Spookster wrote:Yes. In 2012/13 the significant reduction in membership fee didn't cause a large increase in membership volumes
I was pleasantly surprised to find a table in the board minutes that show that membership has gone up in 2015 from 10,328 to 10,939. Attributing cause and effect is difficult of course. It could be that cheaper membership is finally having an effect now clubs are marketing better? Or it could be development initiatives, the general increase in running, the improvement in the economy etc etc.
I hope that the fees increase won't stop future membership increases. But destablising BO by not making up the SportEngland shortfall is probably a bigger risk IMHO.
Many clubs can mitigate this by dropping their own membership fee and raising their shortfall through entry fees. Also I know lots of clubs have more reserves than necessary, so could use this to cushion the overall cost.
People have said that clubs will need to look again at incentives for joining. I agree, and I think many clubs could be more imaginative. For example why not give a free or greatly reduced cost d!bber with membership* for the first year of joining? This will also reduce workload at events due to reduced hiring.
I hope that BO employees and any directors reading this have thought about incentives for auto-renewing. When I worked in the magazine subscription industry a few years ago, the business model was to get people to subscribe using auto-renewal methods (eg a £5 discount for subscribing via direct debit), then don't remind them ever again about renewing.....
* probably an old version from the hired d1bber pile.