Menu
Unless the context indicates otherwise, the following meanings apply to these Terms & Conditions:
The “GBW National Group” is a GBW group comprised of Members from around the United Kingdom that meets only online.
Any application for or renewal of GBW Membership is assumed to be made on the basis of these Terms and Conditions, which govern the Member’s ongoing relationship with GBW Ltd and the Franchisee/Group Leader administering the GBW Group to which the Member belongs.
Your Fees cover the cost of organising, administering, and managing your scheduled GBW meetings, as well as the time spent by your Franchisee/Group Leader presenting those meetings. At times, we may need to relocate our meetings or do them entirely online.
Additionally, your fees include access to the GBW Portal, an online software platform that enables you to market your business and connect with other GBW Members around the country. Any message sent to GBW Members via the GBW Portal that is deemed inappropriate/offensive may result in your Membership being immediately terminated with no return of Fees paid.
Our knowledgeable Franchisees and Group Leaders work tirelessly to provide a consistent level of service. Your meeting structure and organisation stay constant regardless of the location or platform.
Our Fees reflect our Franchisees’ and Group Leaders’ knowledge and experience in hosting meetings and establishing a conducive environment for business to flow.
Each Member must represent the profession that is either their primary source of revenue or a significant portion of their primary source of revenue. This is referred to as the professional category.
Each Member may propose just one core activity during the meeting. If a Member desires to represent a different aspect of their business than the one specified when they registered for Membership, they must get permission directly from their Franchisee or Group Leader at the time of their Membership renewal.
Members may move their category only in extreme circumstances and on a case-by-case basis within a 12-month Membership. For administration purposes, a fee of £60 + VAT will be levied.
Multiple memberships in multiple groups are available to represent your primary professional category or a different aspect of your business, provided that the category you desire to represent is accessible in the GBW Group you choose to join.
If a Member is unable to attend a meeting, they should arrange for a representative or substitute to attend in their place, after confirming appropriateness with the Franchisee/Group Leader.
It is critical to recognise the consequences of non-attendance at your monthly meeting and how it may be damaging to your professional reputation, dedication to your organisation, and, not least, the disappointment of other Members who may have intended to refer or do business with you. When all Members attend their monthly meetings, the GBW structure is most effective and successful.
• If a Member is missing from four or more meetings in a 12-month period without sending a representative/substitute, their Membership may be revoked.
• Your Franchisee/Group Leader must consent to a leave of absence in advance.
• If a Member is missing from four or more meetings during any 12-month Membership period, even if a substitute is supplied, their Membership may be cancelled, unless in exceptional circumstances, at the discretion of the Franchisee/Group Leader.
Members who are furloughed but continue to work are invited to attend meetings or send a substitute whenever feasible. Additionally, while GBW meetings are social in nature rather than job-related, they do not jeopardise your work position.
GBW Members are entitled to six months of maternity leave, at which time your Franchisee/Group Leader will freeze your Fees (where applicable) for six months, at which point your membership will continue.
If your company pays for your Membership, a’substitute colleague’ may take your seat for the period of your six-month maternity leave (if desired or necessary) with prior approval from your Franchisee/Group Leader. Membership would be renewed in the customary manner at the renewal date.
If you become ill suddenly and are unable to attend your monthly meetings for an extended period of time, your Membership may be postponed for up to six months at the discretion of your Franchisee/Group Leader.
During the duration of your Membership, you are not entitled to transfer it to another GBW Group. There will be a cost of £60 + VAT.
You are strongly urged to explore more GBW Groups if your professional category is not currently covered. Members are authorised a maximum of four visits to any GBW Group during each 12-month Membership period (at the normal GBW Member charge for that group). Additional visits may be granted solely in response to any concessions or special offers made by GBW Ltd or your Franchisee/Group Leader during times of national or global crisis.
If you are a member of a GBW National Group, your Fees include a passport that allows you to visit other GBW National Groups (if your professional category is offered) at no additional cost.
GBW Franchisees and Group Leaders make a concerted effort to ensure that Members in each group connect well, not only in terms of business opportunities and services and goods that may be supplied to one another, but also in terms of character. GBW’s success is due to the knowledge of our Franchisees and Group Leaders, who intuitively recognise when a GBW Group is performing well. A Franchisee is not needed to offer justification for terminating a Membership if they believe the Member’s contribution is having a negative effect on the larger group.
