How Do We Decide On A Membership Fee?

Your group doesn’t have to charge a membership fee, that’s up to exec to decide each summer when you re-register your group, however it may be more difficult for your group to put on activities and receive SU grant funding if you don’t charge a fee. 

Membership is where the majority of money will come from to run your student group and is the easiest way for your group to get income, so you need to think carefully about whether you want to charge a fee or not. The fees exist to cover the costs of regular activities and is an upfront cost that enables groups to run regular meetings or activities to members for free or at a reduced rate. Paying membership is a financial investment in the group, giving members the right to stand for election and to vote at general meetings (student members only).

Membership is determined by the exec during the re-registration process. Once memberships are set up on the website over the summer they cannot be changed until the start of the next academic year, so make sure to plan your budget for the year and set your membership fee accordingly.

When deciding how much your student group should charge you should think about:

• How many events/activities will you be putting on?
• How much will those events cost? 
• Will you need to contribute to guest speaker’s travel/accommodation?
• How many members are you expecting?
• Is there any immediate equipment you will need to purchase?
• How much money does your student group currently have?

Try to make sure that the fee is enough to ensure your group has money to be able to do the activities it wants to, but not too much to make it inaccessible for students to pay, or so your group ends up with money sitting unused in your account. 

Groups must have an annual membership (either free or paid for), some groups also choose to offer a lifetime membership. Annual membership gives students access to your group for that current academic year, up to 30^th September of the end of the academic year, at which point they will need to purchase a new membership for the next academic year. Lifetime membership gives students access to your group for 4 years. 

Anyone wanting to be a member of your group must buy a membership through the website, including exec committee members, any members that doesn’t have a membership on the SU website won’t be covered by the SU’s insurance, having a membership also allows members to participate in the groups democratic processes, and for student members to run and vote in elections. 

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