Fee structures for chess club membership (social members)

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J T Melsom
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Fee structures for chess club membership (social members)

Post by J T Melsom » Tue Aug 16, 2022 7:41 pm

At present our annual subscriptions are structured to recognise Full membership of the club and discounts for juniors and senior citizens. We have also exercised discretion in charging juniors and others who fall into the category of players not yet ready for match chess or not yet interested. These are not necessarily a single fixed category, but lets call them social chess members for the moment. Have other clubs introduced a tier of membership for such individuals and how effective has it been?.

Last year those who joined for the first year as full members had their bronze membership refunded by the club, so we have made some efforts in this regard. This offer coincided with a not insignificant increase in the membership cost as we were genuinely unsure about club finances post COVID.

Angus French
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Re: Fee structures for chess club membership (social members)

Post by Angus French » Tue Aug 16, 2022 8:56 pm

How about online-only membership - to cover representing a club in online leagues and playing in club online individual tournaments, nothing more?

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Joey Stewart
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Re: Fee structures for chess club membership (social members)

Post by Joey Stewart » Wed Aug 17, 2022 1:05 am

I'm sure most clubs offer concessionary prices for social members, if they are lucky enough to be so well attended that there is opportunity for them to play each other - in my experience of clubs it is rare to now see exclusively "social" players because, with the best will in the world, most people only make the big effort of joining chess clubs to play competitive rated games and someone wandering in thinking it will just be a friendly evening of chat and wood pushing will often find the standard far exceeds their expectations.
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

MSoszynski
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Re: Fee structures for chess club membership (social members)

Post by MSoszynski » Wed Aug 17, 2022 8:19 am

I was a chess club treasurer for many years. Based on that experience I can say that "fee structures" are almost irrelevant, unless they are extremely high. People will join and stay in a club that they like or is convenient rather than save £20 or whatever by joining a club they like less. Also, concessions or discounts to the most well off members needs a justification other than "tradition" — I am referring to senior citizens. Moreover, as I saw for myself, newcomers of any age to a club ask the fee and then pay it. After all, we're not talking about three figures here. Indeed, many first-timers expect to be charged for each visit (as happens with other sorts of clubs) which is not the case here of course.

Mick Norris
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Re: Fee structures for chess club membership (social members)

Post by Mick Norris » Wed Aug 17, 2022 10:03 am

J T Melsom wrote:
Tue Aug 16, 2022 7:41 pm
At present our annual subscriptions are structured to recognise Full membership of the club and discounts for juniors and senior citizens. We have also exercised discretion in charging juniors and others who fall into the category of players not yet ready for match chess or not yet interested. These are not necessarily a single fixed category, but lets call them social chess members for the moment. Have other clubs introduced a tier of membership for such individuals and how effective has it been?.

Last year those who joined for the first year as full members had their bronze membership refunded by the club, so we have made some efforts in this regard. This offer coincided with a not insignificant increase in the membership cost as we were genuinely unsure about club finances post COVID.
At Bury we used to pay for Bronze ECF membership, or refund it for those who paid direct; we have abandoned this, and now ask anyone who needs it to pay the ECF direct

The effect of this has been to reduce the club membership fee for social chess members; this seems to have worked fine; like other posters, we've not found the level of membership fee to be an issue (yet)
Any postings on here represent my personal views

Roger Lancaster
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Re: Fee structures for chess club membership (social members)

Post by Roger Lancaster » Wed Aug 17, 2022 10:45 am

Actual example (Watford): (1) Adults Full £60, Online only £30, Social (non-playing) £20. (2) Juniors and students Full £35, Online only £17.50.

Full membership entitles a member to participate in all club activity. Online only membership entitles a member to participate in the club’s online teams and tournaments. Social membership is for those who wish to continue as club members but not to play in any of the club’s chess activities.

J T Melsom
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Re: Fee structures for chess club membership (social members)

Post by J T Melsom » Wed Aug 17, 2022 11:21 am

Thanks for the helpful responses. I think last year we faced a fair bit of uncertainty on likely membership so the basic fee did break three figures, and represented a high percentage increase. We didn't lose any existing members in protest, and the new inquirers accepted the cost. It wasn't straightforward ensuring players got enough chess of value but we can hopefully field an extra team this year, and have a more flexible club tournament structure, if we are more confident about numbers at the times the decisions are made.

The comment about traditional discounts is well made. Our senior members represent a large proportion of membership. It was at their suggestion that the fee charged was raised from 50% to 66% to help with a previous budget challenge.