Funding for Younger Member Networks

The life and times of a younger member volunteer and medicinal chemist.

Since starting an active Younger Member Network (YMN) in the Liverpool area in 2008, myself and a small group of volunteers have formed a committee and have successfully managed to run a number of events for our younger members, including pub quizzes, a careers event and a ‘fun’ scientific lecture for example. Prior to our existence there was very little going on in the area for YMs and so we hope to continue building on this in the future and are grateful for the support we have already received from the RSC.

I am writing this blog entry in the hope of starting a discussion regarding the funding of RSC YMNs in the UK. I think the current system is unfair - a bit of a postcode lottery, so I would like to make a few proposals to start things off and to invite as many readers as possible to comment.

YM reps are expected to run several events per year in their local areas aimed at YMs. These are defined as everyone under the age of 35 but anyone is welcome to come along. This is quite a large group of people within a Local Section (LS), approximately 25 % for example. The main problem when it comes to running these events is funding; even the most basic don’t come cheap.

So where do we get our funding from? The main source is from a Local Section committee and not directly from RSC HQ. We also ask members to contribute to certain events but this is not possible for everything (who’s going to pay to attend a lecture or careers event?). So all is fine if your Local Section supports YMNs and in some parts of the country this works very well. However, some Local Sections offer less financial support for YMNs and in some sections there is not even a YMN to start with!

Local Sections receive £2.50 per member annually, so logic would suggest this is spent equally amongst the different age groups based on percentage of members. In general, this is not the case.

There are many reasons for this; high on the list is the perception that YMs are just a bunch of students who want to get drunk (no offence to students, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a student lifestyle!), when in reality we are a diverse mix of undergrads, postgrads, young academics, industrialists and teachers etc., so we want more than just a bar crawl for our money!

What does a typical event cost I hear you say; surely it’s not that much?
Well, having just run a well attended (~80 people) careers event on a shoestring of just under £300, this is what the money was spent on: 1.5 h University lecture theatre hire at reduced rate and a small buffet. So for something like a networking mixer meeting for young professionals, held in a hotel with food and drink, you are looking at spending >£700. So my point is, these events can be expensive and having the extra hurdle of applying for funding from LS committees who have to vote on it doesn’t help. If the event involves alcohol then it is almost certain it will not receive many votes!

So what am I trying to achieve by writing this blog?
1)     Raise awareness amongst the YM community about how their events are funded (or not, as the case may be).
2)     To make things equal nationally, I propose that we receive funding directly from RSC HQ based on the number of younger members in our area.
3)     To make the RSC appreciate the cost of running a YMN event and the spare time donated by volunteers to make these possible.

Gone are the days when you could run everything in a University department for free!

I can understand that the RSC does not want to dish out vast sums of money to just anybody, but I’m sure with the right set-up and a few ground rules and safeguards, those YMNs that are already established and well-run deserve their own source of funding which is awarded in a fairer way.

Finally, the RSC should remember that YMs are the Chemists of the future and the future of the society will rely on their continued membership. With many members questioning whether they see a benefit from their membership fee, it’s more important than ever to offer them value for money during their first years with the RSC.

I look forward to hearing from everyone, in particular other YM reps. and their thoughts on this topic!
Claire

Posted by Claire Rees on Jan 17, 2011 9:55 PM Europe/London

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Claire Rees

Date Posted: Feb 10, 2011 at 8:52 PM

I think that getting more YM's to volunteer themselves for the committess will help in the long-run but that doesnt help in the short-term and feels like the buck is being passed onto the volunteers (again). Getting people to put themselves forward is another challenge since most are not familiar with the way the RSC is run at a local level. Until a few years ago I didnt have a clue either and the thought of attending an AGM was out of the question as it didnt seem relevant. Only ~40 people in the whole section bother to turn up anyway so this is not just an issue with YM's! Perhaps an article in Chemistry World to help de-mistify the workings of local sections and to encourage more volunteers is needed?

To comment further on what Ben said regarding event promotion - can the RSC help us a bit more?? We find that email shots only get through to some of our members plus people tend to not read every email in their inbox these days. Using ChemSoc/facebook/RSC websites also help but we are still met with low turn-outs for some events due to lack of awareness. One solution could be to send invites/event programs through the post but in the past I was told this was too expensive? How about being able to add them to Chemistry World package to save costs? How much notice would this require?

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Ben Carter

Date Posted: Feb 9, 2011 at 4:25 PM

I'd like to chip in (late!) to support Claire's comments on trying to organise YMN events in Liverpool, as a fellow committee member.

I wasn't aware that this was even an option until Claire set up the YMN Committee for Liverpool, and we have been trying since then to raise the profile of RSC events in the area. We have met with a certain apathy though, combined with a lack of publicity regarding the events that DO get organised. I know for example that the University Department of Chemistry organises a number of schools events every year; OK, not YMN territory, but these still go unnoticed until the LS annual report. In the meantime, if we were to go off the RSC News upcoming events section, all that takes place in Liverpool are Retired Members Lunches.

We have also encountered problems contacting local YMs. At present we rely largely on the address books of the YMN Committee, and the University and RSC mailing lists. While these allow us to cover a reasonably wide field, a targetted mailing list of Liverpool YMs would be of great use to us. This however has been shot down under the heading of data protection. Any thoughts anyone?

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David Foley

Date Posted: Feb 8, 2011 at 1:27 PM

Sorry for the delayed reply. I agree that RSC HQ should apply a "hands off" approach wherever possible. However there are cases where decrees come down from on high - for example the recent instruction for all local sections to reduce their surpluses to a certain set amount and whatever recommendations come from the member networks working group, And both of these examples are facing howls of protest. Adding one more howl to the cacophony won't make much difference and the benefits of increasing YM activity in every section have been clearly outlined by myself and others (I hope!).

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