2006 Member Forum – Recruiting Now (RFC site)

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2006 Member Forum – Recruiting Now
richmondfc.com.au
2:59:59 PM Tue 18 October, 2005

Since 2003 the Richmond Football Club has actively sought member feedback on all consumer related areas of the business, via the Members’ Forum.

The Members’ Forum is a working group of approximately 20 members who volunteer their time to provide feedback on club initiatives.

Specifically the objectives are:

• To act as a resource for the Club in both a proactive and responsive manner in member focused areas (generate ideas, provide feedback and act as a sounding board).

• To provide a forum for members and supporters to communicate their opinions and suggestions to the Club.

• To utilise the professional expertise of the members within the Forum to assist the club in becoming more successful off the field.

The Charter for the Forum can be viewed by downloading the file below.

The Forum is managed by the Club’s General Manager, Consumer Marketing, Trent Jacobs and the group meets every 4-8 weeks at the Club and via teleconference (country/interstate members). The Members’ Forum often has focus groups working on specific topics and they may meet more regularly.

Some examples of work undertaken by the Members’ Forum are:

• Reward & Recognition Program: input into the program.

• Lapsed Members: reasons and strategies to reduce lapsed member numbers.

• Branding: input into the “Yellow and Black, it’s in the Blood” brand development.

• Membership Fulfillment, Incentive & Benefits: ideas and feedback.

• Non-ticketed Members: how to increase retention and acquisition.

• Supporter Groups: how to increase acquisition and provide better service to these groups.

The Club is seeking expressions of interest from Richmond members who would like to participate in the Members’ Forum in 2006.

We are seeking 10 new members to join the Forum.

Please send an email with your name and daytime telephone number to forum@richmondfc.com.au by October 25 and we will contact you with details of the selection process.

If you have previously expressed interest in joining the Members’ Forum then please resubmit your expression of interest.

If you are unable to join the Members’ Forum but would like to provide feedback to the Club about membership related matters, then please send your feedback to forum@richmondfc.com.au or come to one of the Member Information Nights held during each football season.

http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=insidetheclub&spg=aroundtheclubdisplay&articleid=234632

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RICHMOND FOOTBALL CLUB MEMBERS’ FORUM CHARTER

Introduction

At the Richmond Football Club , we have made a commitment to our supporters to continue to keep the lines of communication open with our supporter base. One of the many strategies we have developed to achieve this goal is the continuation of the Members Forum.

The Members Forum moving forwards will be a working group of 20 members that will provide feedback on club initiatives and be a voice to keep the Club from disconnecting with our supporter base. The members will be selected from a wide cross section of our member base to ensure representation of all member groups from near and far.

The Member’s Forum agrees to be bound by the following parameters;

1. The Richmond Football Club Member’s Forum shall operate principally for the purpose of celebrating the Richmond Football Club and its team.
2. To encourage and promote the vision and mission of the Richmond Football Club and do everything to enhance the Club’s reputation on and off the field.

RFC Members’ Forum Vision

‘To have all barrackers become Richmond members and for a membership to be recognised as a life-long partnership between Club and supporter.

NOTE: After some discussion the term ‘barracker’ was chosen over that of either ‘supporter’ or ‘follower’ as it was felt that it was more of a ‘footy’ term and better emphasised people who are non-members.

RFC Member’s Forum Mission

To be an off field asset that assists in the critical analysis of the Club and provides strategic solutions to help Richmond become one of the ‘Big 4’ in membership base on a sustainable basis.

1. GUIDELINES AND RULES

i. Objectives

§ To act as a resource for the Club in both a proactive and responsive manner in member focused areas (generate ideas, provide feedback and act as a sounding board).
§ To select a group to represent the complete cross-section of Richmond members, so the Club can become aware of their opinions and suggestions.
§ To utilise the forum members’ professional expertise and knowledge of the Club to assist in becoming more successful strategically and operationally.

ii. Rules

§ The Members Forum is not about critiquing or developing strategies for the football department and there will be no forum for the group to discuss the progress or operational issues occurring in this department.
§ Any strategic or operational information that is made available to the Members Forum group about the club must remain confidential and is not to be circulated in any form of correspondence. The group will be privy to classified information and it will remain this.
§ If a member doesn’t adhere to the above rule, their participation as a member of the Forum will cease.
§ The Richmond Football Club reserves the right to terminate the group if it is deemed to be operating in opposition to the best interests of the club or in the event that the group ceases to meet the stated objectives.

