January 2024 – Strategic priorities update
RSGB strategic priorities – update from the Board Chair and President
As previously announced, the RSGB Board has chosen four strategic priorities to focus on until the 2024 AGM.
These are: growth of amateur radio; membership of the RSGB; spectrum and licensing; and ensuring the continued financial stability of the Society.
Growth
Workshops
To develop our strategic plans, we will hold several workshops with a small targeted cross-section of the Board, staff, volunteers and the wider membership. The first one of these will focus on the growth of amateur radio, which we expect to hold early in 2024.
SWL awards
At its recent meeting, the Board approved a proposal from RSGB Awards Manager, Lindsay Pennell, G8PMA to introduce SWL awards. This is a step towards recognising, once again, that listening to radio transmissions is an entry point to amateur radio. This supports the growth strategic priority.
Youth outreach
Director, Ben Lloyd, GW4BML proposed the creation of additional youth representative roles, to support new and existing activities aimed at younger audiences. The Board readily accepted his proposal as an activity that contributes to the growth of amateur radio. The Board also welcomed the initiative of the Radio Communications Foundation (RCF) to fund 60 Foundation exams for young people in 2024, removing a barrier to taking the exam for some candidates.
Finance
Budget
The Board is spending much time working on the RSGB budget for 2024, an important component of steering the Society back to a small funding surplus. We will report more on this in due course. One of the most significant costs is travel and meetings. To that end, we are proposing that the 2024 AGM will be an online event. However, we recognise that members miss the opportunity to interact with the Board during the meeting and so we are investigating suitable conferencing technologies to allow spoken interaction.
Spectrum and licensing
Events funding
Finally, we must note that the RSGB is funding Spectrum Manager, Murray Niman, G6JYB to attend the ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23) in Dubai to lobby for our interests in this crucial international treaty meeting. Murray is providing updates via the WRC-23 blog
We thank Murray for volunteering so much of his annual leave to attend this conference in addition to the recent IARU regional meeting. These activities support our spectrum and licensing strategic priority.
RSGB Board Chair Stewart Bryant, G3YSX
RSGB President John McCullagh, GI4BWM
- You can also find this update in the January 2024 RadCom
Category: RSGB Notices, RSGB Strategic Priorities
