Sponsored Membership
Guidelines for offering Sponsored Membership to odonatists
1. Bylaw 8 (a) (iii) refers to a programme that will enable individuals who may find it difficult to join or to remain in the WDA due to currency or other restrictions to have their membership fully or partially supported by the Association or by its members.
2. Such individuals will generally fulfill either (i) or (ii) AND either (iii) or (iv) of the following criteria:
(i) odonatists of considerable standing, including those whose membership of WDA would benefit the Association or its aims;
(ii) odonatists, recommended by a WDA member, who are engaged in active research or in dragonfly conservation, including students who have been recommended by their faculty;
(iii) odonatists residing in countries where currency restrictions are such that payment of subscriptions is virtually impossible;
(iv) odonatists whose financial circumstances make the normal WDA subscription beyond their reach.
3. Suggestions for possible recipients of sponsored memberships may be made by any WDA member. Proposals should be sent to the Secretary, accompanied by a brief statement of the reasons for the proposal and the electronic and postal address of the recipient.
4. Sponsored membership should be offered only with the unanimous agreement of the Trustees or, at least, with none against the proposal.
5. Individual WDA members may wish to sponsor a particular individual personally. In such cases, the agreement of the Board is unnecessary but the Treasurer must be informed. In all but exceptional circumstances such sponsored membership will be accepted. The full single WDA subscription of the Sponsored Member will be paid by the sponsoring member.
6. The Sponsored Member Fund is at present financed by those members of the Editorial Board who donate their Journal subscription to the Association. It must be remembered that the Fund is not large and that further contributions will always be very welcome.
7. Should a sponsored member’s circumstances improve or change in any way, he/she should inform the Treasurer as soon as possible. As funds are limited, each sponsored member should request renewal of sponsored membership each year, to establish that such membership is still justified.