Why Is BuddyHub Shifting to a Membership Model? And How Might This Affect You.
Changes are afoot at BuddyHub, the intergenerational friendship club! Let’s take a few minutes to explore them.
10 min read
When we established BuddyHub in 2014, our aim was to address loneliness and isolation amongst older people whose health or life situation was getting in the way of their social life.
We knew we were developing a service better designed to tackle this growing societal problem than traditional befriending services. Our innovation had several strands:
– Creating a supportive real world social group of up to four people around an older person where visits are alternated or shared. This replaces traditional befriending between one older person and a single volunteer, which is often telephone based.
– A flexible model where each friendship pair chooses when and where to meet and what they do, whether at home or outside. This enables busy people to get involved and older people to work around the ups and downs of any health challenges. As opposed to traditional befriending models which often assume a set weekly hour at an older person’s home.
– Business model innovation: empowering older people as members who pay for a personalised service to match them with local friends they will click with based on shared interests.
The goal was a pathway to financial sustainability for our social enterprise. Avoiding the operational challenges faced by charities who are reliant on scarce grant funding which limits their growth and restricts their reach.
Later on, we realised we were still rooted in the standard charity paradigm of an older person/younger volunteer model. Saying to older people we would be matching them with local volunteers had always felt a bit awkward because of the two-way nature of friendships in real life. Having one party to the friendship considered a volunteer also made it sound transactional with one side giving and the other side taking. And reinforced the prevailing, ageist narratives about ‘old people’ as passive recipients of external help.
The pandemic brought into sharp relief the social pressures people face in today’s uncertain, ever-changing world. And has prompted many younger people to look at ways of building up their friendship circles so as not to experience loneliness and social isolation. Not least as evidence builds of the importance of having robust social networks that we can fall back on when we experience challenging episodes in life.
The experience of creating hundreds of friendship matches has taught us how much the usually younger people we matched with our older members were benefiting from these sometimes life-changing friendships. That helped them cope with the uncertainties of life whilst often living far from home and family. And provided an opportunity to meet people outside their often narrow social bubbles and gain new perspectives.
Without change, there is no innovation
Last year, we had a light bulb moment! The time had come to move away from the artificial separation in Friendship Wheels between usually older, core members and their ‘volunteer’ Buddies to create a universal model that places everyone on an equal footing as a member, with equal rights and equal responsibilities.
The traditional charitable model clearly works well in a variety of settings. But, as a social enterprise, our mission has always been to establish something completely new. Which empowered people by giving them the opportunity to take control of their lives.
Having said this, we also understand that many of our Buddies identify strongly as volunteers (particularly as many found us via volunteer platforms). Precisely because volunteering offers opportunities to provide a sense of purpose, often missing in today’s society, as well as develop new skills and have fun. So, we’re pleased that our new membership model retains the often transformative benefits that younger people can expect to experience by becoming a member of BuddyHub, including:
– The company of someone from an older generation, and the different perspectives offered, often lacking because family members live far away or have passed away.
– The chance to engage at a deeper level with your local community.
– The chance to engage at a deeper level with your local community.
– The scope to make new friends: improving life satisfaction and well-being at a personal level and solving any personal feelings of loneliness.
– The opportunity to give expression to your altruism by taking social action and making a difference in your community.
We firmly believe this holistic approach will:
– Empower all members by giving them the chance to participate in our services on an equal footing (as seen in the co-development of our new Friendship Clubs with members).
– Provide an opportunity to share costs more fairly across the whole membership.
– Offer a simpler membership model which will underpin BuddyHub’s ongoing growth, development and path to financial sustainability.
We firmly believe this holistic approach will:
– Empower all members by giving them the chance to participate in our services on an equal footing (as seen in the co-development of our new Friendship Clubs with members).
– Provide an opportunity to share costs more fairly across the whole membership.
– Offer a simpler membership model which will underpin BuddyHub’s ongoing growth, development and path to financial sustainability.
What does this mean for you?
Everyone who joins BuddyHub as a member going forward will be on the new subscription model of the same monthly membership fee plus a joining fee, regardless of age, as we move from an original subscription scheme where older members pay a monthly fee and younger Buddies pay nothing.
Existing Buddies are being offered a free trial rate during Spring giving them the chance to experience our new in-development Clubs service. The monthly rate will then be £15 or the same as any discounted rate available to new members on the website. At the same time, we will start a campaign to attract Community Sponsors to fund free memberships for older people in financial deprivation.
We recognise some Buddies, who joined under our original subscription model, will not welcome the shift but we need to be honest and direct with members. And we hope the rationale for the change is clear:
– It takes considerable work, mainly behind the scenes, for Team BuddyHub to set up and manage new friendship opportunities which benefit everyone in the community.
– It establishes a fairer, more transparent mechanism for accessing BuddyHub benefits and reflects the ‘ability to pay’ of younger members, making a direct link between their individual financial contribution and our delivery of an innovative friendship service.
– Nothing is truly free, and if it seems free then it usually means that someone else is footing the bill. So, whether your involvement is driven by altruism or the desire for community and friendship, or a mix of both, the cost to us of providing the benefits of membership needs to be covered.
– Small social enterprises like us face a constant struggle to find sufficient funds to cover operational costs and pay their staff fairly.
– Throughout the pandemic many social organisations failed due to increased costs and loss of income. The current economic environment is exacerbating this. And we are hearing of many charities and other social enterprises closing down because they cannot keep going. We don’t want to share their fate!
The crucial point is that our new subscription model is designed to provide us with a sustainable business model over the long term. This will allow us to grow the organisation, attract and pay our staff fairly, expand our reach and provide our services to a much wider group of people.
It also sits well with our status as a Community Interest Company (CIC), meaning we are here to benefit the public. The majority of any profits we make (currently none!) are invested back into the business to maintain our services and fund expansion plans.
Finding personal fulfilment
Whilst making these changes, our core values remain the same. Friendship, connecting to others, having fun, respect and compassion drive everything that we do. Our offer hasn’t changed; it’s been improved with the new Clubs service.
Personal fulfilment remains at the heart of BuddyHub’s social purpose so it’s been interesting to see the results of some research we undertook recently with members. This clearly shows many of you are actively seeking greater meaning in your lives. Looking to have deeper connections with people. And hoping to develop friendships in new arenas that are linked to a sense of purpose.
Becoming a member of BuddyHub is an investment in your own well-being as well as that of others.
What happens next
We’re excited by the new friendship opportunities we’re creating.
If you’re already a member, we hope you’re reaping the rewards and are very happy to talk to you about any questions you might have.
If you’re not a member, come and join us and find out how BuddyHub can benefit you!