How The Orwell Society Gave Its Volunteers Total Membership Visibility With Join It

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The Orwell Society, a registered educational charity with members across the UK, North America, Australia and Europe, uses Join It to manage memberships, renewals and payments online. Run entirely by volunteers, the Society replaced an unreliable manual system with Join It to get accurate member records, automated renewal reminders, and complete visibility of who has joined and paid, all from one member database.

At a glance

Who is The Orwell Society?

The Orwell Society is a registered educational charity that exists to create wider interest in the life and work of George Orwell. Founded in 2011, its driving force was Dione Venables, and its founders include Richard Blair, Orwell's son, and Peter Davison, editor of the Complete Works.

The Society is a lively, worldwide community including a full range of members from some of the most distinguished Orwell scholars to Orwell enthusiasts. The Charity Commission recognised The Orwell Society for its Educational purpose. It delivers on that in a number of ways. It funds bursaries and awards, including an annual dystopian writing award for university students, a joint award with the National Union of Journalists for young journalists, an award for schools, and the occasional Peter Davison Award for original Orwell research. It publishes a journal twice a year, runs monthly online "George Talks" that draw members from around the world, which are freely available on their YouTube channel, and organizes events ranging from London walks and a yearly visit to Eton, to trips following Orwell's footsteps in Spain, Morocco and Jura, and a gathering near his birthday at his grave in Sutton Courtenay. Members are often invited to give talks to Schools, and a wide variety of other organisations.

Membership costs £30 a year in the UK and £40 overseas, including both journals. The Society actively encourages young members with an annual cost of £10. Everything is run by volunteers, which shapes every software decision the Society makes: whatever it adopts has to be reliable, simple to run, and low maintenance.

What problem was the Society trying to solve?

Short answer: the Society relied on a manual system that was difficult to properly maintain because it had several elements. Members could join without the team being informed, records could not be trusted, and volunteers spent time on avoidable admin. For a charity that reports to the Charity Commission, unreliable membership and payment records were a genuine risk.

Members were joining without anyone knowing

The most basic failure of the old setup was that it did not tell the team when someone had joined.

"We were getting situations like people were joining, and I wasn't even able to know they had joined." — Quentin Kopp, Chair

That mattered because the Society prides itself on welcoming every new member personally. When a joining goes unnoticed, and the first impression is silence, that is not the impression we want people to have.

"If you join something, and you don't hear anything, that's a terrible impression."

An unreliable, high-maintenance system

The Society had enabled online joining years earlier, which helped it grow from roughly 150 to 500 members. But the system behind it was cumbersome and had not been kept up to date, and it created exactly the kind of gaps that manual setups tend to. When Chris Harrison took on the membership records, the conclusion was that the Society needed a better way of doing things.

Records that had to satisfy the Charity Commission

As a registered charity, the Society reports to the Charity Commission, and those reports depend on records being accurate. A system the team could not fully trust was not just an inconvenience. It undermined the confidence the Society needed in its own numbers.

How did Join It solve it?

Chris Harrison, the Member Secretary, researched the options and recommended Join It, which he reviewed with the Chair and the Treasurer. Join It became the Society's membership platform: one reliable place for joining, renewals, payments, communications and member records

Join It gave the Chair something the old system never could: a single, current view of the whole membership.

"It's just the total visibility of it. I open it up on my screen in the morning. I've got complete knowledge of what's going on." — Quentin Kopp, Chair

For the volunteers who run the day-to-day admin, the change was in how much easier the platform made the work.

"Join It provided an easy-to-use platform that simplified the membership administration process for our volunteers." — Chris Harrison, Member Secretary

The welcome problem was solved outright. Instead of learning about new members late, or not at all, the team now sees them at once.

"I had a new member late last night, so first thing this morning I was able to email them and tell them everything about the society that it would help them to know. I want them to feel a personal connection to enable them to seek my help if required" — Quentin Kopp, Chair

Renewals, previously a manual chore, now run largely on their own.

"Automated reminders have helped make membership renewals more consistent and less time-consuming to manage." — Chris Harrison, Member Secretary

Payments moved to Stripe through Join It, which the Chair rates as a clear improvement on the Society's previous processor.

"The use of Stripe is vastly better than PayPal. Vastly better in ease of use. They don't hang on to your money, they don't take as much of your money. That is a vast improvement." — Quentin Kopp, Chair

Accurate records also changed how the Society handles events. When an event goes out, the team can immediately check the status of the people responding.

