Alan Bromley
Marketing Officer, BCSS
Background & Objectives
• The RHS is aware that plant society membership numbers are falling
– Some societies are in danger of folding
– Others have expressed serious concerns about long-term viability
• Overall objectives of this survey:
– To establish the issues and challenges facing UK plant societies in terms of
membership recruitment and retention
– To see what could be done to encourage mutual support between the societies,
share successful ideas, and provide some assistance and tools to address the
issues
• Findings to form the basis for a workshop in early 2017
– Key points highlighted in this presentation
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Method & Analysis
Method
• Qualitative, not quantitative
• 17-point questionnaire
• Telephone survey/interview/discussion
Analysis
• 20 responses (19 calls)
• Overall interpretation of responses  general conclusion
Final report
• Written report available – to be distributed after this meeting
Participating Societies & Respondents
Australasian Plants Society
British Cactus & Succulent Society (BCSS)
British Hosta & Hemerocallis Society
British Iris Society
British Pteridological Society
Cottage Garden Society
Cyclamen Society
Delphinium Society
Fritillaria Group
Hardy Orchid
Hebe Society
Herb Society
Mediterranean Plants & Gardens
National Dahlia Society
National Sweet Pea Society
National Vegetable Society
National Viola & Pansy Society
Pelargonium & Geranium Society
RHS Fruit Group
Saxifrage Society
Jeremy Spon (Membership Secretary)
Alan Bromley (Marketing Officer)
John Carr (Chairman)
John Mullen (Membership secretary)
Yvonne Golding (Secretary)
Clive Lane (Secretary)
Vic Aspland (President)
Roger Beauchamp (Membership Secretary)
Alice Munsey
Simon Tarrant (Publicity Officer)
Steve Harding (Chairman)
Malcolm Dickson (Chairman)
Heather Martin (Chairman)
June Nash (General Secretary)
Tom Atherton (Membership Secretary)
Neil Hope (National Membership Registrar)
Alicia Guild (Secretary)
Gwen Ward (Membership Secretary)
Gerry Edwards (Chairman)
Mark Childerhouse (Secretary)
Q1: Membership benefits
Publications
• 85% (17/20) have a regular publication; eg, newsletter 2-4 times a year
• 35% (7/20) produce a more substantial annual publication or yearbook
• A few produce other publications such as guides, lists of varieties, and books
Other benefits
• Branch meetings
• 45% (9/20) distribute seeds to members
• Visits to nurseries and gardens (including members’ gardens)
• Not all benefits are exclusive to members
KEY POINTS
• Free information on the internet – how can societies offer something extra?
• Is face-to-face interaction (social networking) as important these days?
• What should societies offer exclusively to members rather than make freely available to everyone?
RHS Plant Society Show: Exit Survey
Offers & Publications
• Discounts for members
• Offers for plants and more shows
• Free membership & seminars
• Freebies
• Annual journal
• Monthly newsletter
• Competitions
• Info & Library services
• Tips of the month/to do list
• Free exhibitions/seminars
• Discounts in garden centres, special offers
• Discount entrance to gardens
Gardens & Plants
• Garden visits
• Free/discounted plants
• Seed & plant Exchange scheme
• Free samples & seeds
• Access to best quality or unusual plants
• Discounts on buying plants
• Access to an extended range of varieties
• Special seeds
• New varieties
• Trying new plants & seeds
• Gardening tips and exclusive plant viewings
Info & Networking
• Talks on growing/propagating
• Demos and contact by post, tips etc.
• Access to expert advice/information
• Increase/share knowledge
• Access to information, talks, website
• Knowledge, experience and assistance of
other members
• Meeting like-minded people at events
• Exchange plants and ideas with other likeminded people
• Shared chat & opportunity to meet other
gardeners
• Networking, sharing experience
• Sharing knowledge
Plant care & Info
• Info sheets on how to grow plants
• Learn more and be able to grow plants
more successfully
• Learning more about different varieties &
cultivation
• To learn more about nurturing plants
• Feeding specific plants
• Learning about plants
Q2-4: Membership numbers
• Recent:
– 40% (8/20) decreasing
– 50% (10/20) static
– 10% (2/20) a modest increase (small, relatively new societies)
• Long term:
– 70% (14/20) have seen a decrease over 10-20 years
– 20% (4/20) seeing an upward trend (2 are ‘eat what you grow’)
• The more specialist the society the more they are struggling
• Age:
– All skewed toward 60+ which is increasing
– Few younger members joining
KEY POINTS
• Should we accept that growing is a hobby for the retired?
• Should societies target younger people – is there a long-term benefit?
