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Post by Tiggerwoos on Jul 8, 2006 17:55:32 GMT
Just a quick question for you. Strangely enough I'm not yet a member of the Vegan Society. Keep meaning to join, but who else is a member and what benefits do you get? I do feel we should all support it and am a bit embarrassed to say after being vegan since new year I still haven't got around to it. *Blushes!
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Post by maisiepaisie on Jul 8, 2006 19:28:38 GMT
Me either. I think you get discounts at some places but nowhere that I normally buy from. You get the mag for free but its cheaper if you don't join and just buy the mag. They should offer some better incentives I think.
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Post by rubes on Jul 8, 2006 21:06:00 GMT
I'm a member You get your discount card (as Maisie said!) and the magazine, you're also eligible to vote in something (I really should pay more attention as to what in ), and the magazine - I'm assuming that some percentage of the membership fee goes into supporting the Society itself - which is good I guess! I do wish they were a little more pro-active though as other organisations (viva especially) do more in the 'public eye' than the Vegan Society does and that's a shame.....I don't know why maybe it's lack of funds or possibly just ineffectual administration
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Post by veggiesosage on Jul 8, 2006 21:57:31 GMT
Flipin eck! I was just about to start a thread on this meself. Seriously.
I'm a member of VS and I would encourage others to join too. I've heard rumblings of dis content about the way the VS is being run and one way to deal with this is to encourage more members, and therefore more people to be potentially involved with the running of the society.
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Post by Tiggerwoos on Jul 8, 2006 23:13:58 GMT
Flipin eck! I was just about to start a thread on this meself. Seriously. I'm a member of VS and I would encourage others to join too. I've heard rumblings of dis content about the way the VS is being run and one way to deal with this is to encourage more members, and therefore more people to be potentially involved with the running of the society. Spooky! You must be psychic! OK, am looking for my wallet and gonna order my membership online and be a good vegan. At £21, it's not too bad. At least I get some magazines if nothing else. Think I might order that "Typical Vegans" drawstring rucksack. Kinda like that one. Tigger........ put that card away and stop spending! ;D
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Post by alisont on Jul 9, 2006 8:49:47 GMT
I joined last July when i went vegan - I get 10% discount at a big health food shop I also got the typical vegans backpack - use it for work, gym, shopping - good for starting conversations! There are a lot of 'rumblings' at the mo within the VS - Im hoping they move to Brum next year as Il be 1/2 hour away then and will be keeping my eye out for any education officer jobs Alison
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Post by kevster on Jul 9, 2006 9:15:10 GMT
Yer, i've been a member of The Vegan Society for quite a few years now, and don't like the way it is run. There have been resignations from three CEOs recently, this sort of thing doesn't just happen, people sign up to make a commitment, but given the lack of transparency within the society it's so difficult to know what is actually going on. It's a ridiculous state of affairs.
Groups like Animal Aid and Viva! Do very similar work, and as Tigger says appear much more pro-active. Part of the reason is probably funding, but as the Society presently stands it is not going to get more funding, likely less, as Viva also have VVF and now their own vegan trademark symbol. And they appear like a more attractive proposition.
The Vegan Society is the Vegan society, and that is its main selling point, the magazine is often really good and Why vegan? Is also a well produced leaflet.
There are issues with Council accountability to members and it often seems like there isn't really any accountability outside the AGM, which incidentally is difficult to make if you live over the other side of the country and need to travel for the two - three hour meeting. I'd encourage people to go though, as it seems like the only place where some answers might be found to some of the questions.
One more thing as my rant continues is the election of Council members, just how can people be voted in on a few paragraphs about themselves? Perhaps we need more than a couple of hundred words to make a decision. If we want a more effective society than i'm sure many members would be willing to invest a bit of time to make it better.
If things don't start to change i suspect i'll give up my membership, i don't like to be a part of groups that don't seem to take accountability to members seriously.
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Post by veggiesosage on Jul 9, 2006 9:43:54 GMT
One of the probs of attracting decent quality CEOs is that the pay is p*** poor. I know there's the commitment thing and doing it for the love of it and all that but you're simply not going to get someone of the calibre needed to lead a national charity on £25k.
I don't know whether the accountability of the Vegan Society is any more or less that, say Amnesty International. I'm not really sure how much accountability its normal to expect to be honest.
Re council elections, the amount of info you get is similar to, say the elections to national posts in UNISON. It might be appropriate to ask them to make an address at the AGM as well, don't know if they already do that. Would prob be a bit much to expect them to attend a round of national hustings!
It does give the impression of being a less than dynamic organisation. I didn't know that Viva have got their own Vegan trademark. I actually think thats really bad cos its hard enough to sell the trademark as it is and that just splits the market.
Part of the prob is that they are a very small organisation but are expected to play on the national stage. Fund raising is difficult cos they're not exactly the first cause that pop into people's heads when they're thinking of where to send their money.
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Post by kevster on Jul 9, 2006 12:17:48 GMT
The question of accountability is not an easy one to deal with. When electing people to Council/or any organisation it is a near impossible task based on the fact you don't even know them. It's hardly an exercise in democracy, because you can choose, but your choice is based on so little information.
Yep £25,000 is not a lot for a CEO, but it is a lot of money as i see it.
