Local Member

Who may join?

• Individual persons older than 18 years
• Resides close enough to any one of THG programmes to attend meetings and conduct regular program visits
• Individual has read the Constitution and agrees to conduct the affairs of THG accordingly

Local Membership Activities

• Member agrees to visit THG programs from time to time
• Member agrees to make him/herself available for election/appointment to committees
• Member agrees to contribute his/her interest in the area of operation of THG and to promote its cause in the community

Local Membership Features

• Voting right on an Annual General Meeting and/or General Meeting
• Receives regular progress reports from THG
• Receives the regular newsletter
• Eligible for election / appointment to committees and boards
• Membership pricing on crafts from the programs (for gifts)
• Optional laminated membership card
• Annual members' gift - THG keychain (2004)
• Option to sponsor a child
• Member has an online profile in the Local Members section.

Local Family Membership

All of the above apply with but with additional features:

1) Membership is not for an individual but for (eg.) "Smith Family" or "John & Joanne Smith Family";
2) Membership carries two votes on an Annual General Meeting and any or all members of the family are eligible for election/ appointment to committees and boards;
3) Invitation to meetings and functions are extended to the Family.
4) Family has an online profile in the Local Members section.

Cost of Local Membership:

Local Individuals - $20 per year

| click to apply and pay online | !-- Online service not available right now --!
| click to print an application form to print and mail |

Local Family - $40 per year

| click to apply and pay online | !-- Online service not available right now --!
| click to print an application form to print and mail |
faq | top

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National Member

Who may join?

• Individual persons older than 18 years
• Resides in RSA but not close enough to any one of THG programmes to attend meetings and conduct regular program visits
• Individual has read the Constitution and agrees to conduct the affairs of THG accordingly

National Membership Activities

• Member agrees to visit THG web site from time to time and participate in online discussions and members facilities.
• Member agrees to make him/herself available for election/appointment to committees that do not require physical presence (ie. Online).
• Member agrees to contribute his/her interest in the area of operation of THG and to promote the cause of the Girl Child on the Street in the national community.

National Membership Features

• Voting right on an Annual General Meeting and/or General Meeting.
• May vote online or by proxy.
• Receives regular progress reports from THG.
• Receives the regular newsletter.
• Eligible for election / appointment to committees and boards that do not require physical presence.
• Membership pricing on crafts from the programs (for gifts)
• Optional laminated membership card
• Annual members' gift - THG keychain (2004)
• Option to sponsor a child
• Member has an online profile in the South African members' section.

National Family Membership

All of the above apply with but with additional features:

1) Membership is not for an individual but for (eg.) "Smith Family" or "John & Joanne Smith Family";
2) Membership carries two votes on an Annual General Meeting and any or all members of the family are eligible for election/ appointment to committees and boards;
3) Members-only access to online features for the family.
4) Family has an online profile in the South African Members Section

National Membership fee:

National Individual - $20 per year

| click to apply and pay online | !-- Online service not available right now --!
| click to print an application form to print and mail |

National Family - $40 per year

| click to apply and pay online | !-- Online service not available right now --!
| click to print an application form to print and mail |
faq | top

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International Member

Who may join?

• Individual persons older than 18 years
• Resides in RSA but not close enough to any one of THG programmes to attend meetings and conduct regular program visits
• Individual has read the Constitution and agrees to conduct the affairs of THG accordingly

International Membership Activities

• Member agrees to visit THG web site from time to time and participate in online discussions and members facilities.
• Member agrees to make him/herself available for election/appointment to committees that do not require physical presence (ie. Online).
• Member agrees to contribute his/her interest in the area of operation of THG and to promote the cause of the Girl Child on the Street in the international community and in member's own community.

International Membership Features

• Voting right on an Annual General Meeting and/or General Meeting.
• May vote online or by proxy.
• Receives regular progress reports from THG.
• Receives the regular newsletter.
• Eligible for election / appointment to committees and boards that do not require physical presence.
• Membership pricing on crafts from the programs (for gifts)
• Optional laminated membership card
• Annual members' gift - THG keychain (2004)
• Option to sponsor a child
• Member has an online profile listed in the International Members listing.

International Family Membership

All of the above apply with but with additional features:

1) Membership is not for an individual but for (eg.) "Smith Family" or "John & Joanne Smith Family";
2) Membership carries two votes on an Annual General Meeting and any or all members of the family are eligible for election/ appointment to committees and boards;
3) Members-only access to online features for the family.
4) Family has an online profile in the International Members listing.

International Membership fees:

International Individuals - $50 per year

| click to apply and pay online |
| click to print an application form to print and mail |
faq

International Family - $100 per year

| click to apply and pay online |
| click to print an application form to print and mail |
faq | top

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Institutional Member

Who may join?

• Corporations, organisations, clubs and companies
• Agrees to conduct the affairs of THG according the Constitution and By-Laws of THG.

Institutional Membership Activities

• If local, member agrees to visit THG programs from time to time.
• May vote online or by proxy.
• Member may appoint (up to) two persons to make him/herself available for election/appointment to committees.
• Member agrees to contribute his/her interest in the area of operation of THG and to promote its cause in the community

Institutional Membership Features

• Voting rights on an Annual General Meeting and/or General Meeting for TWO votes.
• Receives regular progress reports from THG
• Receives the regular newsletter
• Eligible for election / appointment to committees and board
• Membership pricing on crafts from the programs (for gifts)
• Option to sponsor a child
• Member has an online profile listed in the Corporate Member's section.

