Why we are asking you to say YES to the RSPB

On Saturday 360 people gave up their day to attend the RSPB’s AGM in central London.  All were RSPB members and most were active volunteers.

From our President to our Chair, Treasurer and our other trustees, to those that run our local groups across the UK or take part in our Phoenix Forum for teenagers, all give up their time and help us grow support to allow the RSPB to have the impact it does.

In total, our charity benefits from the support provided by nearly one and a quarter million members and just under a million hours given free by our volunteers.  These are big numbers and is why we are able to do what we do. 

RSPB Abernethy nature reserve made possible thanks to RSPB members, volunteers and staff (photo by Chris Gomersall, rspb-images.com)

It’s right, therefore, that every year at our AGM we give awards to our most dedicated volunteers as we did on Saturday.

Those of us that are lucky enough to be paid to work for the charity know that we are servants of our amazing members. And our job is to ensure we work together with our volunteers to have the biggest impact for nature.

But, new data protection rules which come into force next year will affect how we stay in touch with our supporters which is why a big theme running through Saturday’s AGM was asking our members and supporters to opt in to hearing from us. 

We’ve included details about how members can remain connected in the latest issue of Nature’s Home magazine which drops on people’s doormats this month. We have set up a webpage – rspb.org.uk/yes – to make it easy for people to tell us how they want to keep in touch on their terms.

The new rules are designed to give people more control over their relationship with charities and business.  This must be right and we want to do whatever we can to keep our supporters connected to us so that together we can continue to do amazing things for nature – from taking part in our campaigns, doing practical conservation work, raising money or even taking part in Big Garden Birdwatch.

We have only until May 2018 to get our existing members and supporters to make their opt-in choices, after which new regulations come into force. If you are one of these supporters and haven’t opted in by May and given your express permission for us to contact you, then we won’t be able to keep in touch directly (other than through our correspondence about your membership and through Nature’s Home).

So, please do say yes to the RSPB so we can keep in touch with you about our work.

And, please do the same for all those other nature conservation charities you might support.  We need to stay together to help save nature.

Three volunteers: from right to left, here are the past (Ian Darling), present (Professor Steve Ormerod) and future (Kevin Cox) Chairs of the RSPB Council of trustees