New NFWI 2021 Subscription Flexibility Plan

In light of COVID-19 and the impact this pandemic has had on members and WIs, NFWI has recently made some changes to the WI membership subscription.

At the 2020 National Council, it was proposed that NFWI explore the possibility of WIs being given greater flexibility over their portion of the membership subscription, giving them the freedom to use their funds more freely.

NFWI and federations have fixed costs in order to deliver fixed aspects of the WI experience, such as WI Life, newsletters, promotional materials, member support, etc. However, NFWI has been very aware that WIs may have saved on these fixed costs in 2020 and in some instances may not always need their full portion of the membership subscription in order to deliver their WI experience to members. Some WIs have been able to continue relatively seamlessly – giving a member experience and using their funds as normal – but others have not.

National Council agreed that before any plan was rolled out nationally, feedback should first be gathered for this proposal from a variety of different WIs about whether a change of this nature would be welcome and practical. The feedback was largely positive, with the majority of WIs seeing the potential in this proposal both for this coming year and for future years.

In light of this feedback from members and additional work from the NFWI Membership and Engagement team, the NFWI Board has authorised this new flexible approach, but with a set of simplified guidelines for its adoption. This simplified version will offer WIs the option to either waive the WI portion of the subscription, reduce the WI portion of the subscription, or charge the full amount of the WI portion (as set by the NFWI and National Council each year). This will need to be determined annually by WIs based on their level of reserves and expenditure forecast. Any decision to reduce or waive the WI portion will need to be offered across the board to all members of that WI for the year.

Total 2023/2024 SubscriptionWI ShareFederation ShareNFWI Share
£46£22.60£10.80£12.60

All of the above information has been sent to your WI President who will discuss it with your committee and present their decision to you, the membership.

Please take a look at NFWI’s subscription flexibility FAQs for further information.

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4 Comments

  1. We haven’t had a committee meeting for over a year. In the current COVID situation with some meeting venues still closed how are we expected to make decisions over this matter let alone relay it to our members. I would add that not many members are Zoom or computer happy!

    • Hello, Sandra. You can make decisions using email or – if your committee members don’t use computers – over the telephone. As long as you record any decisions you make, just as you would at a face-to-face committee meeting, you will be fine. If you tell us which WI you’re a member of, I can ask your WI Adviser to get in touch to give you some guidance and help.

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