The January 2019 Newsletter is now available via the link.
We would like to draw your attention to an important update regarding the Wader Quest fees which is copied below.
At a recent Wader Quest Trustees meeting it was reluctantly agreed that the subscrition fees would need to increase this year. They have been at the current rate for five years now and a number of things have prompted this review.
First and foremost it was suggested by a number of Friends of Wader Quest that we should do so. The feeling was that the price (that we initiated with a view to making it within reach of most pockets and therefore available to all) was perhaps too low and that most people could afford more per year.
The second consideration was that some have expressed the belief that charging so little suggests we are not serious about what we are doing, and indeed, don’t take ourselves seriously enough.
The third reason is that as a non-profit charity we need to be earning a higher percentage of our income through charitible giving and membership as opposed to merchandising and sales.
We try to direct support through the Conservation Grants Fund to smaller projects that may find funding difficult to obtain through other sources, or wish to request small amounts of funding for community-based projects or for species that face a specific conservation threat. However as we are not getting a large number of such requests at present, as a charity we should not be accumulating funds, and need to show that we are using the money that we are raising to good effect. As a result we will be, on occasions, assisting with certain high profile wader conservation projects such as Spoon-billed Sandpipers, Eurasian Curlews, Hooded Plovers and other species that are under pressure.
We are currently going through the process of applying to the Charity Commission to obtain formal charity status with them. As part of the process we need to be able to show that we have funding coming in to support our activities. Whilst these costs are kept at the lowest possible level, we still need to show that we have funding to cover them at events such as the British Bird Fair and other venues where there are fees for stands or pitches. Currenltly we have been putting all of the annual Friends of Wader Quest fees into the Grants Fund, and making up some of the costs from other income such as sales, which I am sure you will appreciate are varibale. We need to meet Charity Commission guidance to allocate some of the annual Friends monies into running our organisation to show we have a solid base to fund our activities during the year. We will, when we have covered the commitments Wader Quest makes to attend these events, make any surplus available to our Conservation Grants Fund (CGF).
The rates are due to go up on the 6th of April 2019, this is the first day of our financial year. The new rates are displayed on page three. You will note that Life Friends of Wader Quest will not be changing and so will represent better value for money being just 20 instead of 40 year’s worth of subscriptions. Corporate Sponsorship will also remain unchanged, for the time being, at £50.
Wader Quest would like to invite any member with a renewal due in 2019 but after the 6th of April, who wishes to renew early before this date, to do so at the current rate and their membership will run still from their current renewal month.
We would also like to remind our Friends and Sponsors that currently the Trustees attend events (such as Bird Fair) and meetings at their own expense, and do not claim their travel, subsistance or accommodation costs.
We would also like to reassure Friends and Supporters that any general donations, additional donations given when renewing subscriptions, or donations given in response to a specific campaigns run by Wader Quest will always be entirely directed to the Conservation Grant Fund, and not utilised for the running of Wader Quest. The Conservation Grants Fund will continue to be ring fenced, remaining independant of our day to day running budget, and held in a seperate account.
We hope that these changes will not affect anyone’s pocket too badly nor cause anyone to feel they can no longer support Wader Quest. The increased income will greatly improve the efficacy of Wader Quest and help us to reach more wader conservation projects.