4. Membership Fee Methodology

4. Membership Fee Methodology

Membership fees are calculated triennially. This aligns to WAGGGS’s global strategic planning process and supports financial planning for Member Organisations.

Membership fees for the next triennium are, therefore, generally calculated in the year that the World Conference occurs using the most recent available data from the WAGGGS Census and World Bank.

Fees are calculated on the ‘rate-per-member’ membership fee model following a three-stage process described below:

STAGE 1 – Basic formula

The basic formula used to calculate fees is:

Standard rate-per-member x WAGGGS wealth band discount x membership numbers

Therefore, the following key variables are applied:

• • Standard ‘rate per member’ (most recently established as £0.52 GBP at the 38th World Conference in 2023, but subject to inflation in future years)
• WAGGGS wealth band¹ discounts based upon Gross National Income - per capita (GNI-pc), Atlas method² (currently published on 1 July each year by the World Bank)³
• Membership numbers (captured as of 31 December each year and reported by MOs
  via WAGGGS’s Census submitted in the first quarter of the subsequent year)

STAGE 2 - Adjustments

Once fees have been calculated using the basic formula, several additional parameters and adjustments are applied, in the following order:

1. Following their admittance to membership of WAGGGS, new Associate or Full Member Organisations will be given one full year of free membership. This will not apply to any Member Organisations moving from Associate to Full Membership.
2. The membership fee paid by Associate Members in the first triennium of their membership will be calculated based upon a reduction of 50 per cent. In subsequent triennia, and until Full membership is achieved, the membership fee paid by Associate Members will be calculated based upon a reduction of 25 per cent.
3. To incentivise growth and support larger Member Organisations, for the purposes of calculating the membership fee, the membership numbers of Member Organisations are capped as follows:

In addition, no Member Organisation will pay for less than 20 per cent of their total membership once these caps have been applied.

1. The minimum membership fee for a Full Member is £170 GBP per annum. The minimum membership fee for an Associate Member is £85 GBP per annum. 
2. The minimum and maximum rate-per-member contribution for any Member Organisation (both Full and Associate Members) is £0.01 GBP and £1.00 GBP respectively.
   The exception to this adjustment are Member Organisations paying the minimum fee of £85 GBP / £170 GBP with very small membership numbers, who may still have a residual rate-per-member of more than £1 GBP.
3. No individual Member Organisation pays more than 50 per cent of the total global membership fee, before the application of transitional relief.
4. To ensure that the membership fee model is sustainable, inflation4 can be applied each triennium, subject to the recommendation of the Audit, Finance and Risk Committee and the decision of the World Board.
   Inflation may be applied to different elements of the model but will generally affect the standard rate-per-member.

5. In exceptional cases, where a Member Organisation is unable to meet its membership fee obligations, steps will be taken to provide support, where possible.

   Decisions on membership fee assistance will be based on clear and transparent guidelines as set out in Annex 1 (Membership Fee Assistance Guidance). 
   Exceptional circumstances could include, but are not limited to, external forces such as hyperinflation, conflict, natural disasters, or circumstances in the MO such as extraordinary expenses⁵, membership growth that exceeds the rate of income growth⁶, or loss of significant income streams.
    

STAGE 3 – Transitional relief

Transitional relief is applied to Member Organisations who face significant fee changes between triennia.
 

Increases and decreases in membership fees of 33 per cent or more between triennia are phased.
 

Phasing is applied by adding or subtracting one-third of the increase or reduction to the fees paid by the MO in each year of the triennium. The full new fee amount is therefore reached in the final year of the triennium.
 

In addition, any increase between triennia is capped at 100 per cent7, except where this falls below the minimum payment of either £0.01 GBP or the £170 GBP / £85 GBP threshold for Full / Associate Members.

Decreases between triennia are not capped.

¹ Each MO, based upon its GNI-pc (Atlas method), is assigned to one of eight WAGGGS wealth bands (calculated from the World Bank’s four income groups):

² The World Bank's official estimates of the size of economies are based on Gross National Income (GNI) per capita. GNI per capita is the gross national income, converted to U.S. dollars using the World Bank Atlas method, divided by the midyear population. The Atlas method smooths exchange rate fluctuations using a three-year moving average, price-adjusted conversion factor.
³ The World Bank does not publish GNI per capita Atlas method data for a small number of Member Organisations (e.g. currently, Taiwan). In these cases, an appropriate alternative measure will be agreed on a 1:1 basis.

⁴Inflation is the term used to describe rising prices. In the UK, a measure known as the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) is generally used to measure inflation.
⁵An expense is deemed extraordinary if it is not part of a Member Organisation’s ordinary operations and has a material financial impact.
⁶Generally, Member Organisations would be expected to absorb such changes within their own reserves, but WAGGGS would seek to provide support in extreme cases.