This year, as every year since UK Guiding’s annual subscription
and headcount was introduced many decades ago, there have been Leaders across
the country who have expressed great surprise at their unit’s bill landing on
the mat at the start of the year. In
some cases at the amount, but sadly, in some, it’s surprise that they have
received a bill at all. For the latter,
I would suggest that if a Unit Leader doesn’t know it’s coming, then the
Commissioner should be feeling at the least twinges of guilt, as perhaps should
the mentor.
Please don’t try to ‘play the system’. For years, headquarters have known that a significant
number of units will ‘just happen to’ have a lower membership on 22nd
February than a few days before or after, going way beyond the realms of natural
fluctuation or coincidence. Now that
each girl has a membership number, it will be easy to spot units whose new
starts always begin just after 22nd February, or who often have
girls leave in early February but change their minds only a month later and re-join
- allegedly!
As far as the amount charged goes, all ‘good’ Counties will
make an announcement in September or October (if not before) of what their
charge the following February will be, so that units can confirm they will have
sufficient funds in hand, or organise any necessary fundraising to cover the
gap, in good time. Whilst waiting for
the announcement, units can still assume the rate will be £1-£2 higher than
last year’s fee was, and budget accordingly.
However, if urgent fundraising is required for this year’s
bill, I’d suggest it’s also time to start planning your finances towards February
2016’s fee. Are your subs still
sufficient to cover all your unit’s regular costs, and allow a little over to
invest in the purchase or replacement of unit equipment? If you usually do fundraising, is that still the
way parents wish to muster the needful for the unit, or would they prefer a
subs raise? Have you claimed your Gift
Aid, and if not, is it time you did (your Commissioner can source help if you
aren’t sure how to do it).
As we are charities, it is important (indeed, it is a legal
requirement) that the accounts provide a true-and-accurate record of the unit’s
income and expenditure. Sure, I
regularly hear of Leaders who ‘can’t be bothered claiming’ for paper and
printer cartridges, store-cupboard ingredients, petrol money for outings,
oddments of shopping. So why do I think
all of these charity donations (for that’s what they are) should be properly recorded
as an expense claimed, and separately as a donation which just happens to match? Well, quite apart from the fact that Gift Aid
could be claimed on the donations if they were recorded, maybe all the current
Leaders can afford to be so generous, but what about the successors? Might one of your team not be so well off for
cashflow as you imagine, but feel uncomfortable about claiming when everyone
else is waving it off as trifling? Might
you land someone with the nasty job of taking over the leadership of the unit
one minute and having to implement a significant subs raise the next in order
just to cover the basic bills?
On the other hand, there shouldn’t be large or growing sums
of money sitting in the bank gathering dust.
It’s fine to be saving up for something specific – we all know the price
of replacing a decent-quality Patrol tent or marquee these days, or of hiring a
bus to take the group to the major region event. But to have ever increasing sums with no
plans to use them is equally unjustifiable for a charity – seek a combination
of avoiding any raise in subs for a few years with looking at how best to
invest some of the money in useful equipment or worthwhile educational experiences
for the girls – subsidise that trip to the science centre or that visit from
the dance instructor, buy that laptop projector or colour printer. Make sure that the money which is donated for
the unit’s use, is used to benefit the unit members, leaving only a modest
amount of ‘rainy day money’ appropriate to foreseeable eventualities.
Above all, keep an eye on the unit’s money through the
year. You should have a clear idea of
just how much “tuppenny rice” or “treacle” your unit gets through, and whether
the Weasel in your unit is about to ‘go pop’!
