MEMBERSHIP AND MARKETING |
Crucial support from our members The GWCT is nothing without its members and supporters. As the year drew to a close we enjoyed the support of 20,098 people like you. As a member, your support has played a crucial part in everything we have achieved, and all that we aim to do in the future. We received a resounding message from the 672 members that completed their autumn membership survey that they felt our three main priorities are, in order: conducting research to the highest standard; informing Government policy; and ensuring a fair representation in the media. Without question our recruiting effort worked much better than recent years, but our membership numbers did fall by 1.6%. Andy Harvey joined in March to implement plans to completely revise our network of face-to-face recruiters in time for both the GWCT Scottish Game Fair and the CLA Game Fair. We also successfully stepped up our online recruitment activity after Rob Beeson started at the end of June. Towards the end of the year James Swyer, who also started in June, supported this effort by writing to lapsed members. In November we switched on the new GWCT website, which is edited by Oliver Dean who took responsibility for content migration when he started in July. It is split into four main subject areas – fishing, farming, game and wildlife – making it much easier to navigate. Monthly e-newsletters are now distributed to those that have sent us their email address. Opening rates for these updates of our most important and interesting stories remain a very healthy 34%. Our woodcock website and blog www.woodcockwatch.com continues to drive significant online interest in our work with more than 26 woodcock tagged and tracked over three years. Members continued to support the GWCT through appeal donations, to both our woodcock research and the work of the lowland gamebird unit. Purchases of Christmas cards and raffle tickets also remained very strong, and a further 106 members wrote to let us know that they intended to remember the work of the charity in their will. Thank you to all of you for your support throughout the year, and that of the two members of staff who left the team during the year: Joanne Hilton and Suzanne Fairbairn.
www.gwct.org.uk
by Andrew Gilruth, Director of Membership and Marketing
We are continuing to attract new audiences with our groundbreaking woodcock tracking work. © Jon Farmer
GAME & WILDLIFE REVIEW 2013 | 9