Fees at the level charged by Franchisees/Group Leaders, as listed on our website (including applicable VAT) are payable annually in the following ways:
• One-time yearly membership fee plus 12 monthly meeting fees due in advance
• One-year membership plus twelve monthly meeting fees paid in twelve monthly instalments
Certain GBW Franchisees may be registered for VAT. When purchasing your Membership or event ticket directly from the Franchisee/Group Leader, fees may change to reflect this.
4-6 weeks prior to your renewal date, your Franchisee/Group Leader will contact you to discuss your renewal. Additionally, you will get an automated renewal reminder via the GBW Portal seven days prior to the renewal date, and payment must be received by the renewal date to maintain your Membership. If payment is not received within seven days of the renewal date, the Membership will be revoked automatically.
At their sole discretion, the Franchisee/Group Leader may elect not to renew a Membership.
As a GBW Member, you will have access to our technology platform, the GBW Portal, which includes an inbox and direct messaging capabilities to facilitate cooperation with your network, as well as access to our community forum.
GBW respects varied viewpoints, and in order to create an inclusive atmosphere for our community, your involvement must always be respectful of others. Specifically:
• We do not permit obscene, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, or infringing intellectual property rights content (including publicity rights). For instance, refrain from using obscenities or profanity and refrain from expressing hatred or intolerance toward people on the basis of their race, ethnic origin, national origin, gender or gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, or disability, including through the promotion of organisations that hold such views.
• Avoid using mature language or sensitive themes in your responses, as well as divisive or prejudiced language or messaging.
• We do not permit vulgar, pornographic, or lewd content.
• We do not allow material that infringes on the privacy of others. For instance, refrain from posting other people’s phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses, or other personally identifiable information, and refrain from allowing links to phishing or other malware websites.
• We do not permit members of the community to impersonate other persons or businesses or to claim to be someone or something they are not.
If the Franchisee/Group Leader terminates the Membership during the 12-month period, your Fees will be returned pro-rata.
GBW maintains the right to relocate a GBW meeting to a different location or platform if required, and venue selection is fully up to the Franchisee/Group Leader.
Changes in meeting dates or locations will be made only when circumstances beyond our control warrant it and at the franchisee’s/group leader’s discretion. If the date or location of the meeting is changed without proper notice and within three weeks of the scheduled meeting, preventing a GBW Member from attending their monthly meeting, one month will be added to the membership term.
If a location changes beyond what the Member considers to be an acceptable distance, prohibiting the Member from attending future meetings and thereby cancelling their Membership, the Franchisee/Group Leader will issue a pro-rata refund of Fees to the Member.
In exceptional circumstances, such as a national crisis/global pandemic that is beyond the control of GBW, we may be forced to conduct all meetings online. Because the same amount of competence and effort is necessary to organise and conduct a GBW meeting whether in-person or online, a crisis of this nature would not result in a refund of Fees. The Franchisee/Group Leader will reimburse any meal supplements pre-charged for in-venue meetings that are transferred online.
We reserve the right to use images taken at GBW meetings for publicity and marketing purposes, including on our website. Attending meetings may result in your appearance in such images, and you are believed to have waived any objections to the taking of such photographs as described above. If you do not desire to be featured in any image, please contact the photographer prior to the photograph being shot at the relevant event.
GBW maintains the right to record meetings, and by attending such meetings, you consent to such recordings being made and stored by GBW. When recording is enabled, you will receive a notification (visual or otherwise). If you do not wish to be recorded, you may exit the event.
If you do not desire to renew your Membership at the time it is due, please take the following into consideration:
1. You will lose access to the GBW Portal.
2. You could be contacted to participate in a customer satisfaction survey.
3. You may be requested to provide a testimonial on your experience as an organisation member.
4. You are responsible for the deletion of any social media content from our sites.
5. Unless you request deletion of your information at the time of your leave, your information will not be promptly wiped from our system.
GBW Associates Ltd is devoted to safeguarding your personal information’s privacy and security. All Member data is processed in accordance with the terms of our Data Protection and Privacy Policy, which is available on our website.
As a member-based organisation, you will be automatically subscribed into our newsletter when you submit your profile to the GBW website. This is covered under the data protection legislation’ ‘Legitimate Interest’ provision. You may unsubscribe from any of GBW messages at any time.
GBW takes seriously the privacy and security of your personal information. Our Privacy Statement describes how we gather and use personal data in compliance with applicable data protection regulations. Our Privacy Statement is available here >
GBW Associates Ltd, its employees, franchisees, or group leaders are not liable for the outcome of business or any other activity between GBW Members. Each party should satisfy themselves as to the other party’s knowledge and/or suitability to offer the service or product in issue to a suitable standard, as well as their requisite qualification(s).