Don Burnside A/Membership Officer. Email: don.burnside@iinet.net.au
The Summary
At the commencement of 2019, there were 209 active and complimentary members. As at 16 November 2019, we have 221.
The Detail
As at 18 November 2019, 132 members have paid for annual memberships for 2019, with 14 people have taken up three year memberships (2019-2021). When added to the members already on three year memberships (31 three year memberships taken up in 2017 and 2018), a total of 177 members – so far – are financial and hence ‘active’ for 2019.
A further 9 new members who have joined since 1 October, are active until the end of 2020. Some of these attended the Canberra conference.
In mid-October, 14 members (both paid for 2018, and complimentary) were advised that their memberships were terminated and that they have been moved into the inactive category. This is about the usual number we lose every year.
Overall therefore, we have 186 paid members at this time, which compares favourably with 163 for the whole of 2018.
We also have 35 complimentary for 2020, which includes Fellows, people holding honorary positions (Chair of the Publications Committee, and Editors of The Rangeland Journal, the website, the Range management Newsletter and social media) and six prize winners at the 2019 Biennial Conference held in Canberra.
Next steps
As soon as the new website is ready to go live, renewal notices will be sent to the 153 members whose membership will expire 31 December 2019. This includes the 21 people who signed on for three year memberships in 2017. One hopes they will sign on for that option again.
Non-members of ARS who attended the Canberra conference will also be encouraged to join, by reminding them of what a great conference they recently attended and how we can only continue to provide such events if we have a strong membership!