Group Fees

Each year Scout Groups should prepare an annual budget to determine the fees to be charged to members to cover operational costs.

The fees charged to members should cover all known and planned operational costs for the year. Fundraising should not be relied upon to meet operational costs.

An Excel template has been prepared to assist Groups in calculating the amount that should be charged to members to meet those costs and is available at the bottom of this article. 

Note, this is not a budget template. Annual budgets can be entered into your Group’s Xero file with instructions on how to do that available  here . 

On the template fill in the light green squares with the required information:

1. Group Numbers
   On this tab enter the number of members, in the categories provided, expected at 31 March and again at 30 September. 
   NB: The actual numbers in SMS on those dates will be used to calculate your renewal invoices
   
   
2. Annual Expenses
   This tab lists the normal operating expenses of a Scout Group. It does not seek to list every individual expense line that a Group may have in its accounts so some consolidation may be necessary in the available fields for the purposes of calculating the group fee.
   
   The Guidance Notes advise the input required and, in some lines, how the amount which appears has been calculated.

Group Fee Calculation

It is recommended that the State Membership fee is charged separately to the Group fee to ensure that it is paid prior to each census, to confirm membership prior to each census date. The State Membership period being invoiced should be clearly stated on these charges to avoid confusion particularly for new members. 

The Group fee could be charged annually, half yearly or per term using the minimum group fee amount calculated to cover the expected operating costs of the Group. Charging termly could allow for costs for planned activities during that term (e.g. EOY Celebrations) to be included in the charge. 

Groups can find instruction on how to import members from SMS into Xero here so they can send invoices annually or each term.  

Tip – set up invoice reminders by following the instructions here.

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