5% Increase in Membership Fees

As is detailed in our Treasurer's report, due to inflation our income from membership fees no longer matches the costs. As William mentioned, we have managed to avoid fee increases while other sites have not, only needing a realignment in 2021 due to exchange rate changes.

With the uncertainty of membership levels and inflation, we think something in the 5 to 10% range is required. Of course it would be counter productive to propose a higher increase, and risk a decline in renewals offsetting any gains.

Therefore we propose only 5% at this time, to gauge the effect of the single currency amendment reducing the loss due to conversion fees on non-euro transactions. As well as a new feature on the renewal page for people to select a slightly higher fee to cover the bank and PayPal transaction fees, for those that are able to afford it.

We believe this is the route most likely to find broad acceptance, as well as being respectful of the varying ability of our members to afford the increase. We will be able to evaluate the effect of the different elements for the IGA next year.