That ICPA (Aust) must progress with recurring payments as rolling membership has created an onerous process for branches.
The motion to move to rolling memberships, allowing for recurring membership payments, was carried at Federal Conference in 2023. However, Branches are yet to see the intended benefits.
Recurring payments have not been implemented due to technical limitations. As a result, rolling memberships now mean that memberships fall due at any point throughout the year. This has created additional work for Branches, particularly in following up overdue memberships and responding to member uncertainty. This is a significant issue, as volunteer burnout is increasing. The disruption to the email reminder process in February highlighted the impact that membership administration has at Branch level.
Three months after this issue occurred, the Branch is still dealing with confusion from members about their membership status.
Given the technical problems remain unresolved three years after the motion was carried, the Midwest Branch is considering opting out of the Federal membership model and returning to manual memberships. This would allow memberships to be aligned with our reporting period, being the calendar year, and would remove inefficiencies that are increasing the administrative workload.
Once the Federal technical challenges are resolved, we would support a staggered state-by-state rollout of the new system. This would allow for improved testing, clearer communication, and a smoother transition for Branches and members.
It must be acknowledged that the current Branch workload is onerous while membership payments are not recurring. Recurring payments need to be implemented as the default, with an option for members to opt out.
