1. Membership
The Society is a membership organisation, governed by a Council of Trustees, all of whom have to be members.
1550+ memberships at the end of 2014
Add in 780 family members, 350 joint members and 250 staff/volunteer members, plus libraries around the world and various local societies, we end up with a total of 3000 people & organisations

2. Where do our members come from?
Properties
Website
Word of mouth
Society Library
Society conferences
Also:
Public libraries
East & West Sussex Records offices
Digs (especially the original Fishbourne dig)
Local museums
Other local historical/archaeological societies
Often, they find us!
Word of mouth is so important – you never know what people are saying about the Society to others, so it’s vital that we all try to make each experience with anyone outside the Society a good one!
Properties, via direct selling but also active distribution of the membership leaflet – you never know when people revisit leaflets and decide to act on them later. Besides, I also see this as more than a direct recruitment exercise – it is spreading the word about the Society, reinforcing the fact that we own a group of properties and that we are all one organisation. This is really important!

3. Where do our members come from? (cont)
In 2014, we sold 292 new memberships. They came from:
Michelham Priory (113)
Website (64)
Lewes Castle (56)
Fishbourne (28)
Other – e.g. Anne of Cleves and the Priest House, conferences and bought as a gift.
We don’t know where every member comes from, and those who join online may well have decided as a result of a visit to any of the properties or some other cause which at present we do not identify.

4. Where do our members live?
We have members in every continent, but 284 live in the same postcode as one of our major properties.
BN7 (Lewes): 212
BN27 (Michelham): 55
PO19 (Fishbourne): 17
Other key areas are: adjacent to Lewes (155), Eastbourne and Pevensey (149), Brighton and Hove (124), Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath (68).

5. Benefits of membership
Sussex Past & Present newsletter three times a year, with book reviews, a variety of historical and archaeological articles and details of events – ours and those of other societies
Sussex Archaeological Collections once a year – our prestigious, academic volume
Free entry to all our properties
Use of the Library in Barbican House even when no volunteers are there
A range of members’events, including our walks, talks, workshops and conferences
Our new e-newsletter
Not to mention, the warm, fuzzy glow of supporting a good cause!
Because we claim Gift Aid on the subscriptions members pay (where they have agreed to this), we are constrained by the government in the benefits we can offer our members. We are not allowed, for example, to offer reduced rates to members for events, including conferences, or to charge non-members for use of the Library while members get in free. This can make selling membership on its benefits tricky, as there is nothing we can offer exclusively to members that they cannot obtain in some other, albeit slower or more costly, manner.

6. Promoting membership At our properties
At our events (non-members also attend)
On our website
In the Society’s Library
At open days, special activity days, teaching days etc.
Through other activities that you, as staff, are involved with, such a seminars, meetings with outside organisations etc.
Please, constantly be aware of ways and opportunities to promote membership.

7. What can we do? Continue to sell membership to our visitors
Make our existing members feel special when they visit – suggestions?
Encourage attendance at members’ events, especially our conferences. This year we have two major events:
The Tudor and Stuart Country House in Sussex
Artists and the Sussex Landscape c
9 May and 21 November. More details on the Tudor conference brochure already distributed to properties – the leaflet for the November conference will be ready in the spring