Hi all,

we would like to advise that the total current paid up members is as of today 712.

There seems to be confusion with the amount of registered users and the amount of paid up members Birdline has.

If you look at the forums and read at the bottom it says 2 of the 3742 members are online.

3742 is the total of people who have registered since the website was started, it is not the total of paid up members we have in Birdline.

Chris is now doing memberships.

 

Chris can you update this monthly to advise the total amount of paid up members we have at each month end.

Hope this stops some of the confusion.

Thanks

Mel

 

 

Wow that's a lot less than I thought.....

Thanks for cleaing that up Mel. I have always hated that stupid counter!

Thanks for cleaing that up Mel. I have always hated that stupid counter!

Agreed, I think it's a brilliant idea to keep the current number of paying members pubilc and up to date. Well done!

Yes no problem I will make a diary reminder to post at the start of each month. I am already keeping a monthly record of numbers, and such things as those whose membership has expired etc. Planning to produce a report for the directors.

Great post Mel now people can do the sums and see how difficult it is for us to make ends meet.

I am amazed we can help as many as we do, lets keep up the great work. Think where all the birdies would be without Birdline.

Paul Loraine Luke and Flock

I am shocked to hear that that is all that have paid up membership on the site. No wonder the birds seem to be stagnet at times ( especially with our safe house it seems ) It is misleading then the numbers on here at the moment. Would be good to have the numbers updated every month or every other month if needs be.

Wow that's not many, I'm really surprised. It's a really good idea to keep everyone updated with this.

good idea for regular updates because it shows how vital funds are for birdline

wow thtas not really many at all, how do you manage, sue,x

This is why we felt there was no alternative but to increase our membership fees by £5 a year recently. It had been the same for all the years I have been in Birdline, and with more and more birds coming in on a daily basis, we had to do something to try to increase our income to cover our ever increasing vet bills.

I would have quite happily paid double that Ann, sue,x

Hi Sue,you can just put cheque in post lol

LOL Suzanne, we had already decided b4 xmas to do a donation, but had to get over xmas, lol,xxxx

Out of interest I have just sent the 60th membership pack since 1st Jan, compared with a total of 41 in Jan 2010!!. As a one of exercise I intend to have a look at how many of these are new members, and how many are renewals. Lastly how many, and who has let their membership lapse (don't worry I won't post names!!)

Will post numbers at the start of Feb

Chris

Out of interest do you send a 'full membership pack' out even for someone who is just renewing and who may have been a member for many years? Membership numbers don't change do they? So if you are just renewing would you need a new card etc?....

Could there be a way of saving money here? and paper....LOL

To be honest I can't remember what I get when I renew as I don't really look at it (and I am guessing a lot of members are the same!...LOL so maybe a letter simply stating that the subscription has been received and the membership expiry date would be sufficient? Or even take it one step further and just send an email if an addy is supplied?

Yes a new pack goes out each time whether a completely new member or renewing. You are quite right in that it could be a waste of money, but some of the web systems would have to change to make easier identifying of whether or not the member is just renewing. It is on my radar, but realistically at the moment down the list of priorities (loads of other web type stuff already being done by Marc and others)
Thanks for the thought/reminder though

I'd be happy to just have an e-mail - save the pennies on the stamps. I do understand though that it's not the most important issue on the cards right now.

Chris, was it you trying to sort out Gift Aid on subscriptions, and if so, can I ask how far you've got?