"Are they still current members? Have they paid? Which, again, is so basic, but it wasn't possible to do that before." — Quentin Kopp, Chair

The Society currently uses Join It to publish its upcoming events so members can see what is coming in their own accounts. Taking event registration and event payments through Join It is a natural next step the platform already supports.

What results did the Society see?

• New members are visible the moment they join, so the Society can welcome each one personally
• Membership and payment records are accurate enough to underpin the Society's reports to the Charity Commission
• Renewal reminders run automatically, making renewals more consistent
• Members keep their own contact details current through the member portal
• Payments through Stripe are easier to run, with faster access to funds and lower fees
• The platform needs very little ongoing maintenance, which matters for a volunteer team
• Volunteers spend less time on admin and more on promoting George Orwell's legacy and running activities for members

Accurate records also surfaced something the old headline number had been hiding: the true picture of active membership.

"One of the things that you've exposed is that the headline figure isn't the real figure, which is a service in itself." — Quentin Kopp, Chair

Reliable records underpin the Society's confidence in its own reporting.

"What Join It has enabled us to do is, first of all, to ensure we've got accurate records, which underpins our reports to the Charity Commission including that our accounts are sound." — Quentin Kopp, Chair

The move was straightforward, and members took to it.

"The implementation process was smooth, and the platform has required very little ongoing maintenance." — Chris Harrison, Member Secretary

"Members have adapted well to the online system, and the feedback has been positive." — Chris Harrison, Member Secretary

Taken together, the outcome the Managing Director points to is simple.

"The whole thing is just so much easier." — Quentin Kopp, Chair

What this case study tells you about choosing membership software

If you are a volunteer-led charity or society weighing up options, the useful takeaway is not "buy this." It is that a small number of criteria decided the outcome here. They are worth taking into your own shortlist.

For a wider view of the market, Join It's roundups of the best membership management software and the best software for nonprofits compare options side by side, and the guide to society membership software is a good starting point for clubs and societies specifically.

Is Join It the right fit for your organization?

Join It is a strong fit if you are a charity, society, club or association of roughly 100 to a few thousand members, your admins are volunteers or a small team, and your main goals are getting off manual or spreadsheet systems, keeping accurate records, automating renewals, and taking payments online. Plans start under $29 a month, and eligible nonprofits and registered charities qualify for a discount, which keeps it realistic for organizations funding software out of membership dues.

Join It works particularly well for charities and nonprofits, professional associations, arts, theatres and museums and hobby and social clubs.

Frequently asked questions

What membership software do charities and societies use? Charities and societies typically need software that handles online joining, renewals, payments and accurate member records without heavy admin. The Orwell Society, a registered educational charity, uses Join It for exactly this, giving volunteers one reliable place to see who has joined and paid.

Can members join and renew online and update their own details? Yes. Members join and renew through Join It, and the member portal lets them update their own address, email and payment details, so records stay current without staff having to make every change.

Does Join It send automatic renewal reminders? Yes. Join It sends automatic renewal reminders, which the Orwell Society found made renewals more consistent and less time-consuming to manage.

How does Join It handle membership payments? Join It processes recurring payments through Stripe. The Orwell Society's Managing Director described the move to Stripe as a clear improvement in ease of use, speed of access to funds and fees.

Can Join It keep records accurate enough for charity reporting? Join It keeps member and payment records centralized and current, which is what makes accurate reporting straightforward. The Orwell Society uses those records to support its reports to the Charity Commission. Requirements vary, so check your own obligations; Join It gives you the records, not legal advice.

How much does Join It cost? Join It starts under $29 a month, with pricing based on the size of your membership and no setup fees. There is a free trial, and eligible nonprofits and registered charities qualify for a discount.

Is Join It suitable for a volunteer-run organization? Yes. It is one of the most common situations Join It is used in. The Orwell Society runs it with a volunteer team and reports that the platform needs very little ongoing maintenance.

A modern, professional way to manage members

For volunteer-led charities and societies, reducing administrative complexity is what frees people to focus on the mission. Join It gave The Orwell Society accurate records, automated renewals, straightforward payments and complete visibility of its membership, all in a platform simple enough for a volunteer team to run.

"I've seen the benefits first-hand. The system has made membership administration much easier and has given the Society a more professional and efficient way to manage member relationships." — Quentin Kopp, Chair

If your organization wants membership software that keeps records accurate, automates the repetitive work and presents you professionally to members, book a demo with Join It.