Membership/Promoting

Introduction

Wikimedia UK does not currently build membership recruitment into our events process, which is a key opportunity for the Charity it promote the opportunity to join. We are also not currently making a concerted effort to reach out to the editing community online - the last concerted attempt to do this appears to have been in 2009

Katherine has taken the opportunity to communicate with key volunteers in recent weeks in an attempt to tease out some of the issues that affect how the Chapter might think of positioning membership to new members, and continue to offer a satisfying experience for established members.

Volunteer thoughts

Some quotes that emerged from discussions with leading volunteers:

"[We]...don't really distinguish members, volunteers and other supporters...the comms strategy...does have the analysis. The question in my mind is whether WMUK have followed through on communications with members. Do they get enough to make informed choices about the trustees?

"...a token membership fee typically means an organisation which doesn't intend to do much for members. And this is a way to run membership into the ground, in the longer term."

"...There really needs to be a trustee who is in charge of seeing that members get a proper deal, and are kept better informed that anyone else about the charity."

"I am not sure I *would* particularly want to try promoting the benefits of membership off the cuff - in part because I'm not entirely sure what they are, but also because I suspect that most members are doing so relatively passively, as a gesture of support, rather than for any benefits which may come of it."

"I do mention membership at every event I run. Its not clear however how to answer the question 'What's in it for me?' I'm aware of micro grants but that might not appeal to everyone. Could the Chapter look at offering a pin badge? Perhaps we need to make it about 'being a supporter' and being clear about what the Chapter is achieving."

"I wouldn't know what to say in a 'cold start' recruitment moment about joining. People don't always understand well how the movement is funded - they would probably see £5 as a token amount, in which case, why have any amount? one of the strongest reasons for joining is probably the feeling of being 'part of a club'."

Key issues

Membership fees and 'reasons to join' have been discussed at several points in the Charity's history. Now is a good time to look again at the issue because without direct participation in the annual fundraiser we are without a key external opportunity to advertise joining, and because numbers have declined considerably as a result of expiries following sign ups in November/December 2011.

There is a lack of clarity about the reasons why people have historically become members, and therefore a risk that the charity is not understanding these properly and meeting those expectations. I agree that for a small fee (Currently £5, but historically only as high as £12 at most) it is unlikely that people join because they expect substantive benefits in the form of discounts, special access, etc. However, it would seem reasonable that they expect a degree a of higher involvement in the life of the Chapter, or an opportunity to show support. This is why regular, high quality communication that focuses on highlighting ways to become more engaged and keeping members updated is vital. It is also why a token of membership such as a lapel pin might be very appropriate.

This is further complicated by issues around recruiting from different broad groups with vastly different levels of experience and therefore needs as members. Bluntly - we appear to have been speaking to our membership as a narrow group of individuals who are aware of how to contribute to the projects, and the work of the Wikimedia and wider open licence/free knowledge movements. However, many of the members we signed up who have expired may have had little to no experience of editing or the social/cultural issues that underpin the projects' impact. We need to have a positioning statement for joining that appeals to both groups.

A proposed option

The broad statement: By becoming a member of Wikimeda UK you show your support for the work of the Charity in the UK (referring back to the discussion of mission statement in the Communications Strategy)

The secondary statement:

If you are new to the Wikimedia mission: you will have the chance to meet like minded people, learn more about how to get involved and act as an ambassador for our values - have a lapel pin!

If you are a part of to the Wikimedia mission: you can collaborate with other UK editors at events, access micro grants and have a say in how the UK chapter delivers on the movements mission and values - have a lapel pin and user box!

At events

The original question that identified the Chapter needed to be clear on how to promote the reason to join, was the question of 'How it would be appropriate to promote membership at events?'

Katherine got in touch with some key volunteers who had helped deliver events in the past - this was not meant to be an extensive cross-section, but people who had been particularly active in the area in the last 12 months or so, based on the advice of Daria as Programme Manager. The following questions were asked:

• What ways would promoting membership at events would work, and wouldn't?
• Would you know how to highlight the benefits of membership to potential new members? Would you want to?
• Have you mentioned membership at an event and met with success and/or failure in gaining interest? What went right/wrong?

Volunteer thoughts

"I'm not sure that events aimed at outreach are really the right place to be recruiting members - attendees are usually people who are curious about Wikipedia and have come to learn more rather than people who are ready to get involved in the meta aspects of the Wikimedia movement."

"I can seem some value in mentioning the prospect and giving people some information as long as it's not done in any way that suggests it's expected or required - more in the vein of "if you're interested in getting more involved, this one of the things you can do. The thought that occurred to me recently was that they might want some lightweight literature on what WMUK is and what it does."

"I think that pushing it at the event itself may seem a bit awkward, especially where WMUK's involvement and "ownership" has been relatively limited...I'd also worry that something perceived as a tangential push to sign up might sit awkwardly with the rest of the talk, unless there was a clear flow into it.

"Passive leaflets etc are no problem though (people tend to hoover up what's available) but it helps if they're engaging! A brief note in the generic follow-up email might be a good place for it; the wiki page or the pre-event emails less so."

"I would be happy to hand out/make available a leaflet or handout. I would be happy to have input drafting something like this."

"An idea that came to me...was to attach this to another piece of paper which contains a membership form on one side and can then be folded to magically become a self-adhesive envelope addressed to FREEPOST WIKIPEDIA, so people can just stick it in the post and they can keep the information."

Key issues

There is a general feeling that any attempt at a live verbal 'plug' of the benefits at joining would probably sit awkwardly in any event setting, particularly if the event is essentially being run by a partner organisation with only one of our trained volunteers assisting. Whether a meetup, editathon, backstage pass, hackathon or conference the feeling was it would feel awkward or inappropriate to mention membership unprompted.

Yet conversely there was a broad agreement that some sort of informative literature on membership and the chapter would be welcome, and indeed that this could be tied to an opportunity to join should an event participant ask. One volunteer stated they would be happy to have forms to hand to follow this up, were there the option to sign members up and transfer the fees provided to the chapter.

This is helpful, as it anticipates the completion of both the handout to promote volunteer engagement and a 'Volunteering portal' which will aim to pull together the disparate sections of the UK Wiki that focus on membership and volunteering in both too much and too little detail, and in a way that isn't particularly intuitive to users unfamiliar with wikis and categorisation.

There was also an indication that volunteers wouldn't necessarily take issue with follow up emails to participants mentioning membership as a vehicle to remain involved/informed about chapter business.

A proposed option

Draft and publish volunteer handout with input from Community and key volunteers.

Distribute handout to meetup organisers, key volunteers Collaborate Feedback to the Programme Manager to:

• Develop copy (including linking to a 'Join us' page on the UK wiki) for use in post-event email footer
• Build into events organisation offering Volunteering leaflets to be made available to participants

Collaborate on developing or modifying a message template for post-event talk page follow up that includes a link to the volunteer hand-out or mention of membership.