Society governance
• Little or no succession planning by societies
• Committees change little, officials cycle their roles, few new committee
members recruited
• Involvement in committees unattractive to younger (working) people
– The ‘recently retired’ seen by some as potential saviours
• Resistance to change embedded in most societies
– Long-standing feuds mentioned on several occasions
KEY POINTS
• Are committees seen as the domain of older, more experienced members?
• How can we change the attitude of old-timers?
• Is there an argument for ‘pared-down’ governance?
Q5-8: Recruitment, publicity & marketing
• Gardening shows (including those at RHS gardens), website, word of mouth
– Only one society has made a concerted effort to recruit and this was on a
regional basis
• Incentives to join are generally limited to welcome packs
• No specific approaches to publicity
– Most societies have a leaflet of some kind
• Advertising limited
– A few have reciprocal arrangements
• RHS support in providing venues for shows/events appreciated
KEY POINTS
• What methods are most cost-/time-effective and are societies doing
enough?
Q8b: Internet
• Societies slow to take advantage of the internet
• A significant proportion of members do not use a computer/email (~35% in the BCSS)
• All the societies have websites, but of variable quality
– Quality does not necessarily correlate with a society’s size
• Website construction and maintenance a challenge
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Those with web designer members (or partners) succeed
Cost is prohibitive
Content population and updating often as much of a challenge
Minority of websites have online forums, some of which are members only
• Website generally viewed positively in terms of recruitment
– But not all have online sign-up
KEY POINTS
• What should society websites offer that’s not already available elsewhere?
• Should part of a society’s website be for members only?
• Can there be centralised support for website design and creation?
Q9: Social media
• Virtually none of the officials in the survey use social media personally
– Social media handled by ‘younger’ members
• General view that social media does not result in recruitment
– But no evidence for this and it may be the view of non-users
• Facebook the most popular, followed by Twitter, with a few other social
media
– Facebook set-up varies
• Non-society Facebook pages seen as competition
KEY POINTS
• How effective is social media – can it be measured?
Q10: Junior members
• Not relevant to all plant societies
• Of those asked, not something that many offered
– Several offer family membership
• Notable exceptions are:
– National Sweet Pea Society has been encouraging schools to grow sweet peas
– Pelargonium & Geranium Society has given schools cuttings (and is considering
a schools membership)
– BCSS offers junior membership at a much reduced cost
• Unaccompanied minor at meetings and on field trips was raised as an issue
KEY POINTS
• Is a specific junior membership package worth the effort?
• Will juniors retain their interest into adulthood?
Q11: Overseas members
• Majority of societies have small proportion of overseas members
– Nothing specific is done to recruit them
– One society does used overseas members to coordinate field trips in their
countries
• Membership benefits largely the same
• Additional postage costs an issue
– One society intends to offer online viewing of its journal through a passwordprotected page on their website
KEY POINTS
• Do overseas members add anything to UK societies, apart from additional
funding?
Q12: Social change
General consensus
• Gardening/growing hobbies becoming less popular due to a number factors:
– Smaller gardens
– Increased apartment living
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Other distractions and demands on people’s time (eg, television, sports)
Other means of social networking
Information freely available on the internet
A general view that plant-related hobbies are the domain of the retired
Additional comments
• Younger, inexperienced people are less comfortable mixing with older and
highly experienced
• Many plant types require long-term commitment
Q13: Branches
• Few societies are organized on a regional basis
– In those that are the regions/branches are largely autonomous but do organize
local shows/events
• The largest networks are in the BCSS, Cottage Garden Society, National
Vegetable Society
– BCSS branches are being lost at the rate of 1-2 a year
• Society affiliations are important to some societies, such as alpine plants
KEY POINTS
• Is face-to-face contact key to the continued success of societies?
• Should societies be doing more to encourage this?
Q14, 15, 17: Retention
• No data on length of membership and retention
– Most societies have core group of long-term members
• More ‘churn’ seen among newer members
– People who join on impulse at shows tend to stay for a shorter time
• Ageing is main reasons for non-renewal: infirmity, moving into a retirement
home, or death
• Follow-up on others has limited success:
– Mostly loss of interest, too technical
– Membership fee increase sometime used as an excuse
KEY POINTS
• How do we avoid excessive ‘churn’?
• Do we need to do more to support new members?
Q16: Payment methods
• PayPal a huge benefit to societies
– Recurring payment system used by a few but with mixed views
• Direct Debit is used by a small proportion
– One society only has 60 members paying this way
– Only one or two were aware of third-party DD systems
• All mentioned the cost of such payment methods
– Most see the cost as worth it
– Some pass the cost on to members
• Standing orders inflexible and problematic when membership fee increased
– Asking members to amend can result in cancelled membership
KEY POINTS
• Is PayPal sufficient?
• Do we need to explore Direct Debit options more?
THANK YOU
ANY QUESTIONS?