Important Information on Membership Fees

Dear Surrey Business Club Member

Would you like the good news or the bad news first? OK, let’s get straight to the point! Your SBC sub is going up (for the first time in many years). The good news is that we are still the best value business association you will find – not just in Surrey, but nationwide.

[Important: Any existing member can extend their membership by one year at the old rate if they pay in full by May 1st. Simply contact Membership Secretary Linda Haynes by email or phone (01306 730074) straight away! Linda can advise you further]

Currently you are paying just £120* per year for all this:

  • 12 meetings (with substantial quality buffets – sometimes even sit-down meals!)
  • 10 presentations by expert speakers on topics highly relevant to SME’s, plus 2 social events (August BBQ and Christmas Quiz Social, food includedFormal and informal networking opportunities at every meeting
  • Your own free webpage on our long-established website, with high search engine visibility
  • Monthly email newsletters
  • Optional social events (tenpin bowling, golf etc)

    (*As a not-for-profit club we are not VAT registered - so this tax-deductible amount is all you pay)

For comparison purposes:

  • Most Chambers of Commerce charge a membership fee very similar or higher than ours (+VAT), but every meeting is extra – in the order of £20 + VAT, so to attend 12 meetings your annual cost would be over £400.
  • Weekly breakfast networking groups typically charge £100 + VAT joining fee, £400 + VAT annual membership and £10 a week for breakfast – a total of £1,000 in year one, and £900/annum thereafter
  • Lunchtime or evening networking groups typically charge £300 + VAT membership plus £12- £20 per event +VAT, or a monthly sub including meetings (which in the case of one successful Surrey-based group ranges from £33 + VAT per month up to £150 +VAT per month depending on the level of your membership (from £465 – over £2000/annum).
  • Pay As You Go networking groups charge around £15 - £20 per meeting (£150 - £240 per year) but have no newsletter or website, and often no speakers.
So what should our new SBC sub be? Your Committee has thought long and hard about this. We have been able to keep the sub artificially low for the past few years thanks to a couple of injections of EU funding under the Leadership Skills scheme. This has allowed us to offer half-price HeadStart memberships for new businesses and accept free guests for a trial meeting. Unfortunately, the funding has now dried up, and we have to remain financially viable (although we remain a non-profit making club, run by Members for Members).

The bottom line is that as of 1 May 2008, membership of SBC will be £180 per year (no VAT, remember). HeadStart Membership will still be half price at £90. We will be charging guests £15 to come to a trial meeting, and there will be a £20 joining fee for all new Members (or returning ex-Members).

And Remember: Any existing member can extend their membership by one year at the old rate if they pay in full by May 1st. Simply contact Membership Secretary Linda Haynes by email or phone (01306 730074) straight away! Linda can advise you further.

Each member will receive four guest passes per year (which now have a value of £15 each, and this represents exactly the increase in the sub). This means you can invite your contacts, colleagues, customers and prospects to come to an SBC meeting as your guest, and they save £15.

If they subsequently join the Club, you will get a £20 discount on your next year’s sub under our ‘Member Get Member’ scheme. So if you actively promote the Club, you could end up paying even less than your current sub. Just invite people to come to meetings, at no cost to your or them, and if even three should join SBC, your nest year’s sub falls back to the current price.

With these new membership rates we will be able to continue providing Members with a first-class business networking and professional development programme in a friendly sociable environment.

Best regards

Keith Grover

Chairman

 
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