flip-flopped, however, she says, with about 80 percent of the money coming from corporations and 20 percent coming from individuals.

The influx of donors has come as the organization enters what it hopes will be the final year of its $5.5 million capital campaign. The council has raised about $4.4 million so far and hopes to raise about $1.1 million this year. Playing off the 100-year anniversary of Girl Scouts this year, the group is looking to raise $100 for every Girl Scout in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, which would bring in about $800,000. Domonouski says the organization is lining up other gifts to raise the balance of funds.

Girl Scouts already has spent about $3.4 million of the money raised in the campaign to rebuild its lodge building at Camp Four Echoes, which is located on Windy Bay along the west side of Lake Coeur d'Alene. Lund says the new 11,500-square-foot facility, which opened last July, is a substantial upgrade over the previous lodge, which was built in 1938. It has a better heating system that will allow it to be used year-round. Also, when it's not being used by Girl Scout troops, it could be rented out for corporate retreats and other events in the future, she says.

The remaining $2 million in the capital campaign will go toward program development.

Headquartered at 1404 N. Ash, on Spokane's North Side, Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho serves about 8,000 girls ranging in age from 5 to 18. Its territory encompasses 30 counties—with 67,000 square miles of land—and is bordered roughly by the U.S.-Canada border to the north, the Washington-Oregon border to the south, the Cascade Mountains to the west, and the Montana-Idaho border to the east.

The organization has a paid staff of 40 people and more than 2,600 volunteers.

Lund says that nationally, the number of girls participating in Girl Scouts declined each year for 10 years before increasing last year. In the Inland Northwest, the number of girls involved has increased slightly each year since 2007, when a couple of other councils in Washington merged into the Spokane-based council.

During the capital campaign, cookie sales have accounted for roughly a third of the organization's income. In a typical year, when the organization isn't conducting additional fundraising, cookie sales account for about 60 percent of total income, Domonouski says.

In 2011, the organization's net income from cookie sales was just under $1.5 million, up from about $1.3 million the prior year.

"Last year, we did a better job of giving incentives to the girls. They personally gained more for their sales," Domonouski says. "We had more girls involved in the sale."

Also, she says, the cookies' bakers—there are two Girl Scouts-approved bakers in the U.S.—launched a website feature and mobile app through which a person can type in a ZIP code to find the nearest sales locations.

This year, the council has started including QR codes for the app on its promotional literature, and it has the cookie locator on its own website, gsewni.org.

Domonouski adds, "We're anticipating another increase this year."

Most of the proceeds from the cookie sales go toward the girls' programs, and program development is a big focus for Lund, who has served as CEO since 2007.

Previously an associate director with the Washington state Workforce Training and Education Board, Lund says one focus of program development is helping girls identify potential career paths at an early age and exposing them to science, technology, engineering, and math.

"I've thought we needed to get to kids at a younger age," she says. "It helps them look at different career pathways and see what's a good fit for them."