weeyin Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 The renewal question is a good one to bring up on here. Initially, it turned out, the renewal fee was being used to cover the cost of the benefits being doled out. Not a great deal for the non-locals and expats, but at least their money was being channeled into the Society. From memory, I think that was changed, but don't recall the details as I wasn't using any of the benefits. Either way, if you don't "renew" you don't actually lose your membership or your right to vote. Be good to hear what the current official position is on this, as it was always a little confusing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WellSoc Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 You can pay annual fee at any stage - can do it online in the space of a minute by clicking on the below link renewal payment link There was an administrative void for a few months amid the uncertainty over club ownership, new admin worker has been trying to catch up with the backlog so not sure how close he is getting to be able to ask people to pay annual fee. Anyone who can do it off their own back or upgrade their membership is helping add to the funds and saving time too, so thank you. This was the new agreement that was ironed out with the club last summer. In short, members now have three choices: (1) Pay renewal fees and take as many benefits as you like – the club will receive money equal to the value of each benefit taken. (2) Pay renewal fees but don’t take any benefits – all the money will go into the Well Society’s coffers to help towards the goal of fan ownership. (3) Don’t pay any renewal fee and receive no benefits but continue to be a voting member of the Well Society. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 Any updates on overseas members being able to use the website to renew/ugprade? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobey_Dosser Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 Wee bit dismayed by the latest blog from the chairman. Thought we'd take a fresh approach to encouraging fans to join. Effectively we're getting asked to stump up and contribute to the current outgoings in years to come for the latest attempt at a short term fix. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WellSoc Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 I'm afraid the GoCardless online system still doesn't accept money from overseas bank accounts. Gavin Maclure, who is the Well Society admin worker, can set up direct debit payments over the phone from the Fir Park office. He is usually in on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can also contact him with your phone number and a suggested time, on wellsociety@motherwellfc.co.uk or gavin.maclure@motherwellfc.co.uk, to arrange for him to phone you. It's obviously not ideal. GoCardless say they will soon be able to accept payments from EU and then further afield, but not sure how long "soon" is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burn_Broomfield Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 Wee bit dismayed by the latest blog from the chairman. Thought we'd take a fresh approach to encouraging fans to join. Effectively we're getting asked to stump up and contribute to the current outgoings in years to come for the latest attempt at a short term fix. Good to know that we are accepting loans hand over fist in a relegation battle with the lender able to close the club down if we don't repay them within a time frame. interesting times ahead if we go down, given some have said we wouldn't be in trouble financially, reading between the lines of that blog I would say we would be in big trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_P Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 Would it be difficult to add PayPal to your list of payment options? Strikes me that, that could be a fairly straightforward workaround. Plenty of overseas forum members for example contributed by that method to this sites own WS membership. Whilst there may be fees minor involved in the transactions it may well be better in the longer term if it's the case that overseas folk are finding a barrier to their greater involvement. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted March 17, 2015 Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 The Society really needs to step up a gear or two on recruitment now. What it is doing currently is fine up to a point (online blogs, Facebook and Twitter messages) but it simply isn't enough. A start would be to widen the range of payment methods - not everyone wants to pay by GoCardless. We have a number of home games coming up and it would be great to see face to face recruitment at these matches - go out and meet the punters, dish out leaflets whatever. How about a stall in front of the club shop? You really can't beat face to face contact. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted March 17, 2015 Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 I have been a massive critic of the society in the past and made it clear from day 1 that I wouldnt be joining. However having been listening to the work that is going on in the background by our new owner and the team I have decided that I will be joining the society. It is a must to keep the club going in the right direction, which is clearly is after listening to the recent MFC Podcast. Will get onto it in the next couple of weeks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fizoxy Posted March 17, 2015 Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 I just assumed they had boots on the ground on match days, surprised to hear they don't. Also waiting on the international payment option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siebsbarmyarmy Posted March 17, 2015 Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 I have been a massive critic of the society in the past and made it clear from day 1 that I wouldnt be joining. However having been listening to the work that is going on in the background by our new owner and the team I have decided that I will be joining the society. It is a must to keep the club going in the right direction, which is clearly is after listening to the recent MFC Podcast. Will get onto it in the next couple of weeks. Plus 1 to this. Haven't been a critic per se but had severe reservations. Will look to get myself signed up soon and hopefully talk my old man into it aswell. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobey_Dosser Posted March 17, 2015 Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 I'll also be joining despite being sceptical from the outset. Before doing so, I'm interested to hear if there is a strategy and targets being drafted with regards to projected contributions to make the model sustainable. The £10 a month is a fantastic hook but I know 1,000 fans paying a tenner a month isn't going to do the job. With some projected numbers and meaning behind them, I'd look to contribute as best I could. Digressing slightly, in conjunction with core fans adding to the WS fund I do hope their is a wider message from the club to encourage disengaged fans back through the gate. Our core support has to grow to have a chance of making fan ownership sustainable as an over-reliance on a dwindling support is counter-productive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimus Prime Posted March 17, 2015 Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 I'll also be joining despite being sceptical from the outset. Before doing so, I'm interested to hear if there is a strategy and targets being drafted with regards to projected contributions to make the model sustainable. The £10 a month is a fantastic hook but I know 1,000 fans paying a tenner a month isn't going to do the job. With some projected numbers and meaning behind them, I'd look to contribute as best I could. Digressing slightly, in conjunction with core fans adding to the WS fund I do hope their is a wider message from the club to encourage disengaged fans back through the gate. Our core support has to grow to have a chance of making fan ownership sustainable as an over-reliance on a dwindling support is counter-productive. 