Hi Kat,

sounds all great! However, if I may suggest, including it in the newsletter is unlikely to be a very helpful reminder. I myself at least ignore at least 75% of every newsletter I actually open, and this includes everything that looks too structured (such as these fields). If you want these people to remain active, I suggest to send at least two reminders (as seperate emails) which look very different from regular WMUK mail (from a special email address, without usual tags in the topic, etc) to avoid that they get cought in automated email filters that put WMUK news letters in the WMUK-never-to-look-at-folder (yeah, people do that - so horrible!). Having the status in the newsletter besides that might be helpful though - because it gives positive confirmation that everything is all right. 

Best,
Lodewijk (notorious for forgetting to pay on first notice)

2013/2/8 Katherine Bavage <katherine.bavage@wikimedia.org.uk>
Hello all,

Well all I shall happily say in reply is 'be careful what you wish for'.... I shall consider myself to have been given a mandate To Nag (nicely, of course) and (as far I can tell) there's no appetite to reduce the grace period. 

To come back on specific points:
  • Now we have a separate bank account for membership fees its certainly possible to set up a standing order for the fee - I'll look into direct debits too and update you all with some 'How-to' instructions on wiki next week. We've previously been cautious in setting this up because we have had a problem in the past with standing orders with no useful reference number against them, and therefore not being to identify who the money came from and for what when it was all going into the same account. 
  • Yes, you can pay for x number of years in advance - we can record longer terms on the database, and append notes to the contact record explaining why.
  • No, if someone's term ended due to, say resignation or expulsion, but they paid for a longer period than that n advance, I don't' think we could prudently refund the money (money laundering regs - yes I know, a bit of an OTT application in this context, but still). So, people would have to accept that in paying, say £10 for a two-year membership term that if they resigned etc then the additional sum would be taken to be a donation. 
  • *At the moment* everyone who is approaching expiry will get an automated email - however, as we've all identified, one isn't enough. It's my intention now that each monthly newsletter email contain a field indicating if the recipient's membership is current or grace and the date of their term end. I'm hoping that improvements in our database hosting may mean that members can check this online in the future - however, I need to investigate the challenges this may present too, so I can't promise anything just yet (but I'm aware it would be a good feature to offer)
  • If you want to know if you membership is current, email membership@wikimedia.org.uk and I can check for you! Or check your most recent newsletter from this month on...
  • Gift aid - yes, membership fees are eligible. I'm acutely aware the online gift aid form is currently on the fritz and have requested this be fixed - when it is, again, we can include mention in the newsletter that members should make a declaration if they want their fees to attract this tax relief. In the meantime, any keen bean who wants a paper form to fill in, again, membership@wikimedia.org.uk 
Thanks for the quick and helpful responses all :)

Kat

On 8 February 2013 14:12, Doug Weller <dougweller@gmail.com> wrote:
How do we check our membership?
Doug


On Fri, Feb 8, 2013 at 2:00 PM, Lodewijk <lodewijk@effeietsanders.org> wrote:
I think this is already possible :) I actually paid for two years at once, because that was the amount of pounds I happened to have left over - not sure if people will get mad at me now if I make their lives more complicated, but asking nicely brings you a long way! :)

Lodewijk


2013/2/7 Tom Morris <tom@tommorris.org>
One suggestion: allow members to sign up for multiple years in advance. I'm perfectly happy to pay for two or three years of membership in one go.

There may be some practical issues, such as whether or not if one were to, say, sign up for a three year membership but resign after a year, the remainder would be refunded as unused.

If it were offered, I'd certainly be happy to pay for a few years in advance so that I don't have the mildly irritating situation of wanting to run some kind of outreach event and not being able to apply for a microgrant because my membership has lapsed.

--
Tom Morris
<http://tommorris.org/>



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--
Doug Weller
http://www.ramtops.co.uk
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Katherine Bavage 
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Wikimedia UK

Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).

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