In September 2023, we introduced scannable membership cards containing a QR code for all ‘adult’ and ‘adult family’ members. Here’s the lowdown on why we made this change and how we hope it will bring you a richer membership experience.
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There are quite a few reasons. Firstly, we hope it will create a better membership experience for you. For example, it will enable us to let you know, by email, about events and places to visit that you’re most interested in.
It will also help us to create a better experience on our reserves, as we’ll have a more informed understanding of when people visit. We’ll then be able to improve facilities and accessibility accordingly.
The information we collect will also help us to paint a more accurate picture of how visitors impact the reserve itself. This will enable us to improve how we manage the landscape for the precious wildlife living there.
Finally, scannable membership cards also help to prevent memberships being used fraudulently. This is crucial because, as a charity, membership and admissions on our nature reserves are a huge source of our income, and much of the money raised is spent directly on protecting the wildlife and wild spaces you love.
We started phasing in QR codes on membership cards from September 2023. All adult and adult family membership cards will eventually have a QR code.
Cards for Youth members won’t have QR codes due to data protection laws.
Yes, new Life Members will receive a membership card, containing a QR code, in their welcome pack. Plans to roll out membership cards with QR codes to existing Life Members are still in development but new cards can be requested by calling 01767 693680 or emailing: membership@rspb.org.uk.
Our valued Life Members who don’t have a QR code yet should continue to display their membership cards, as usual, when parking at RSPB reserves where parking charges apply.
When you visit a reserve, your card will need to be scanned to gain entry or to secure a parking spot without paying an additional fee.
We’ve also introduced the scanning functionality to car parking payment machines at some of our reserves.
The QR code contains only three bits of information:
Your supporter number
Your membership number
The membership card’s expiry date
There’s no personal information held within the code. When you visit a nature reserve where cards can be scanned, the only information collected will be your supporter number and the time and date of your visit. This will be stored on a secure central database managed by the RSPB.
No. Scannable membership cards are now the norm for many membership organisations, including other conservation charities. We believe the benefits listed above are fantastic reasons for us to introduce the QR code to our adult and family membership cards.
Don’t worry, there’s no personal information on the card. If you lose it, just call us to ask for a new one on 01767 693680 or email: membership@rspb.org.uk.