They did receive some fairly decent legacies in the past year that could have been utilised for certain projects, like improving their website. But i don't know what happened to this money.
The Vegan Society is certainly a small charity, which is why i feel it needs to remain focussed on a few things which it can do really well. Which i'd like to know more about.
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Post by rubes on Jul 9, 2006 12:58:41 GMT
The thing is, the Vegan Society just seems to have been at a standstill for some years, I first encountered 'The Vegan' magazine way back in 1991 and other than putting it on better quality shiny paper, the magazine hasn't really changed, the website hasn't changed in over two years (at least!!) and is really poorly designed (content and design). Why is this??? Is it lack of money (which I can understand, but if legacies are being received then why is there so little in terms of advancing the Society's status to show for it)? Is it lack of imagination/creativity on the Staff's part as to what to do with the website or what campaigns to start/be involved in - so they're just doing nothing instead?? Or is everything at a standstill until after the proposed move to Birmingham (or wherever they finally decide on) Whatever the reason(s) things need to change drastically and soon, otherwise the Society will be left so far behind by other organisations that there's a very real danger that there will be any valid reason for them to exist. Not that all these critiscisms haven't been voiced many times before by various other people on other forums and yet no-one at the Society seems to listen or act upon it, so I can't see anything changing for the better for the time being.....still, it's good to vent I guess!
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Post by veggiesosage on Jul 9, 2006 13:16:42 GMT
Does anybody know off the top of their head when is/was the AGM each year? Sure I could find it somewhere, just being lazy...
I don't think the website is THAT bad (believe me I've seen worse) but it is unexciting to say the least.
Its often difficult to pin down what the problem with an organisation is from afar. The problem as I see it with some elements of the '3rd sector' ie charities etc is that so many of them don't realise how important marketing is. I'm on the committee of a national campaigning group (not in AR), we're not a charity and we don't have any staff. But the committe are all professionals in our line of work yet they couldn't see how important it is to have or own website, instead of piggy backing on another organisations. We still don't have our own email address, again piggy backing on someone elses!
So it could be a lack of vision on the VS Council's part, or lots of different visions, or it could be issues with the staff not being dynamic.
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Post by rubes on Jul 9, 2006 14:53:32 GMT
I believe last years AGM was October 30th (know it's usually end of Oct/beginning November-ish!)
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Post by veggiesosage on Jul 22, 2006 15:43:14 GMT
Apparently the final date for proposing resolutions to the AGM is 28 July. Frustratingly, I didn't glean this info from the Vegan Soc website. I had to read the evil other forum and follow a link to another website (still not VS) to find it. (this link is below) I'm thinking of sending in a special resolution. Something along the lines that Council meeting minutes are published to the website, with the proviso that any confidential personnel info is removed, in order to increase transparency. What do people think? www.activeg.org/news/full_story.html?id=414
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Post by Gliondrach on Jul 22, 2006 23:10:43 GMT
I was a member but, when half of the committee left to form another society, I joined that as well. I continued as a member of the VS for about five more years - being a member of both organisations - and then didn't renew my membership. I have a copy of the first, new-look, version of their magazine from Summer, 1985. It has photographs on the cover and inside. I don't think there were any digital cameras in those days. They could be clever photocopying images but they look like photographs to me. In subsequent issues they had a few photographs and then went over to drawings - the way it had been before. The last magazine I have is from 1990. The old magazines were better. The breakaway group - The Movement for Compassionate Living, continued with the old-style magazine. It is always informative and interesting. It is also costs much less to join. As it says in the magazine: 'For those who can afford it, we suggest an annual subscription of £5.00 for UK residents (overseas subscribers - please add a further donation to cover extra postage costs). Less will be accepted, however, and more will be welcomed -this will help us to send New Leaves to those who will read it and hand on the ideas but who cannot afford a subscription. Such donations also help with the costs of stalls and meeting.' It is a better organisation than the VS and has kept to the vegan ethic through good times and bad. They also promote sustainable living and buying locally produced food. The Movement for Compassionate Living: www.mclveganway.org.uk/
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Post by kevster on Jul 23, 2006 8:43:05 GMT
That's interesting, i didn't realise MCL had formed out of the Vegan Society.
Veggiesosage, yeah it'd definitely be good if minutes were posted up on their website, much more accessible for interested parties to have a look through.
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Post by veggiesosage on Jul 23, 2006 14:09:06 GMT
Have just emailed them asking for a proposal form or proper details of how to propose a resolution. Made a comment that I thought that info should be on the website. However, have just realised needs to seconded too, getting that all sorted out before Friday is going to be a push.
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Post by rubes on Jul 23, 2006 16:05:38 GMT
I could second it for you if you like???
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Post by veggiesosage on Jul 23, 2006 21:27:39 GMT
Thats cool Rubes. The issue is whether we can get the forms, send it to you for seconding and you send it in to the Vegan Soc in time. As long as they send me the stuff tomorrow we should be ok. I'll pm you tomorrow.
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Post by veggiesosage on Jul 24, 2006 18:49:53 GMT
They've said I can do the resolution via email and it can be seconded via email too. Makes it a bit easier.
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Post by rubes on Jul 24, 2006 19:05:58 GMT
right, so what's the course of action then!! ....always assuming you still want me to second the resolution of course!!!
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