Context and supporting information
The draft 2024-2029 strategy has been developed following extensive consultation with Member Organisations (MOs), staff, young women and volunteers. The information in this box provides context to the document by explaining the current situation and where this strategy sits in relation to the 12-6-3 model adopted in 2018.
We have included a glossary throughout this document to help explain some key words and terms that are discussed here. These key terms appear in bold font when they are first used.
Key challenges we must address through our strategy
🙋🏽♀️ Challenges facing our Member Organisations
💰 WAGGGS financial sustainability
⭐ Getting our offer right
🙋🏽♀️ Challenges facing our Member Organisations
The Movement is emerging from an extremely challenging time. Most Member Organisations had to stop or restrict Girl Guiding/Scouting activities to online activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Post-pandemic, the most significant challenge they are facing is to recruit and retain youth members and volunteers. All Regions have said this is having a huge impact on their financial sustainability and ability to operate (mentioned in the recent Member Organisation engagement surveys, and again at Regional Conferences).
For us to be a Movement for any and every girl, over the next six years, WAGGGS must support MOs to reverse the reduction in membership numbers and make sure Girl Guiding/Scouting remains relevant, exciting, and accessible for all girls and young women.
💰 WAGGGS financial sustainability
WAGGGS income
WAGGGS’s funding consists of restricted and unrestricted income. Historically, a large proportion of our unrestricted income has come from Membership Fees. We also receive generous donations from Olave Baden-Powell Society (OB-PS), the World Foundation and Friends groups. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, membership numbers have fallen from 10.2m in 2020 to 8.2m in 2021, resulting in a 20% drop in our unrestricted income (approx. £350k). In 2021, our total unrestricted income was £2.6m, of which £1.3m was from Membership Fees. In 2016, WAGGGS Membership Fees were £1.7m. This shows Membership Fee contributions have dropped significantly over the last five years.
In contrast, between 2016 and 2021, we have more than doubled our restricted (grant) income, which has allowed us to offer a wider variety of programming to the Movement.
WAGGGS expenditure
WAGGGS’s previous strategies (2018-20 and 2021-2023) have required significant additional expenditure to deliver activities and to support the Movement well beyond the income received from Membership Fees. These are predominantly in the areas of capacity building, volunteer engagement, support to Member Organisations and the Regions, communications, and governance.
In 2021, a period of unprecedented pressure on MOs, WAGGGS spent over £3m of unrestricted funds on activity for Member Organisations; less than half of this was funded from Membership Fees (£1.3m). This deficit was funded through our fundraising efforts and by taking from our reserves.
WAGGGS financial position over time
From 2010 to 2021, WAGGGS has had an average annual deficit of £438k, which over the 12-year period amounts to £5.26m. Every year, WAGGGS has funded this deficit from reserves.
Despite efforts to bring expenditure in line with income (our 2019 redesign), we have continued to spend from our reserves because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Membership Fees which means:
In 2020, we spent £336k of reserves
In 2021, we spent £116k of reserves.
In 2017, our reserves stood at £6.19m, which included the OB-PS designated fund that was reclassified to free reserves. By the end of 2021, our reserves stood at £3.28m – a 53% drop in five years.
Revising our financial model
Looking forward, we also see a challenging fundraising landscape because of global changes. WAGGGS has secured grants from corporates, foundations and trusts that have allowed us to increase our global programmes. However, following the COVID-19 pandemic, many funders are rethinking where to give money, and it is increasingly difficult to secure grant awards for unrestricted costs. Our donations from long standing supporters such as OB-PS, World Foundation and Friends groups, which form the bulk of our unrestricted income, grow annually but slowly.
As we emerge from the pandemic, we are seeing some hope. The latest census recorded an increase from 8.2 to 8.8 million members – but we know that that is not enough to turn around the pattern of deficit we have experienced.
The continued pattern of expenditure exceeding income means we have an unsustainable financial model that must be changed.
⭐ Getting our offer right
Alongside our financial challenges, WAGGGS is faced with a challenge to define what the right offer is for the Movement. Our 152 Member Organisations operate on vastly different scales, across different cultures, with different models, such as school-based Girl Guiding/Scouting, community-based Girl Guiding/Scouting, co-educational Scout and Guide National Organisations (SAGNOs) and girl-only MOs. This diversity is a strength of the Movement, but also poses a challenge for developing an offer that is universally beneficial.
Aside from the shared challenge of recruitment and retention of members, there are huge variations across the Movement in relation to capacity support needs, key challenges, strategic priorities, and take-up of WAGGGS's services. Although we can pick out some common themes the picture is very different Region to Region, MO to MO.
We know that our offer can be wide-ranging, but with the current financial situation, we know we can’t deliver everything to every MO at the same time. In this strategy period, we must find a financially sustainable operating model for the organisation where we can deliver what the Movement needs, but within our financial means – without a deficit.
Where this strategy sits in relation to Compass 2032.
In 2018, WAGGGS adopted the 12-6-3 model. This means we work towards a 12-year vision (Compass) through delivery of a 6-year strategy, approved at World Conference, and executed via a series of 3-year action plans approved by the World Board.
In 2021, Compass 2032 was approved as the long-term vision statement for the Girl Guide/Scout Movement. It provides the direction of travel for every Member Organisation and the WAGGGS Global Team from 2021 to 2032.
Compass 2032 has two parts: the first sentence is our vision for the world, the second sentence is our vision for the Movement. It describes the Movement we need to become so we can fully contribute to creating the world girls want:
Our vision is an equal world where all girls can thrive.
By 2032 we will be a girl-led Movement where every and any girl feels confident to lead, and empowered to create a better world together.
It was agreed that working towards Compass 2032 is a shared responsibility for the WAGGGS Global Team (comprised of volunteers and staff working across the five WAGGGS Regions) and all Girl Guide and Girl Scout organisations. We will all align our respective strategies to the Compass 2032 collective vision.
The 2024-2029 WAGGGS strategy outlines how the WAGGGS Global Team will contribute to achieving the Compass 2032 Vision over the next 6 years.
After the strategy is approved at the 38th World Conference in 2023, WAGGGS will develop a three-year rolling Action Plan with Key Performance Indicators. The plan will contain a detailed operational plan and budget outlining the detail of our offer for the first year of the strategy, as well as partial plans (50% and 25% respectively) for and the second and third year. This will be updated annually until the end of the six-year period.
After three years, we will conduct a mid-term review of the strategy to ensure it remains fit-for purpose.