18/12/2024
Oldbury Royal British Legion
“The Long-Winded Newsletter”
Its often joked that my communications can be a little long-winded, hence the name of this newsletter.
Thank You & Good Luck ….
Adrian Dunn, stood down as our Branch Chairman at the recent Branch Annual General meeting. Adrian has served as Branch Chairman on two separate occasions. On behalf of the membership, I would like to thank Adrian for his hard work as chairman and wish him all the best for the future. Adrian has expressed his desire to stay on the Branch Committee.
Welcome our New Chairman ….
At the recent AGM, Mrs Karen Price, was elected as our new Branch Chairman, Karen is no stranger to us over the last few years she and her husband Ian have been our Poppy Appeal Organisers, and they have managed to increase the donations collected for the Poppy Appeal, year on year.
Membership Matters ….
You may have seen the notice on the bar from Lynn Paynter, the Club Chairman concerning membership consolidated payment issues.
Consolidated payments are those where the individual member pays cash to the Branch for their membership fees, and the Branch issues a cheque to the membership administration to cover the membership. For years HQ and its staff has been actively discriminating against cash payees, trying to force members to pay by direct debit, or other forms of payment.
The Royal British Legion outsources its membership administration out to a private company called Novacroft. For many years I have been battling with this company, because this company does not operate in the best interests of Royal British Legion Membership. Below is an excerpt from that company’s website.
For charities, we reduce administration costs, enabling them to direct more pence in every £1 to the cause they’re fighting for. Our unique approach to a clean, lean, modern and secure membership journey enables charities to continue to build trust with the public, members and volunteers. We help charities transparently demonstrate their impact, whilst ensuring they are ready for an increasingly challenging future, by facilitating a common understanding of what success looks like, the barriers, how to unblock them and a high-level plan to achieve the success criteria.
I don’t know if that statement wants to make me either want to laugh or break down in tears. What it appears that Novacroft do is, stockpile the incoming consolidated payments from every Branch, until they have a large amount to bank, however what they aren’t doing is processing the memberships they have received.
What does this mean for you the member.
# numerous reminders for you to renew your membership from the membership department.
# Letters to you that your membership has lapsed.
# Worry & concern on your behalf that you have paid but haven’t received your membership card.
# Serious doubts about the operational activities of the Branch
What does this mean for the Branch.
# Many hours spent by our membership secretary, Mr Ian Price and me, trying to find out what’s going on.
# Countless phone calls & emails to both Novacroft and the membership department.
# Members approaching us constantly asking what’s going on & why haven’t we received our memberships & why are we receiving these letters.
I can assure you that Ian is in constant contact with Juliet Kamase, Royal British Legion Membership Department.
Ian has asked me to stand back and let him deal with it, as apparently my attitude that members comes first, and no matter how they pay they should be treated with total respect, antagonises the membership staff. Or it may be my engineering and customer service-based training that means I cannot stand bad practice and don’t suffer fools gladly. More than anything I suppose it’s because I am so passionate about Oldbury Royal British Legion, you are more than members to me, you are friends / family.
One thing that seems to bypass the minds of the those in charge and concerns me, is that the issue of increased membership fees. When the perceived value doesn't match their expectations, members are likely to reconsider their commitment, members may leave and transmit that disappointment to potential members. To address this, I believe that the membership department should seriously reconsider their relationship with Novacroft, fix the seriously failed relationship between the membership and their selves, then communicate the benefits of membership through marketing and regular communication.
But more than anything else I don’t believe that the Royal British Legion is showing the correct level of governance when it comes to dealing with membership issues, they could improve governance by adopting a more rigorous set of Governance Principles, that puts the rights of the membership, at the core of our values, which will ultimately benefit the beneficiaries, who are supported by this charity .
I can assure you it’s being dealt with!
Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year ….
On behalf of the Branch, I want to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Regards
Richard Dodds
Oldbury Royal British Legion Branch Secretary
