Thanks, WSC and John, Now I see the advantages of spacing out membership renewals. Every other organization I'm part of uses 1 January. Instead of prorating for mid-year members they make them pay a full-year. I admit to timing my joining to the first half of the year for that reason. Having been part of dues collection for a small charity, I agree the collection period is a pain.
This is obviously something WMUK has deliberated on and come to the most useful conclusion about. Thanks all, Jess On Sun, Feb 10, 2013 at 6:26 AM, John Byrne <[email protected]> wrote: > I'd agree with Wierspiel. Most large member organizations have "natural" > anniversaries, to give the membership department something to do all year. > If you have one renewal date you only find out once a year if people stop > renewing, which makes it much harder to try & do something about it. You > also get the income all in one lump. January is also the run-up to the > year-end, & the whole period Jan to mid-March is not a time to schedule > extra work, as the year-end & audit already increase the office workload. > I think you naturally discourage people from joining mid-year, unless you > get into some complicated pro-rata fee for the first year. Altogether it > creates more problems than you solve. But I'd emphasize again the > importance of letting people know when their renewal date is, and trying to > get as many as possible onto direct debits. > > John > > > On 10/02/2013 11:53, > wikimediauk-l-request@lists.**wikimedia.org<[email protected]>wrote: > >> Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Membership grace period >> Message-ID: >> <CAAanWP2nWa8ggVJvEd891JpwzE+**xVZcgkYTksZ6dNgheLiXWaA@mail.** >> gmail.com<caaanwp2nwa8ggvjved891jpwze%[email protected]> >> > >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" >> >> >> Hi Jess, >> >> First of Jan is an awkward time of year - people are most likely to get >> into debt over Xmas so I'd be cautious about trying to harmonise all our >> renewals at that time of year. If you have a bunch of regular AGM >> attenders >> who pay their memberships in cash then it is obviously easiest to get them >> to pay when they turn up at the AGM, but I doubt that greatly applies to >> us >> and I wouldn't recommend 1st Jan for an AGM. >> >> There are many disadvantages to having all renewals on the same date. It >> means you are always signing up new members on the basis of a part year >> membership at one price followed hopefully by full year memberships; It >> concentrates all your membership renewal work in one point of the year; >> and >> it means there is a particular point in the year when your membership dips >> which could be awkward for special AGMs etc. If membership revenue was >> ever >> a significant part of our income it would also mean that our cashflow was >> distorted with a spike in our revenue that didn't coincide with a spike in >> expenditure. >> >> By contrast I'm not aware of any advantage to having them all on the same >> date. So I'd suggest it is better to have them as evenly spread through >> the >> year as possible. >> >> WSC >> >> On 9 February 2013 22:35, Jessica >> Taylor<jessica.s.taylor71@**gmail.com<[email protected]> >> >wrote: >> >> >Richard, thanks for that explanation. I may be barking up the wrong tree >>> >but I'll jump in anyway. >>> > >>> >If memberships became due each 1st of January, fundraising/dues >>> collection >>> >could be easier. I realize that there would be many logistical hurdles >>> >which may moot this suggestion. >>> > >>> >Is it plausible that WMUK could ask members if they'd be willing to pay >>> >both the membership from their next expiration date to the next normal >>> >expiration date PLUS their next year's dues for the year of 2014 with >>> the >>> >understanding that their membership period will thenceforth be from >>> January >>> >to January and will next be due on 1 January 2015. I realize that some >>> >members would say, "No." >>> > >>> >Alternatively, could WMUK ask members if they would voluntarily >>> relinquish >>> >their leftover membership periods at midnight on the 31 December 2013 >>> AND >>> >start their memberships over the next day? Again I realize some members >>> may >>> >say, "No," because of the lost value of X months of membership. >>> > >>> >Final alternative, might WMUK ask members if to anonymously gift >>> part-year >>> >memberships on behalf of other anonymous members >>> >> > > ______________________________**_________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.wikimedia.org/**mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l<http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l> > WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org >
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