Finances & Funding Support

Annual Subscriptions

Each year, Girlguiding charge each of its members an Annual Subscription (membership fee) to run the charity on a national level. Each Region, County, Division and District may also add a levy each year to help them run at that level. The invoices are created in February and should be paid straight away.

The 2022 figures are:
  • National - £21 per person
  • SWE Region - £10.50 per person
  • Gloucestershire County - £9 per person
Total £40.50 plus District and Division levies.

For District and Division levy amounts, please check with your local commissioner.

Girlguiding's national levy for 2023 will be £28 per person.

Annual Accounts Audit

As an excepted charity, being part of Girlguiding, we are required to follow the Charity Commission rules and regulations as well as the Girlguiding Finance Policy. This means each of our units, Districts and Divisions operate as individual charities and it is a legal obligation for each of those units and levels to maintain proper accounting records. This includes getting them verified by an independent reviewer each year and submitting your signed summary sheet to your commissioner along with the new Reviewer's Checklist.

Girlguiding has an excellent spreadsheet (originally designed in our county) which is a really simple way to keep your records and produces the required year end reports with no additional effort. We highly recommend it. 

For more information or to download the accounts spreadsheet, visit the Managing Unit Funds & Accounts page on the national website.

Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the Unit Leader(s) to ensure that the correct financial records are maintained throughout the year for a unit and that funds are kept in an appropriate bank account, etc. 
It is the responsibility of a Commissioner to ensure that the correct financial records are maintained throughout the year for a District/Division/County and that funds are kept in an appropriate bank account, etc.
​However in all of these cases, the day to day managing of the accounts can be delegated to another individual. This person should be recorded as a Treasurer on GO and carry out the required recruitment checks.
It is the responsibility of Commissioners to check that the levels below them have completed their annual accounts. In 2022 (for the 2021 accounts) we are introducing a more robust Accounts Audit, gathering details of the units bank accounts, cash assets, etc as well as confirming that the accounts have been completed. These have been emailed to Division Commissioners but units may like to down load the blank version of the spreadsheet and complete their information and send it to their District Commissioner ready to be added to their Division's audit sheet.

Girlguiding Finance Policy

The Girlguiding Finance Policy was last updated on 25 September 2021 and contains everything you need to know about managing your unit or level accounts.
Changes include:
  • Two of the three (minimum) signatories on a bank account need to agree and authorise all payments in advance of a purchase, but only one signatory needs to make a transaction at the point of purchase. You must never make a payment without another signatory approving it in advance.
  • Debit cards are now permitted (not credit cards) provided they follow the above process.
  • Online banking that allows one person to make a payment is now permitted (again provided they follow the above process)
Any payment that is being carried out by one person like this MUST have written documentation as to the dual approval before it is paid. For example a simple, signed dual authorisation form added to your accounts to show the lines of accountability, or an email chain that shows this accountability should it ever be called into question. This is to cover your own back as well as making sure we're following Girlguiding policy and the Charity Commission requirements.
We have created a simple dual authorisation form that units can use.

County Grants

Student Subscriptions Grant

If you have a young person who is at University but who is still attached to your unit for subscriptions and comes back still to help during the university holidays, on your unit's camps & holidays, etc. then you can apply to the County for a grant to reimburse the unit for their County portion of the annual subscriptions. This grant is available to apply for between 1 January and 20 February each year. Payments are made by bank transfer to the unit account by the end of March.
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By encouraging young adults to stay associated with Gloucestershire Guiding when they move away, this helps keep them in the movement, gives them Guiding magazine and County updates and, whilst they may not undertake a Leadership role whilst at Uni and may indeed only take up a role outside of the County once they have finished their studies, we hope this small gesture will help them stay in touch with the movement and therefore as a national organisation we will benefit.

Applications for the 2022 Annual Subscription grants are now open. Deadline to apply is 20 February 2022.

Helping Hands Grant

We are aware that there are girls and young women in the county who are not able to take part in some Guiding activities, or join a unit in the first place, because of their family’s financial circumstances. We are also aware that in some areas a whole unit can be disadvantaged because of the demographic of the local area it serves. We have therefore made a Helping Hands Grant available to support these members.

​Applications can be made by a Unit Leader for an individual young member, or on behalf of a unit as a whole where the unit is in an area of deprivation or there are extraordinary circumstances. 

National Grants

As well as County grants, there are also a number of grants available from Girlguiding on a national level. These include for those working towards their Travelling Abroad module of the Going Away With licence and Accessible Guiding Grants. Visit the national website for the latest information and details on making an application.

External Grants & Donations

There are a number of fund raising organisations that hold their own events and activities and then grant or donate funds to a variety of charities and community organisations throughout the year. In each case it is the local branch that runs the local funding so you will need to find out if there is a local branch to you. Not all areas have one.
It's also worth making contact and building a relationship with these organisations. For example, the Round Table in Dursley ask local organisations to support their Santa Sleigh each year, and each of the organisations gets a donation for helping out.
In addition to these local branches, there is a wide range of grant giving organisations and 'pots of money' that units can tap into. It would be impossible to list them all here as many of the details change, old grants expire and new grants are launched and so on. A good place to keep an eye out for grants that are relevant to your unit, District or Division is through the VCS Alliance who produce a monthly bulletin. It's a long document but it's worth spending a little bit of time looking through to see which grants are worth further investigation and applications for your own circumstances.

Finding Extra During COVID-19

Units may wish to ask parents for support them during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as looking for other organisations to support your unit. We have two template letters for you which have worked in one area of the Region. One is a letter that went to parents asking for donations towards the usual subs costs, the other a letter that went to the various parish and town councils in the areas the girls at the unit lived.