Institutional Membership fees:

Institution - $300 per year

| click to apply and pay online |
| click to print an application form to print and mail |
faq | top

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Signup Today There are two ways to sign up for membership - online (the usual way) and by surface mail. If you choose the online method you are first to the secure credit card processor (this is a large professional company contracted to both our bank and your credit card company) where you pay the membership fees. Once the transaction completes the credit card processor returns you to a special section of this site where you fill out and submit the details of your membership. Please note: Except for your name and the type of membership you paid for, we have no insight to any other detail you submitted to the credit card processor. Some members request us to bill their credit cards for gifts or goods they wish to purchase but we cannot do that because we never have insight to credit card information. Each transaction must therefore be a separate one. THG Membership Payment page The alternative way to sign up for membership is to download and print the application form, fill it out and mail it to THG along with your South African cheque (tjek) or international money order. top	Why is pricing in US$? Because our members are from all over the world it is the much easier for everyone to work according to a single monetary standard. We chose the US$ because many currencies are intimately linked to it and conversion rates are readily available - and our secure credit card processors, situated in the US, can serve customers from all over the world as long as transactions are calculated in the US$ base - this is basically international standard practise. How does this affect you, if you pay in another currency? Convesion of currencies is a commonplace process that is transparent in a way, yet it happens so quick you are not even aware of it happening. The moment when the transaction is processed your card is billed for the US$ amount, your credit card company automatically converts the currency ,and your local currency's equivalent to the US$ amount appears on your statement - yet, it takes only a few seconds. This type of transaction is processed millions of times per day and is nothing new to the credit card industry. top
Online Meetings Online meetings are conducted in closed online rooms (you get a password for the committee's room): 1) The proposal and discussion phase continues on a forum over a period of time - days or weeks. Once the discussion, information gathering and sharing phases are over, it is time to make a decision. 2) The decision (resolution) can be made by an online poll or in the most transparent way possible - each member of the committee logs her/his vote in writing. How can I get elected or proposed to a committee? As in the physical presence world, people have to know about you, and be able to understand your interests, basic viewpoints, and skills before they can guess or know how you can be of assistance. In this virtual arena modesty gets redefined because a usual reserved position one may feel comfortable with in physical presence, in virtuality translates to no presence at all. The rules of gathering and judging character change in virtuality - things are less what they seem. It's an interesting exercise that is new to everyone. We make the best of it by communicating, communicating, spelling things out, and respecting other cultures' ways of seeing things differently - it's powerful and fascinating. Definitely enriching.   top	Sponsor a child For security and ethical reasons this program is only available to members of THG. The basic concept as follows: A member may purchase a sponsorship package. A package costs $30 per month. The $30 pm. sponsorship package is linked to a specific child for a specific period - usually six months. The Chief Executive Officer and SW of the particular program select the girl that will benefit from a sponsorship - members are not allowed to 'pick a child', since even the most sincere gesture of this kind can hurt children. The sponsorship will typically go toward basic services which we cannot afford to provide to another child. Your sponsorship therefore takes some of the cost burden off the program and allows us to take in another child in need of care - a child we would otherwise have to refuse. The Social Worker in charge provides the web team with information, pictures, and a basic case study of the child. We put these files in a password protected area which only that child's sponsors can access. The files are updated every month and we receive progress reports, pictures, etc. to monitor the child's healing and rehabilitation / socialisation. We ask that sponsors commit themselves for periods of six months at a time. The girl understands that the relationship is temporary and does not expect you to be present beyond that period. This helps her to not get attached, or to get hopes that her new guardians will take her places not ordinarily possible for someone in her position - keeps her grounded in a hopeful reality, rather than setting her up for hurt. In this way the sponsorship relationship is uplifting and healing to all parties. If you would like to sponsor more children, of course the opportunity is there to do so. Many people sponsor more than one child. top
How are membership fees used? Membership fees pay mostly for the administration of members' facilities. THG belongs to its members and must report to its members. The management system, web site(s) and reports all cost money - and this is an essential service we cannot go without. There is no other way for a community organisation to responsibly operate other than in total transparency. The new (increased) membership fees allow THG to pay more attention to this important aspect - transparency. The reports, literature, web sites, and information sharing provide members with enough information to make sound business decisions and judgements when time comes to vote at the AGM, committee, online committee, or evaluating proposals for programs. Why does RSA membership cost less, and Local Membership even less? There are two reasons for this: 1) The US $ is worth eight times that of the South African currency, the Rand . Minimum wage in South Africa = about $190 per month. 2) Local Members spend quite a bit of money in transportation, time and loss of private time, attending meetings, volunteering at programs, committees and boards. The fee structure does not compensate for the additional costs but it is a token of way of giving them a break. top	Are online transactions safe? Online transactions can be risky for vendors (sellers) because of credit card fraud. In our case we don't sell many goods where we stand to lose a lot of money, so the risk is minimal. Safety for buyers? It is commonly known that if you use a reputable online processor, like PaySystems (www.paysystems.com) (there are about 10 or 15 big names) then your risk is much less than trusting a server, waiter or gas attendant with your card. Many vendors take your card away, swipe it (once, twice, or how many times?) and returns it to you. Millions of these transactions are processed every day. It is generally accepted that the employee at a restaurant or gas station has less to lose by committing fraud with your card than a company of international repute - who specialises in this business and relies on good press and good reports to continue doing business. Some people prefer to use PayPal because they verify clients and vendors identities. PayPal is therefore safer for vendors - something you want when selling on Ebay (PayPal's owners). We maintain a PayPal account for this purpose, presently in the name of one of our founders, Jean du Plessis. If you have a PayPal account and prefer this option, please feel free to select it as your payment option. top