Membership category?

[Maxim Devereaux]

Just a thought that this might be worth a topic...

I've been a Full Direct member of the ECF/BCF for some time now... I don't recall how long exactly, but pretty much all my adult life so far, I think (so about 15 years). Recently, I've been renewing on a 3 yearly basis.

My membership expired on 30th September, and I hadn't got around to renewing it yet. In theory at least, I wouldn't have to renew it for almost a year, since 4NCL is pretty much the only thing I play in England these days, and as long as you're a member at the point you appear on the team registration list (which Barbican submitted over a month ago in my case), then you're fine. However I do still feel obliged to keep my membership more or less continuous (and I'm sure the ECF will backdate it to make it continuous anyway, if I'm a month or two late - I have a vague feeling they did the same once before when I was tardy in renewing).

So I was sat there filling in the form just now, and found myself thinking "What exactly do I get for my £130 over 3 years, as opposed to the £50 I could pay for Standard membership?". To be honest, the diary, yearbook etc. don't exactly make up for this difference in cost, and weren't things I was particularly bothered about anyway (and I can always pay for them separately if I want them).

I've been quite a compliant person over the past few years, and stumped up my Full membership money without demur, but I'm not really sure what I'm getting in return, and while I do in general want to support English chess, I feel there are perhaps better ways of spending my money, so for the next three years at least, I'm downgrading to Standard membership.

So, to promote some discussion:
What membership category are you in? Do you feel you get value for money, or that your money is spent in ways that you can (broadly) approve of?

[John Upham]

Max,

I believe that :

Full Membership = Standard Membership + Diary + Yearbook + list of rated games from Richard Haddrell

I believe that this "equation" is not an equality since the monetary cost of the RHS is less than the LHS.

Since I always give the diary away (or bin it) then the decision was a no brainer...

You might consider that by buying a full membership you are making a donation to the ECF : that is your decision of course.

[Roger de Coverly]

Full Membership = Standard Membership + Diary + Yearbook + list of rated games from Richard Haddrell

Don't forget ChessMoves, as if one would.

[John Upham]

Full Membership = Standard Membership + Diary + Yearbook + list of rated games from Richard Haddrell

Don't forget ChessMoves, as if one would.

Sorry, I forgot about that...

There is plan to publish both the Yearbook and ChessMoves on-line.

I assume that the various and many (and confusing) membership categories are being reviewed as part of an overhaul of the membership strategy?

[Andrew Farthing]

I assume that the various and many membership categories are being reviewed as part of an overhaul of the membership strategy.

Quite correct. The AGM vote on future funding options will have some bearing on this.

It's also true that from a simple arithmetical perspective the cost of Full membership is higher than the cost of Standard + purchase of the tangible benefits included under "Full". My understanding is that it was always intended that Full membership would attract people who want to give financial support to the Federation, but I'd accept that this has never been given much emphasis.

Personally, I've chosen to be a Full member because I wanted the diary, yearbook and grading printout and I wanted to support the ECF. My priority now is to make sure that the ECF does enough good work for English chess that wanting to support it seems like a good idea to a lot more people. We have to make clear what we would do with the money; it's a lot easier to support an organisation with your hard-earned cash if you're confident that it's going to be used for something worthwhile.

[Roger de Coverly]

Full Membership = Standard Membership + Diary + Yearbook + list of rated games from Richard Haddrell

Another one - the right to have games outside England included in the ECF grade. Or is this included in "standard" membership?

There are of course non-English (mostly Welsh) events which expect to attract English players who make payments to the ECF for Game Fee purposes.

[Adam Raoof]

Full Membership = Standard Membership + Diary + Yearbook + list of rated games from Richard Haddrell

Another one - the right to have games outside England included in the ECF grade. Or is this included in "standard" membership?

There are of course non-English (mostly Welsh) events which expect to attract English players who make payments to the ECF for Game Fee purposes.

"Results for Grading – Direct Member Submission

Games are accepted from ECF Direct Members played outside of England.
Note: Direct Members must give prior notice (before the event takes place) of their intention to submit results in this way (see details on the submission form). Results must be sent within one month of the end of the event."

[John Upham]

Adam,

Are both Standard and Full memberships types of Direct membership?

I feel an appropriate Venn diagram would help.

[Maxim Devereaux]

Games are accepted from ECF Direct Members played outside of England.
Note: Direct Members must give prior notice (before the event takes place) of their intention to submit results in this way (see details on the submission form). Results must be sent within one month of the end of the event."

Yes, and I've done this in the past (one of the reasons my ECF grade has been as low as it has these past couple of seasons!), though I didn't bother for my most recent (and more successful) trip.

And my understanding is that Full and Standard (as well as the other types) still come under the grouping of "Direct", so that's not a reason for being a Full Member.

[Gareth Harley-Yeo]

If you wanted something to compare it with - The Welsh Chess Union's membership fee is £10 per annum, we get a year book and our results/rating are updated on a 'live' online database that we can all view all year round.

The only advantage I can see to getting an ECF membership is saving the odd £1-2 on entry to weekend congresses.

[Phil Neatherway]

Personally, I am a Standard member but I never claim the discount on entry fees. Just my small contribution to English chess!

[John Upham]

Personally, I am a Standard member but I never claim the discount on entry fees. Just my small contribution to English chess!

By not claiming I do not see you benefit anyone apart from the events organisers which, more often than not, will have nothing to do with the ECF.

If the ECF was to receive a commission for each discount not claimed then I would agree with you.

[Phil Neatherway]

That's why I said English chess, not the ECF.

[John Philpott]

John Upham wrote

Are both Standard and Full memberships types of Direct membership?

I feel an appropriate Venn diagram would help.

There is a relevant table at http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?page_id=2

[Tristan Clayton]

I wonder if the ECF (or any other chess federation) has considered offering Life Membership? I don't know how the cost of this would be determined - perhaps tiered according to age? - but it might be a useful way of increasing revenue in the short term if enough people could be tempted to sign up.