The Postcard idea is good, but remember that a postcard isn't in an envelope, so please don't print anything more on it than the minimum needed for us to know which postcards have come back - i.e. a membership number.
I would suggest that you also want something in the process to raise an alert when you have more than three members at an address, - this can of course be perfectly legit if the address is a University Hall of residence, but it can be a useful check.
WSC
On 22 November 2012 12:05, Katherine Bavage < katherine.bavage@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
Morning all,
So, I'm sensing that while there is some acceptance that a bit more gatekeeping may be warranted, we don't want anything heavy handed, and that verifying identity prior to voting each time isn't practicable.
How do we feel about Jon's suggestion of confirming address? I can easily set up a join process whereby:
- Member indicates wanting to join by filling out application form
(online or paper) 2. Office logs application on Civi CRM and sends potential member a postcard and sticker in an envelope. Postcard has our freepost address on once side, and bullet points on the other side briefly explaining:
- The membership approval process (some new members aren't always
clear on being approved and the delay until the next round of approvals by the board) 2. Signposting to our events page in the meantime 3. That returning the card is an effective declaration that their address and name as provided are genuine (and they will undertake to update us if this changes) 4. That if they have not applied for membership they should inform us of the error via email
- Member receives postcard at genuine address if given. Enjoys sticker
(yay) and drops postcard into the post. 4. Office receives postcard, and marks address as verified against membership record.
The downside if this approach is we can't verify that a person's name is what they have declared it is. However, the upsides are having not only verified they live where they say they do, but this being at a minimal expense, and providing more information and an opportunity to engage them early in the process. Currently becoming a member can be a bit underwhelming.
Also, I should add, I strongly agree with the idea that the best overall way to combat the problem is to have a larger, more active membership, complemented by staff, Trustees and volunteers to continue to be alert to any unusual patterns of recruitment or behaviour in a new crop of unknown volunteers. I think this approach will add a layer of security to that however.
Katherine
On 21 November 2012 08:19, Gordon Joly gordon.joly@pobox.com wrote:
On 20/11/12 20:12, Chris Keating wrote:
Another step some organisations take is to say that someone has to be a member for a certain length of time before conferring voting rights on them, though the only time I've seen this is enacted is when there have been serious problems with people joining to push particular agendas. (Also worth nothing that this in our case would need an amendment to the Articles.)
I am reminded that we have an EGM in the pipeline to change (or not) the voting processes of AGMs.
Gordo
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