Due to the coronavirus epidemic, the usual April Finance Meeting, which sets the coming year’s budget and fees amongst other things, was postponed, and now is to be held “virtually”, by Zoom, on July 18th.

Given that nobody has any clear idea of what chess activity will be possible in 2020-21, setting a budget can be done only on a best-guess scenario, will the Board being allowed flexibility to adjust it on the hoof, according to developing circumstances. The assumption is being made that coronavirus, one way or another, will reduce the number of players taking up ECF membership, and the figures estimated for the purposes of guessing likely levels of income from membership fees is as follows:

Membership Category	Fee	2019/2020 actual	2020/21 estimated	Estimated change	Estimated % change
Jnr Bronze	£6	41	31	-10	-24.39%
Jnr Silver (free)	£0	1,383	1,383	0
Jnr Silver (paid)	£6	1,530	1,530	0
Jnr Gold	£19.50	784	784	0
Jnr Platinum	£75	10	10	0
Bronze	£18	4,112	2,304	-1,808	-43.97%
Silver	£27	2,079	1,654	-425	-20.44%
Gold	£39	2,110	1,839	-271	-12.84%
Platinum	£75	82	82	0
Lifetime	£0	33	33	0
Supporter	£10	250	400	+150	+60.00%
	Totals	12,414	9,900	2,365	19.05%

These figures are derived in part from an analysis of membership by age, where known, with guesses as to how different age groups and membership categories are likely to respond to the pandemic as regards whether they renew their ECF membership. The greatest losses are anticipated in the older Bronze member groups. Some increase in Supporter category take-up seems likely as some switch from over-the-board chess to on-line chess, or switch to being a Supporter by way of making a donation.

The detail of the above table is of course highly speculative, but at the same time could approximate to the actual overall impact of the pandemic.

The paper from the Membership Director, showing the breakdown by age and impact on income of the above budget hypothesis, can be found, with the other papers for the meeting, at https://www.englishchess.org.uk/about/ecf-council-and-board/.

The Board proposal is that membership fees remain the same except for the “Supporter” category (which is essentially a donation category) being increased from £5 to £10, and that game-fee rates remain the same. A minimum of Supporter level membership is required for ECF on-line events.

Steve Mann

30/06/2020