Note:
§ The Members Forum is not a Richmond Football Club coterie and is not expected to generate revenue for the Club through fundraising initiatives.

2. GROUP STRUCTURE

The Members Forum will be recognised by the Club as a formal group, aiming to assist the Club in areas deemed to be requiring outsourced expertise. The members will be selected by the Club on a voluntary basis.

The areas that the club will request assistance with are as follows:

Ø Membership
Ø Marketing
Ø Business Development (Sponsorship, Corporate Sales & Events)
Ø Fundraising
Ø Communications

The group will consist of 20 people, each of whom will tender for a position on the Members Forum. The Club Representative will elect the members, assessing their applications on merit, with personal and professional backgrounds taken into consideration as to how each person can contribute to the group and ultimately assist the Club. Most importantly the aim will be to recruit a large cross section of the membership demographic taking into
consideration: category, age and consecutive years of membership.

All members can remain in the group for a two year tenure. They will then voluntarily step down to allow for new applicants to be selected. Members will not be able to re-tender a submission to be selected back into the Forum group for 2 years after their exit.

For the first year, 10 members will be asked to remain on the Forum and 10 new members will be recruited. This will foster the development of the new members, as current members will provide them with assistance throughout the first one to two meetings. It also means that we’ll always have 10 experienced members remain in the Forum during the induction period of newly recruited members. This is positive as it means that members moving into their second year of tenure will be able to take on more of a leadership role and can be asked to accept the role of Secretary.

Forum Structure:

i. Club Representative

The Club Representative will chair all meetings and prepare the meeting agenda. The Club Representative will direct the meetings in a fashion to best achieve the overall objectives of the Club.

ii. Secretary

A secretary will be appointed to take the minutes of each meeting and assist the Club Representative in preparing meeting agenda’s.

iii. Sub Groups

In an effort to assist the Club strategically in target areas of the business, the Club Representative will have the ability to create sub groups to critically assess a target area. For each specific task, the Club Representative will appoint a sub group leader and a team, to work together on a more frequent basis to attain solutions to a specific task set by the club. The sub group leader will report to the Club Representative throughout the timelines set and then report back the group at a specified time. The sub group’s members will be chosen relative to professional skills, background, membership categories and age, as well as availability.

Selection Process

All members that will be taken into consideration for selection to the Members Forum must send in a formal submission. This submission will outline the following:

§ Name
§ Address
§ Contact details (Phone, fax and email)
§ Age & Gender
§ Membership Type
§ Length of consecutive membership years (current)
§ Brief overview of professional background, skills and qualifications
§ Vision for the Richmond Football Club
§ Reasons for wanting involvement in the Forum
§ Suggestions to improve/add value to the five target business units of the club.

Recruitment Process

Members of the Forum will assist in profiling and recommending new members to the Forum group. The medium for acquiring new members will be via the website where we’ll advertise each year for new participants. Applicants will follow the above selection process and the Forum group will make recommendations to the Club representative, after careful consideration on all submissions.

Note: If candidates aren’t suitable for the Forum, the Club Representative will actively seek out members to join the group.

3. MEETINGS

Meetings are to be held in the RFC Board Room or a venue nominated by the Club Representative. The meetings will be held every second month, however meetings may be held monthly if the Club feel that the Members Forum are required to assist in the decision making of specific topics arising within business units of the Club.

The Meetings will be chaired by the Club Representative and the meeting agenda will be signed off by this person.
A meeting calendar will be forwarded out by the Club Representative at the beginning of each calendar year.

Please note: Members must attend a minimum of 6 of the 8 scheduled meeting during each year, or they’ll have to forgo their position in the group.

4. CHANGES TO THE CHARTER

For changes to be made the Members Forum Charter, it must go through the following process:

§ A suggested change must be included in a meeting Agenda as a General Business item.
§ It must be proposed and seconded by members of the Forum
§ The proposed change will then be discussed in the forum setting
§ A change will only be made to the charter if the group and the Club Representative attain a consensus.

Note: The Club Representative will ultimately make the final decision as to whether changes will be made to the charter.

5. CLUB REPRESENTATIVE

All minutes, correspondence and communication shall be through the Club Representative.

Currently the Club Representative is the General Manager, Consumer Marketing.

Trent Jacobs
General Manager, Consumer Marketing
PO BOX 48
Richmond Vic 3121
(03) 9426 4425
tjacobs@richmondfc.com.au

http://richmondfc.com.au/cp2/c2/webi/article/234631al.pdf