I'd agree with the comments so far, and I'm really glad to see things are happening in this area. We really need to move as far as possible to direct debits, & encourage new members to go straight onto them. That vastly reduces the hassle for all, & of course means the terminally lazy or disorganized stay by default rather than go. A DD form should be attached to all reminders etc.

One thing I'm not sure of, having had my initial membership apparently "lost" in the bad old days, and having been late last time, is when my renewal date actually is - I actually think I've never been told when it is per the register. You should make sure this is clear on all reminder and acknowlegement messages.

John

On 08/02/2013 16:13, wikimediauk-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org wrote:

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Today's Topics:

1. Re: Membership grace period (Lodewijk)
2. Re: "Voice Intro Project" (Roger Bamkin)
3. Re: Membership grace period (Katherine Bavage)

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Message: 1 Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2013 16:43:07 +0100 From: Lodewijk lodewijk@effeietsanders.org To: UK Wikimedia mailing list wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Membership grace period Message-ID: CACf6BevGfWFXsbcgicD1d=73AoG_cnBRVOv0F1gRnxk3BcORwQ@mail.gmail.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

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: