Helping to support AFT

‘ASK NOT WHAT AFT CAN DO FOR YOU, ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR AFT’: these might have been the words of that other important Kennedy, JF, had he been responsible for AFT rather than the less demanding career choice he made

This is all about expanding AFT. First the ‘bad’ news …?

At the moment we are successfully covering the costs of the Association. However, this  will change in the near future. The increased growth and complex demands of the Association in raising the profile of family therapy and systemic practice, as well as responding to professional issues for members, means we need more human resources in terms of time and skills availability to respond fully. Our public and professional presence has grown and we have appointed staff advisors to cover the areas of professional affairs, research, media links and publishing.

If we are to continue on the present course, we need to find a variety of ways to increase our income. Your ideas about how best we do this are sought and welcomed. 

The obvious and regrettable way is through increasing our membership fee and the Board has agreed an increase for two consecutive years (i.e. 2008 and 2009) of:

£5pa for non-UKCP registered members	£55 for 2008 and £60 for 2009
£10pa for UKCP-registered members	£70 for 2008 and £80 for 2009
£5pa for Students/Retired/Unwages	£35 for 2008 and £40 for 2009

This will resolve some immediate challenges but we need to think about resourcing our longer-term development.

Then, the ‘good’ news …?

One idea that has been proposed is introducing Gift Aid. AFT is a charity and though membership fees do not count as charitable donations additional gifts do. These may be one-off, such as a bequest from a will, or occasional donations but contributions made on a regular basis, however small the amount, qualify for tax relief from which AFT benefits at no additional cost to the donor. If each member were to give £10pa by Gift Aid, for example, this would mean an additional £23,000 available to the organization. (You could contribute via the Charities Aid Foundation if you have such an account.)  To make a donation please download the Gift Aid form from the members page of this website or send with a a Gift Aid declaration giving your name, home address, charity’s name, details of the donation and confirmation that you have paid UK tax to cover the tax we can reclaim. This could benefit the Association enormously and give back to others in the systemic field by sharing some of what you feel you have gained from your own learning and training.

Please send your ideas and comments to either Sue Kennedy or Barbara Warner and we hope to broaden the discussion.

John Hills, Company Secretary

On behalf of the The AFT Board