The furure

[Mongoose39uk]

Do you think the time has come where the GAGB needs to charge a small membership fee to pay a part time employee (on fixed term contract) to maintain the website and keep GLAD up to date?

[Team Microdot]

I think that might not be a bad idea.

That's all I'm going to say on the subject for now.

I've been pondering all of the sub-threads in this thread this morning and have a bunch of thoughts and ideas in my head but there's a fair amount of crossover between the different threads - so I'm going to have to read through again and try to place my responses in the most relevant of each of the sub-threads.

[geocaching womble]

No I don't believe that the time has come for that yet and charging a small. this is because charging a small fee may discourage new members from joining and increasing our already diverse membership. Also it may make some of our existing members shy away from using our site which nobody wants. So in the long run may cause division across the British geocaching community.

I believe it can be handled by by the committee members and should be kept as such for the forseeable future

Thanks
Dominic

[The Wombles]

I don't think people would be willing to pay for membership of GAGB and nor have we fully used other means to generate funds for example through advertising (although this brings it's own risks with perceived "endorsement").

Whether GAGB needs an employee depends on how much time people are willing to put into GAGB. In recent years this has been a very small group of people, there are usually some committee members who start enthusiastically and but don't deliver for many reasons, however there are a small (very small) set of members who commit time for example Dizzypair and Parmstro who manage specific agreements for us.

I think we need to explore ways to generate income to enable some work to be done in case we cant get enough time committed elsewhere.

[countrymatters]

You could never pay anyone enough to revise the database, or build a website. But you will always be relying on goodwill, not least because you can't coerce volunteers. As far as I can see, at least two candidates (Microdot and Zomblou) have expressed an interest in revising the database, and, if both are elected, they can take half each.

[countrymatters]

But on the subject of a subscription, the answer is simple. People will only pay for something want. So, the first is to make membership of GAGB something that people want. We can start by answering the question: why join?

[geocaching womble]

You could never pay anyone enough to revise the database, or build a website. But you will always be relying on goodwill, not least because you can't coerce volunteers. As far as I can see, at least two candidates (Microdot and Zomblou) have expressed an interest in revising the database, and, if both are elected, they can take half each.

If elected I've offered to look at the Forum side of the site and update it

Thanks
Dominic

[Team Microdot]

But on the subject of a subscription, the answer is simple. People will only pay for something want. So, the first is to make membership of GAGB something that people want. We can start by answering the question: why join?

Couldn't have put it better myself :socool:

[mollyjak]

Do you think the time has come where the GAGB needs to charge a small membership fee to pay a part time employee (on fixed term contract) to maintain the website and keep GLAD up to date?

At the moment no I don't think this is a good idea - particularly when you do not have to pay Groundspeak unless you become a Premium member.

I do think this is a huge committment and undertaking but hopefully with the new Committee being formed the skills will be there. I would hope, that even if not elected, the nominees would still offer their skills wherever and whenever needed. :)

Lilian

[sandvika]

I think the time to charge for membership will be when there is so much intrinsic value in being a GAGB member that everyone wants to join and is therefore prepared to pay. It's up to us to make membership sufficiently relevant to achieve it. Right now would be premature and probably counter-productive.

Website and land owner database both need considerable effort, but in the absence of resources to pay for this, we need to pull together to update them.

The website is too big a project for one person and will be an ongoing project if it is to be current and relevant. Thus, there should be a sub-committee for the web site, with appropriate division of labour. Our members with relevant skills and available time should be recruited to the sub-committee, headed by a main committee member.

The land owner database does not require a sub-committee but does need original agreement owners to take ownership of and review their consent agreements. If the agreement owner is no longer available, then a local champion should be sought to take over ownership and review responsibilities. A committee member should coordinate the reviews to ensure that the database as a whole is brought up to date and is then maintained on an ongoing basis so that it becomes the single definitive source, rendering the other two redundant.

[Team Microdot]

I must be missing something here :(

The committee consists of, 8 members?

And you feel the need to divide that into sub-committees but have a member of the main committee oversee the work?

Sounds awfully complex for such a small group of people :dunno:

[sandvika]

I must be missing something here :(

The committee consists of, 8 members?

And you feel the need to divide that into sub-committees but have a member of the main committee oversee the work?

Sounds awfully complex for such a small group of people :dunno:

No, it means we engage our members to help with these projects so that many hands make light work of it. For each area, a committee member takes overall ownership and reports back at committee meetings.

The benefits are much greater scale of achievement - leading to our members being more satisfied and GAGB progressing at a pace appropriate for a young organisation concerning a young hobby. GAGB needs to be more agile than the rest of our Geocaching community, to take the lead and become more relevant.

I think GAGB has been held back precisely because our committee have been trying to do things without help - hence progress has been slow and not particularly visible in the cases of our web site and our land owner database.

