Subs 2019 FAQs

1. Why is the national subscription rate going up?

Girlguiding’s Board believes strongly that we need to invest in Girlguiding – to provide the support our wonderful volunteers need and to enable even more girls to enjoy the benefits of guiding. These additional funds will allow Girlguiding to make critical investments for members including:

• Delivering a brand new Programme for all sections – including over a thousand new unit meeting activities and free taster materials for all units.
• Delivering the new membership system replacing ‘Join Us’ and ‘Go!’ – followed by continued investment in maintenance and development so it is easier for volunteers to use.
• Investing further in safeguarding, compliance and complaints management – to provide safe and compliant guiding for all.
• Investing in recruiting more volunteers and opening more units – so more girls can benefit from the guiding experience.
• Providing the new Girlguiding website – to help support existing members and to promote Girlguiding’s offer to the next generation of girls and volunteers.

2. What will you be spending the money on?

Over the next few years, the increase will go towards:

• Delivering a brand new Programme for all sections – including over a thousand new unit meeting activities and free taster materials for all units.
• Delivering the new membership system replacing ‘Join Us’ and ‘Go!’ – followed by continued investment in maintenance and development so it is easier for volunteers to use.
• Investing further in safeguarding, compliance and complaints management – to provide safe and compliant guiding for all.
• Investing in recruiting more volunteers and opening more units – so more girls can benefit from the guiding experience.
• Providing the new Girlguiding website – to help support existing members and to promote Girlguiding’s offer to the next generation of girls and volunteers.

You can find out more about how Girlguiding uses your valued membership fee on thier website: https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/making-guiding-happen/running-your-unit/finance-insurance-and-property/subscriptions/how-we-use-the-annual-subscription/

3 Is this value for money? How does it compare to other youth organisations?

We regularly evaluate our offer against other youth activities and we’re confident that we remain better value for money than lots of activities including after school clubs and other extra curricular activities.

4 What support is available if we can’t afford this?

What support can we offer parents who might not be able to afford an increase in local subscriptions? We don’t want girls to miss out on guiding for any reason, including financial reasons. Please contact your Division Commissioner about the support that is available in your area.

5 What impact does this have on my local subscription rate?

The local levy will continue to be set locally and should reflect the costs of running guiding in that area.

6 Why do we still need to raise Subs now we have the income from the Nadler Hotel investment ?

The project to make best use of the charity’s building asset in Buckingham Palace Road will deliver a crucial long term income stream for Girlguiding – to help us deliver our ‘Being our best’ strategy and continue to grow and thrive as a charity for the future. Girlguiding works hard to generate income from lots of different sources – for example from events, Trading, and fundraising – so that we can keep our annual subscription as low as possible. However, the Board also believes strongly that we need to continue to invest in Girlguiding if we are to grow and thrive in the future.

8 What do I have to do now?

Please let your Leaders know what the new levy is so that they can prepare. The local levy will continue to be set locally and should reflect the costs of running Guiding in that area.

9 How do I explain this to parents?

Guiding groups charge subscriptions or ‘subs’ to cover the costs of equipment, activities and hiring the meeting place. These can be paid weekly, monthly or each term. There is also an annual subscription paid by all members that covers the programme we deliver to girls, insurance, volunteer training and support systems, and our work to grow guiding so that more girls can benefit. The cost of this annual subscription is increasing so that we can offer even better experiences to even more girls and young women. There is further information about this on our website: https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/information-for-parents/costs-and-other-practical-matters/how-much-it-costs/

10 Do Girlguiding release financial reports we can read?

Yes, you can find the Annual Report and accounts on the website back to 2012 (https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/about-us/our-impact/annual-report-and-accounts/). This includes a yearly summary of our core work and achievements with financial statements and accounts.
Girlguiding Glasgow’s Annual accounts are available https://www.oscr.org.uk/search-oscr/charity-details?number=SC015650#results