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Hi James. As you saw in the December 2023 edition of the BAA journal the intention was stated that “We will not create new Honorary Memberships after 2026”. I attended the meeting in London to make a request to the Trustees and the Committee not to scrap Honorary Memberships from 2026 and it is for them to decide and let us know. I proposed that even if we don’t offer free subscriptions for Honorary Members we keep the category and continue to recognise members who have 50 years continuous membership with the title of being Honorary Members, recognition in the BAA journal and some physical award like a certificate or badge. There was a vote regarding continuing to offer free subscriptions to Honorary Members and the majority voted not to continue this process. Hopefully there will be some formal announcement about whether this category of membership will continue or not.
Dear David Arditti. I’m happy to propose at the meeting in January that we don’t scrap honorary memberships. Please forgive me because I’m a fairly new member to the BAA so can I ask you whether to make this proposal can I do so via email to you with an explanation or do I have to attend the meeting in London in person to make the proposal ? And is the vote regarding this proposal decided just by the people who attend the January meeting in person or is the decision made by asking the opinion of all members by email ? Many thanks for your clarification. Tony
That was exactly my feeling Denis and the purpose of me starting this thread : it’s the gesture of being offered free membership to recognise your 50 year anniversary that has so much more impact than a PowerPoint certificate sent through the post, even if you decline the offer ! I’m sure it’s unlikely lots of members will resign if honorary memberships are scrapped but I still don’t quite understand why our organisation can’t afford to offer honorary memberships and is losing money each year unless it’s the cost of the current litigation we’re involved with. I would also love some creative initiatives to attract younger members.
But the BAA published financial data showing they had an income of £132,000 last year in addition to having cash assets of £1.5M which attract annual interest, which even at 4% would have been £60,000 last year. If we paid the membership of everyone who has been a member continuously for over 50 years (n=250) the cost to the BAA would be around £12,500. So my point is that if the BAA was managing their income properly we should surely be able financially to continue to offer these honorary memberships to people who have been so loyal to the BAA for so many years.
