Every year we ask every member, both volunteers and girls, to pay a subscription – our name for our membership fee. Without subscriptions, we couldn’t support our incredible volunteers to change girls’ lives and inspire them to be their best.
The final amount you pay for annual subscriptions goes towards running costs at every level of guiding. This means that the Girlguiding HQ amount of the subscription is only one part. The rest goes to your district, division, county and region.
The county subscription for 2021, in Berkshire, is £7.80. £4.40 of this goes to support Thirtover Place covering the Site Manager’s salary costs and the insurance for the site. The remaining £3.40 covers the costs of running the county including:
- the costs of our paid administrator (Gillian) and paid accountants (Heather and Geraldine);
- training costs;
- expenses for County Commissioners, Assistant County Commissioners and County Advisers;
- the website and communications; and
- to support membership growth and retention.
We know that some members and some units may have difficulty paying the subscription this year and have therefore put things in place to support you. Firstly, there is the Bridgman bursary – this can be used to support individual members who are experiencing financial hardship
We have also set aside reserves to support units who have financial problems. However, there are some conditions on application:
- You must provide copies of your last year’s accounts as verified, and your unit’s budget for the current year;
- You must have asked parents to pay their subscription;
- Your unit must be claiming gift aid – gift aid guidance document;
- You must have sought support from other funding providers. A list of County-wide grant bodies. Information on national and region grants are also available. Please also speak to your District and/or Division Commissioner as they will know what is available locally to you.
Applications need to be submitted by 31 December 2020. Girlguiding has recently published a subscriptions policy which makes it clear that it is the responsibility of the unit leader to ensure that the unit pays the subscription due, and that membership could be withdrawn if the subscription is not paid. So – please don’t leave it until the last minute – start planning for this now.