News in 2021

FIG Members get 20% reduction of fees for 2021

January 2021

On 13 January FIG Council had its first council meeting in 2021. On the agenda were the finances, and especially the financial situation around the world due to the COVID19 pandemic.

FIG Council is aware that our members have difficulties to create income for example by national events, seminars etc. just like FIG has.

FIG Council has as a response to this unusual situation unanimously decided to offer all Member Associations, Corporate and Affiliate Members a reduction of their membership fees in 2021 of 20 per cent. Academic members pay once per four years, so they are not affected in 2021.

With this offer to our members, FIG Council hopes that this can help their financial situation.

This is a one-time and extraordinary situation and will be offered solely for 2021. It will leave FIG with a large deficit for 2021. FIG council has however monitored the finances carefully over the last many years and has produced positive results. This means that FIG has an increased reserve, and FIG Council belives that this large one-time loss is doable due to the accumulated funds and the reserve will remain within the financial measure that has been set by the General Assembly.

Furthermore, the financial result for FIG for 2020 will not be as bad as originally expected. There was no income from a Working Week in 2020 but on the other hand it has also not been possible to travel during most of 2020. This means that the financial result for 2020 for FIG will only show a small deficit. Council is aware that also for 2021 - at least in the first half of the year there will be less travelling activities for our council members than normally, thus there will be less expenses.

We hope to get back to more face-to-face activities and thereby also more travelling in the second half of 2021. This situation has proved that it is possible to meet online and with great creativity. The Working Week 2021 and General Assembly will be no exception as this has also been transformed to an e-Working Week - however where elements from a face-to-face Working Week will be included such as networking and getting the special FIG-community feeling. Online meetings are an excellent supplement but it is our clear conviction that it can not replace face-to-face meetings.

The invoices will be sent to all members in January 2021.

 

 

Louise Friis-Hansen
13 January 2021