The New SCIRA Database and Membership Renewal

Many of you were very frustrated that our former membership database, Clubspot, did not allow for boat look up alongside membership.  The SCIRA board listened and agreed that this needed to change and after consulting with Clubspot, they were unable to offer the additions we needed. Since last November a customised new membership database has been designed and built to match our needs. We would like to apologise for the delay. Unfortunately, both the design and implementation of the new system has taken much longer than expected but as they say – all good things come to those that wait! 

To enable the Snipe Class to remain a strong class association, it is essential that all countries use the new database to enable every member and boat to be located and verified with ease. With over 100+ major Snipe Class regattas scheduled every year throughout the world, including open, masters, youth and women’s events, it is extremely important that information can be found in one place. SCIRA is the overall organiser of the Class and a central database is key for membership.

There are three ways that National secretaries can ask their members to join / re-join SCIRA:

1. An individual can pay their dues directly to SCIRA using the following link https://members.snipe.org/  

2. At present there are seven countries who prefer to collect their own country dues at the same time as international dues. The new database allows members from these countries to pay for both in one simple transaction.  The payment received goes to both Snipe International (Jr $10, Member $15, Boat $10) and the remainder to the country’s own bank account. The individual country dues are automatically transferred and are paid in their own currency; nothing is lost with exchange rates for that country.  

It is a very easy process and just requires a Stripe account to be set up. Our IT person will guide the NS through the whole process of setting up the Stripe account step by step so that the two bank accounts can be linked and enable the payments to be made. Once a member has paid, an automated email will be sent to the NS notifying them of the payment.

This method saves an enormous amount of time for both National Secretaries and the SCIRA office and we would really encourage all National Secretaries, who want to collect country dues, to use this process going forward.

3. A few countries are unable to set up Stripe accounts and these countries may prefer to collect their SCIRA country plus Snipe International dues themselves and add them to the database manually. The SCIRA office in the USA will then send a quarterly invoice to the National Secretary. Payment is made by bank transfer or credit card with additional exchange rate and transaction fees. This method is more costly and more time consuming for all.

We would like to thank all National Secretaries and members for their patience while the new database and membership system has been created and implemented. 

SCIRA is what it is today because of the support of its members. Thank you for your continued support.

Sue Roberts

SCIRA Treasurer