Subscriptions

Understand more about the funds that help to run Girlguiding locally and nationally, how they're collected - and your role in the process

Money that supports local and national guiding

At Girlguiding, the terms ‘subs’ and ‘annual subscription’ usually refer to two different things.

Every year, Girlguiding collects an annual subscription – historically referred to as ‘census’ – to run our charity at a national level. Countries and regions, counties, districts and divisions will add an additional fee to this – called a ‘levy’ – to support guiding in their local area. This annual subscription is paid by both volunteers and girls.

Alongside this, local units collect ‘subs’ from young members – often on a weekly, monthly or termly basis. Unit subs pay for running costs - including buying resources - or for events and activities. The unit might choose to collect funds to cover the annual subscriptions in these regular subs too, or they might just ask parents for a one-off payment each year.

On these pages, you’ll find information about how our annual subscription process runs – and how you can make the most out of your unit subs.