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<p>Forgetting all about making it easy and so on, there is currently
IMHO no reason a potential member couldn't apply for a waiver, it
would simply need to be decided on a case by case base.</p>
<p>Simon<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Am 14.11.2018 um 23:08 schrieb joost
schouppe:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAO2_g7++ua9hfVGMpT65fT63qM0AdZqvYVz-tK-cj8M8LMoCHg@mail.gmail.com">
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<div dir="auto">Hi Rob,
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">I can't give an account for the first three
years, but I can share my perspective about the last. I
specifically joined the MWG a year ago to help push forward
the waiver fee program.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Over the last year, most of the volunteer time
has gone to keeping the engine running. There were deep
problems with the management software for membership
(civicrm), which made it easy to lose members. There was a
weird problem with reminders about lapsing membership. Since
we do not have a self service area, people depend on these
reminders. It was a hard problem to fix, which involved a
lot of cooperation between people, as well as a lot if
discussion about whether or not to hire consultancy to fix
it; or even to make sure they could actually work if hired. </div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">At all the meetings I attended, I brought up
the waiver fee. There always seemed to be new barriers to
just start with it. A form, a procedure, default lettres,
membership classes. Since the meetings were rather spread
out, you also lose time with bringing back to mind all the
details. Since a lot of the work required knowledge about
the inner workings of the software, there wasn't a lot of
work I could do as a not so technical newbie. When there
were things I could do myself, my own time constraints came
in the way - as well as recently finding out a lot of
thinking work we did together was lost because we used an
exotic open source tool that disappeared from the internet. </div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">So my analysis if the last year would be: too
little volunteers to do the actual work, and a lack of
efficient workflows. </div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">IIRC we did get several board checkups on the
waiver fee and the occasional call to think bigger.</div>
<div dir="auto">I don't think there is anyone to blame, except
maybe if you start looking for the root causes of our lack
of volunteers. Since I don't want to turn this into my
position statement for the Board elections, I'll hold that
thought for now. I will say that this experience is what led
me to try and revive the local chapters group as a community
building group. This group would try to work in and with the
other working groups to support and push relevant projects
forward. Unfortunately that try has not really resulted in
much just yet.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">All the best, </div>
<div dir="auto">Joost </div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
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