General Meeting 2021

In recent years the Guild has appealed to members to support the Guild on several occasions. To raise £250,000 a contribution of £62.50 would be needed from every member. This would be needed on an annual basis.

The trustees have been very aware of the declining membership over the past decade, the increasing rate of branch closures and the difficulties being experienced in forming regional committees. They did not want to precipitate any unnecessary action, but the current situation has now bought matters to a head.

They had already taken action with the development of the Guild courses and its first on-line branch, ThreadIT. Both initiatives will have worldwide appeal. The process of decline in the Guild has been clear for several years. There was insufficient support to achieve the outcomes needed.

The reality is that the consultation with members revealed a majority preference to retain the word ‘Guild’ and there was no consensus whatsoever on a replacement word for ‘Guild’. There was an almost even split on the use of ‘embroidery’ and ‘stitch’. It seems that changing our name was not the key to attracting more members. There are many other Embroidery Guilds around the world. None reported that their name was an impediment.

Yes but this has been difficult to achieve in the numbers that would make a difference. For example, in 2019 we put together a package of support for branches to recruit new members. This included branches retaining 50% of the Guild subscription paid in the first year by each new member. Despite this shared benefit only 23 branches signed up for the initiative.

Crowdfunding has to be for specific purpose and not for to pay for administrative costs on a continuing basis. The Guild has again, on several occasions, sought to find an external fundraiser on a volunteer basis. The Guild has not had the funds to employ an external fundraiser.

The functions of head office would still need to be carried out and paid for e.g. branch and member support, accounting, audit, book keeping, compliance, company reporting, charity reporting, collection conservation, contracts management, database, data protection, employment, governance, legal, marketing, risk management, software, social media and website etc. There would need to be some provision for non-branch members and Life Members. Branches would have to fund all the associated costs in addition to normal branch running costs. This would require a substantial increase in Guild membership subscriptions. This amount would be likely to increase year on year as smaller branches continue to close.

Bookings for speakers already in place for February, March and April can go ahead. Please let us have the booking form and/or paperwork showing the following information so that we can arrange payment to them

Name of Speaker

Email Address

Date of Event

Agreed Fee

Please advise your speaker(s) to email their invoice (including bank details) to Finance@embroiderersguild.com. Their invoice should show also the branch name and date of the event so that we can use this a reference for the payment. They will be paid by BACS without delay.

Please refer to the email sent on 19th February to Chairs and Treasurers with regards to events where participants are being charged a fee to attend.

There are direct and indirect costs. The direct costs relate to staff employment and cannot be adjusted during the year and the indirect costs relate to professional services (accounting; book-

keeping; bank charges; audit; legal; IT; database; unpaid branch insurance. For the current year (i.e. September 2020– August 2021) the total figure is £166,000. There is an element of apportioned costs for staff and contractors. Estimated member subscription income for the current budget year is £145,000. Both income and cost estimates were made before there was any sign of the pandemic. Membership income in 2018/19 was £224,000.

Total estimated income for the next budget year (2021/22) is £170,000. We anticipate a further reduction in membership income as a result of the pandemic and the impact of branches closing. This income estimate anticipates an on-line marketing plan to generate extra income from EG Courses and ThreadIT. At the moment, it is difficult to estimate other sources of income.

Estimated costs assuming the current proposals are implemented are £180,000. This would result in a deficit of £10,000. It will certainly be our aim to not have a deficit but hopefully generate a small surplus. Further staff redundancies remain an option but this will be a last resort and only be achievable through the members being willing to use automatic payment methods and the availability of willing volunteers.

These accounts have been delayed as a result of the late and/or missing year-end returns from over 40 branches. Some returns were up to 4 months late and there are a few that are still outstanding despite constant requests for the information. These late returns are holding up the

completion of the Consolidated Accounts. We experienced a similar problem last year. This year the auditors informed us that they could not proceed with the final consolidation and audit until the outstanding branch information was received. We hope to be able to publish at least draft accounts before the General Meeting.

Branches that elect to become independent stitch groups will be able to retain these assets to support the start-up of the group. We will work with the branches that close to appropriately dispose of these items.

It is an underlying factor that has hindered us and hidden the true nature of being a member of the EG and the Branch in terms of its Charitable Aims which few members understand or support. Without an understanding and a personal commitment to what we are trying to do for the bigger picture, there will always be a mismatch.

This whole process is extremely distressing for all involved. This is one of the thoughts behind offering support to branches that elect not to close but to convert to independent stitch groups.

There will be a package of support including…

· A start-up grant – likely to be a minimum of £250. May be more subject to the final amount available

· Listing and gallery space on the new EG website

· Sample constitution

· Guides on Privacy, Safeguarding policies etc

· An accounts package in Excel

· Zoom advice

· Access to folios

There will be no refunds.

The Guild was formed to preserve and promote the art of embroidery for all and was doing so before the current branch structure came into being. It will continue to have an advocacy role in support of embroidery and textiles.

It will continue to work to achieve those aims, supporting educational initiatives and providing greater access to the collection alongside a range of information and advice and using ThreadIT, the Guild’s new on-line community.

It has a set of unique, design led courses that can be accessed by people across the world and will continue to bring members’ work to the attention of the wider public.

It will continue to support its members; deliver membership benefits; and inform and engage its members.

A quote from Lord Spencer. President of the Guild in 1940, and published in ‘Embroidery’ that year:

The Embroiderers’ Guild is a thing by itself – there is nothing else like it – its functions are entirely its own: it overlaps nothing. It exists simply to help and encourage needlework in every form.

It is the case that all monies held in all parts of the charity are the property of the charity. The money may have been raised by members of a branch, perhaps over a long period of time but it is not and never has been the property of the members (past or present), nor the branch as a whole. A charity, and its constituent parts (branches), can hold reserves necessary to deal with the ‘unexpected’ but, beyond that prudent amount, the monies of the charity (and its branches) are expected to applied to be achieving the overall charitable aims.

Pooling all the financial resources of the Guild will enable it to survive by achieving its charitable aims and adapting to the needs of stitch and textile art in the 21st Century.

It might be prudent to do so particularly if you are using an older PC or tablet. It may be necessary if you are intending the access the meeting via a mobile phone.

There are no immediate plans to increase subscriptions.

Yes.