1,000 fans paying a tenner a month would generate £120k per year. Over 5 years that amounts to an additional £600k - does that not meet the Society's target. Agree about our core support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobey_Dosser Posted March 17, 2015 Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 1,000 fans paying a tenner a month would generate £120k per year. Over 5 years that amounts to an additional £600k - does that not meet the Society's target. Agree about our core support. I don't think we have a lump sum target anymore? My understanding is that we're looking to generate a regular and dependable revenue stream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbcmfc Posted March 17, 2015 Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 I don't think we have a lump sum target anymore? My understanding is that we're looking to generate a regular and dependable revenue stream. Surely there's a limit to how many folk they can expect to join? They have around 1000 members, a further 1000 seems fairly ambitious, but say they get them, how do they continue to generate revenue? If over 1/2 our core home support are already members, a large percentage of the rest are kids, there is nobody else. Renewals aren't going to bring in a lot of money, especially if they're not contacting members to pay their fee and relying on them to do it off their own back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted March 18, 2015 Report Share Posted March 18, 2015 From speaking to folk (Chairman, Les & 'Flow) I am sure they said there are about 1200 members, the home support has dropped according to Les to about 3100 ( I think). I have always been slightly dubious of the WS's ability to generate the funds to run the club. However I don't see any other option, It has to be tried. I don't think we will be the permanent top flight fixture we have been for the last 30 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daver Posted March 18, 2015 Report Share Posted March 18, 2015 The £10 a month option sounds great but they should be encouraging a higher amount as the norm for those that can afford it. Payments of £25 per month sorts out the £300 membership in a year - other options should be pushed outlining the amounts people would need to pay to reach the next level in different timescales. If fans can be encouraged to let the direct debit run at a level they're comfortable with they can gradually upgrade their membership level. Many fans like myself will have paid the 300 membership some time ago and will now only be paying the annual renewal fee - there's an untapped market out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wee_alpha Posted March 18, 2015 Report Share Posted March 18, 2015 The £10 a month option sounds great but they should be encouraging a higher amount as the norm for those that can afford it. Payments of £25 per month sorts out the £300 membership in a year - other options should be pushed outlining the amounts people would need to pay to reach the next level in different timescales. If fans can be encouraged to let the direct debit run at a level they're comfortable with they can gradually upgrade their membership level. Many fans like myself will have paid the 300 membership some time ago and will now only be paying the annual renewal fee - there's an untapped market out there. I did this, but have now started the upgrade to the next level at £10 per month (for 70 months). So that is always an option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 I'm guessing the latest Q&A will only be available to attendees again. Any long distance and ex-pat members will be out of luck. I'm getting tired of hearing myself saying this, but not being able to upgrade membership online, and not being able to participate in any Society meetings is making my membership seem less and less valuable every month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bop Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 The fact that the club are able to broadcast press conferences live means that they have a good enough internet connection and facility to sort this sort of thing out. All it would take is a private youtube link to be emailed to members for things like the Q&A and someone to man up a computer to watch for any questions coming in. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WellSoc Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 I will see if someone is available to film it. I'm not sure it will be possible to show it live as the MFC media guys will not be working and not sure there is a strong enough internet connection in the centenary. our admin guy is looking in to paypal as a means to allow overseas members to pay online as Andy suggested. on the subject of targets, basically 2,000 adult members is our goal, while trying to persuade everyone to keep contributing feel like a broken record because thought it would be done by now but the new simplified membership structure is still being finalised - it's proving quite tricky given the need to recognise everyone's previous contributions. but we're basically trying to incentivise people to upgrade and make the whole experience of being a well society member more attractive and engaging. hopefully sorted very soon here is the latest email to members from Friday in case anyone on here missed it. The Well Society Dear Well Society member,We are appealing to all Well Society members to go out and recruit an additional member. Together we can achieve our goals if we use our strength in numbers. If every member persuades one person to join, then we are well on the road to success. We need everyone helping the cause - the Well Society is a far stronger organisation if everyone combines to help. Please persuade a friend or member of your family, share this email with someone, highlight the Well Society's aims any way you can. Please read the link for why this help is so important. A fans' focus group is being formed so Well Society members can help influence decision-making on fans' experiences at the club. Click on the link below to discover how to get involved. A question-and-answer session is to be held at Fir Park on Sunday, March 29 featuring Motherwell and Well Society chairman Brian McCafferty and Motherwell general manager Alan Burrows, among others. The event will kick off at 3.30pm in the Centenary Suite and is open to all Motherwell supporters. Fans can watch the Scotland v Gibraltar match in the bar afterwards. There is also an event in the Centenary from 12.30pm where fans can view the Tunnel Tiles and opt to have their message inscribed in the tunnel. A number of events are being put on for children including a FIFA tournament and free soft drinks for kids. More details coming very shortly. If you missed it earlier in the week, please listen to the BytheMin Motherwell FC podcast as Les Hutchison talks to three Well fans, Andy, Jay and Busta, about plans for the club. Please consider upgrading your Well Society membership - you can do so from £10 a month by clicking on the below link. Huge thanks for your ongoing support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ianc Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Can we just get a simple link to creat a direct debit. All I need is an account number credentials and a receipt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MFCL84 Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 When are membership fees meant to be renewed? I've been a member since very early on, but have never been reminded that it is time to renew. Consequently I've defaulted to renewing at the start of the season, though I have no idea if that is when I should. A simple letter or e-mail reminder would seem sensible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Annual membership fees are payable on the anniversary of a member joining. However the Society needs to make this clearer; preferably with reminders being sent out. The Society also needs to be far more active on matchdays. Continual messages to encourage fans to join up via social media sites are fine but there needs to be face to face contact on matchdays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 Looks like I'll be heading home this year so - thanks to the new payment options - I might get Junior memberships for both of my kids as well as a Steel membership for myself. Hopefully I'll be able to pop up for a few games each season and contribute on matchdays too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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