How much are your Rainbow subs?

[fidgetthedog]

Hi everyone

Am just in the process of setting up a new Rainbow unit and am after some info, if that's okay. The meetings will be an hour long - how much do you charge for your subs? And do you charge an initial enrolment fee to cover purchase of the Rainbow bag and badges etc??

As an aside, so Rainbows wear a Unit woven badge .. i.e. 1st Whatever Rainbows on their uniforms?

Many thanks

[catdrew]

most groups subs seem to range from £12 - £15 if paid termly or £1 a week only problem being that if they dont turn up they forget to bring that weeks £1 the next week.

a lot of people seem to think a joining fee a good idea (see other threads) as it covers the basic things given out. ie county badge promise badge and books. subs can sometimes be hard to get in. a system where if they dont pay they lose place has been suggested if you have a waiting list.

some units have name tapes like the old style a long strip with 1st mmmmmb st johns on it it didnt always say brownies or guides as some units used same ones for all sections at same church. ours used to be navy with green writing.

some on here have different badges, round one with the same info on just a picture as well. i believe if you PM popcorn she can sort you out with these.

its up to you, your leader team could decide or get girls too.

[Chandra]

I charge £1.50 a week but take at the beginning of each 1/2 term as it may difficult for some parents to pay upfront. I'm lucky at the mo as my rent is fairly low £3 per week and I don't pay for the weeks we don't use the room.

I also charge a £5 reg fee for books and badges. I have just asked popcorn to make me some unt badges too!

[Elledreamer]

We charge £2 a week but we only put it up because we were struggling to pay census. We're going to start getting gift aid soon so we might but it back down to £1 per week. I really think paying termly is better though, as you never miss any money the weeks the girls forget or don't come.

[Panda]

We charge £15 a term and no joining fee. I actually think this is too much, coz I now have too much money in the accounts, but my DC told me to keep it as it is. It does mean that I subsidise heavily every trip we go on, for example I just paid £7 per girl out of accounts to go to a painting pottery shop.

There are some old name badges in our cupboard but we dont use them anymore.

[kittykat]

We charge an enrolment fee of £10 which covers bag, badges, books etc and then £6 per month to cover rent and activities. It is the same in Brownies and Guides at our church so parents know what to expect. If a parent can't afford the £6 in one go we will let them pay monthly. Even with what we charge, we don't have any money left at the end of each term. That's where gift aid comes on very handy!!

[scooby]

We charge £1 a week. We only put a small amount towards census though, so parents get landed with that straight after Christmas and it can be a pain getting it all in on time.
We're thinking of doing the same as our Brownies and putting it up to £1.50 a week and paying most of census from it in future. We're very lucky in that we only pay a donation to Church each term for the hall, rather than rent - it does make a difference.
We don't charge a joining fee either.
We do have a Unit name tape, which has our Unit name with 'Rainbows' tagged on at the end. It's the traditional white tape with red lettering type!

[FluffyOwl]

£1.50/week with no joining fee, and thats meant to at least subsidise census. Most parents pay termly BUT it has only just gone up from £1 so we will wait and see...
The district capped subs at £2/week

[giggle drawers]

We charge £1 a week. We only put a small amount towards census though, so parents get landed with that straight after Christmas and it can be a pain getting it all in on time.

Have you thought about putting your census letters out in October? We put ours out about then, asking for it to be paid by Christmas. This gives you a chance to chase up the non payer, without getting hassle from district for being last with your cheque.


If girls start in December, we ask for thiers to be paid by the end of January.

[Tina Tulip]

ours is £1.50 a week but we're starting to take it half termly after Easter.
The first night is free, then we charge £6.00 the next week for start up - book bag, book etc. We charge for census but if parents have been good with fundraising then we only ask for half.

We don't have a unit name tape but am thinking of getting some unit badges made by popcorn!