At a practical level, it probably makes sense for each committee member who has overall ownership of their area to have a second member assisting, who can also cover for them in the event of their absence from a main committee meeting.

I don't think this is complex - it is pragmatic, enabling us to do more.

[Team Microdot]

No, it means we engage our members to help with these projects so that many hands make light work of it. For each area, a committee member takes overall ownership and reports back at committee meetings.

The benefits are much greater scale of achievement - leading to our members being more satisfied and GAGB progressing at a pace appropriate for a young organisation concerning a young hobby. GAGB needs to be more agile than the rest of our Geocaching community, to take the lead and become more relevant.

I think GAGB has been held back precisely because our committee have been trying to do things without help - hence progress has been slow and not particularly visible in the cases of our web site and our land owner database.

At a practical level, it probably makes sense for each committee member who has overall ownership of their area to have a second member assisting, who can also cover for them in the event of their absence from a main committee meeting.

I don't think this is complex - it is pragmatic, enabling us to do more.

Ah - it makes more sense when you explain it like that :)

[Palujia]

No, it means we engage our members to help with these projects so that many hands make light work of it. For each area, a committee member takes overall ownership and reports back at committee meetings.

The benefits are much greater scale of achievement - leading to our members being more satisfied and GAGB progressing at a pace appropriate for a young organisation concerning a young hobby. GAGB needs to be more agile than the rest of our Geocaching community, to take the lead and become more relevant.

I think GAGB has been held back precisely because our committee have been trying to do things without help - hence progress has been slow and not particularly visible in the cases of our web site and our land owner database.

At a practical level, it probably makes sense for each committee member who has overall ownership of their area to have a second member assisting, who can also cover for them in the event of their absence from a main committee meeting.

I don't think this is complex - it is pragmatic, enabling us to do more.
Ah
Utopia
Ask Jen or Lillian how hard it is to get anyone to help ! We were hard pushed to get a cup of tea at the mega and Lill ran the registration and promoted GAGB as hard as she could at Pirate Mania ! - I tried to sell the cache labels to raise cash with limited success - Although with the plethora of people standing for election this year maybe the non elected ones could "shadow" a committee member

[eusty]

I would agree with Rod, the job of the committee isn't too do all the jobs themselves, but to find those within the GAGB membership with the right skill set and are willing to help.

[The magna defender]

There aren't enough members for that. I never used this website and have been caching five years. I only joined to be able to vote. You could charge something but no one will pay

[northking]

It would be a 'no' from me regarding charging for membership. It's clear that the majority of players are unclear as to what are the benefits of being a member of the GAGB. We need to get the message out, be clear and provide value before we can start asking for contributions.

Let's get the core message right, make the committee effective and moving in the same direction before delegating roles and responsibilities to others.

We also need to be approachable and engage with the right people, It was clear to me that the same faces were fulfilling a number of roles at Cartmel, was that a lack of interest or people like me feeling that they would be trying to break into the inner sanctum.

If players felt that the GAGB were an association which represented them not restricted them then maybe it would be easier to encourage involvement?

[Team Microdot]

It would be a 'no' from me regarding charging for membership. It's clear that the majority of players are unclear as to what are the benefits of being a member of the GAGB. We need to get the message out, be clear and provide value before we can start asking for contributions.

Agreed - although I would wonder then where the money would come from for your welcome packs.


Let's get the core message right, make the committee effective and moving in the same direction before delegating roles and responsibilities to others. :socool:


If players felt that the GAGB were an association which represented them not restricted them then maybe it would be easier to encourage involvement?

I've never felt that the GAGB restricted me in any way - but I'd be interested to hear from anybody who felt otherwise as I imagine this should be something which could be resolved quickly with little effort :cheers:

[Madyokel]

Ah
Utopia
Ask Jen or Lillian how hard it is to get anyone to help ! We were hard pushed to get a cup of tea at the mega and Lill ran the registration and promoted GAGB as hard as she could at Pirate Mania ! - I tried to sell the cache labels to raise cash with limited success - Although with the plethora of people standing for election this year maybe the non elected ones could "shadow" a committee member

Sorry about the lack of Tea.. Dobby was busy juggling showers/knitting fog and stuff but If you had given him a ring he would have scuttled across with a brew. :beer: (not quite the right smilie)

[Palujia]

S'allright!! we were a bit parched with all the talking !! - just the fact that we were overwhelmed on the day by lost of cachers (a lot for Jen's super game) but also quite a lot that were not sure what we actually did !!!
The thread being that we can never seem to get enough "helpers" at major events - If - as it appears we will - get a full committee this year then I would seriously suggest that some sort of rota for the major events is drawn up so that a sensible number of committee members can "person" the stall (if we have one) at the megas - I look forward to watching on with interest