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Question about the contribution renewal process

Stéphane KleinStéphane Klein Sat 28 Feb 2026 3:01PMPublicSeen by 105

Hello,

On October 8, 2024, I made a contribution of £36.00 GBP to join the social.coop cooperative.

Time has passed and today (2026-02-28), I just thought about renewing my financial contribution, in the amount of £12.00 GBP.

I am surprised not to have received any message requesting a renewal of my financial contribution. I don't think I received an email, I saw nothing on the https://social.coop interface, and nothing on https://opencollective.com either.

I found and read the Wiki page "Social.coop registration process" but found no documentation regarding "renewal".

I have a few questions:

  • is it normal not to receive a reminder?
  • does the cooperative deliberately let members renew their contribution at their own pace, without any prompting, trusting in their commitment?

Suggestion: what do you think about documenting how the renewal process works on the following pages?

Have a great day,

Stéphane

Eliot Lash

Eliot LashSat 28 Feb 2026 3:17PM

That's interesting, when I registered I signed up for a recurring annual membership. So it just automatically bills me once a year for my selected membership tier. It didn't occur to me you could just sign up with a one-time donation. I think the membership dues are processed on the honor system so nobody is going to kick you out if you stop paying your dues. But if you are worried about forgetting I'd sign up for one of the membership plans that automatically bill you. It might be a good idea to add a note about this to our documentation like you suggested.

Stéphane Klein

Stéphane KleinSat 28 Feb 2026 5:12PM

Following @eliotlash comment:

That's interesting, when I registered I signed up for a recurring annual membership

I checked my transactions on OpenCollective and found that a recurring payment is indeed active and that an automatic charge was made on the anniversary date:

https://opencollective.com/socialcoop/contributions/797022

My mistake: I had completely forgotten that I had signed up for a subscription — rather than made a one-time payment.

Sorry for the noise 😔.

Evan Boehs

Evan BoehsSat 28 Feb 2026 3:37PM

I don’t want to speak on behalf of the FWG, but my impression has been that the coop has, of late, been fortunate enough to have received sufficient cash flow to the extent that we’ve donated thousands of dollars to the projects we depend on, and paid stipends to the folks keeping it running smoothly. That’s not to say you shouldn’t pay yearly dues—all of this has been enabled by such dues—but if an individual finds themselves unable to pay immediately yearly I think the coop will be fine. I personally wouldn’t want to oust someone or even nag them for little reason.

As for not receiving a notification, that hasn’t been my experience. Open collective has sent me reminders to update my payment method so I can be debited, which I actually forgot to do so thanks for the reminder. You may want to check your email settings, or that you’re on the annual tier instead of just making a one time contribution

Stéphane Klein

Stéphane KleinSat 28 Feb 2026 5:15PM

@evanb

… but my impression has been that the coop has, of late, been fortunate enough to have received sufficient cash flow to the extent that we’ve donated thousands of dollars to the projects we depend on, and paid stipends to the folks keeping it running smoothly. That’s not to say you shouldn’t pay yearly dues—all of this has been enabled by such dues …

I completely agree 👍️.