Send Wikimediauk-l mailing list submissions to wikimediauk-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to wikimediauk-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org You can reach the person managing the list at wikimediauk-l-owner(a)lists.wikimedia.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Wikimediauk-l digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: Membership grace period (Lodewijk) 2. Re: "Voice Intro Project" (Roger Bamkin) 3. Re: Membership grace period (Katherine Bavage) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2013 16:43:07 +0100 From: Lodewijk <lodewijk(a)effeietsanders.org> To: UK Wikimedia mailing list <wikimediauk-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Membership grace period Message-ID: <CACf6BevGfWFXsbcgicD1d=73AoG_cnBRVOv0F1gRnxk3BcORwQ(a)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(a)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(a)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(a)wikimedia.org.uk > > Thanks for the quick and helpful responses all :) > > Kat > > On 8 February 2013 14:12, Doug Weller <dougweller(a)gmail.com> wrote: >