NEWS | SURVEY RESULTS CHANGE IN PROGRESS We outline the results of the NSRA Organisational Change survey and how the NSRA intends to listen and react to them

s many of you will have As you will see from some of the many of you as possible to get involved already seen, the first phase of data discussed below, the recent survey where you can, so please keep an A Organisational Change was has identified the many different types eye out for the details of these on our launched on 11 August 2020 when the of shooter that make up the modern website and social media. This is your NSRA Organisational Change – Phase shooting community. This is vital chance to mould the NSRA into the 1 survey was circulated on the NSRA information that is helping the NSRA national governing body you want it to website and social media. A follow better understand the wants and needs be, whilst also having the opportunity up email was circulated on 12 August of each of the different disciplines and to win a Peli/Peli Storm case of your 2020 and the survey then closed at types of shooter that we aim to support. choice (up to the value of £500). end of the August Bank Holiday. First The survey was designed to understand This is the time for change, and the and foremost, the NSRA Board of everyone’s requirements, including Board and NSRA staff are working Trustees (the Board) would like to thank those who are not NSRA members, hard towards this goal. We are everyone who took the time to complete so that we can make membership striving to transform and modernise the the survey. There were almost 4000 something that every shooter values, Association so that it is fit for purpose, responses, which is a fantastic level and consequently increase the NSRA’s and well-positioned to support the of engagement and highlights that the resources to invest in improving our shooters of today and tomorrow. This shooting community, as a whole, are service to all of you. is by no means an easy task, and as eager to help the NSRA improve. As has been previously stated in you can imagine, COVID-19 has only communication on the subject of added to the challenge. INTRODUCTION Organisational Change, ‘everything The Board have met, virtually, Throughout the Association’s 119- [is] on the table’. With this in mind, nearly every two weeks to discuss and year history the shooting community we took the decision to approach prioritise activities, which is helping has always been central to the work this survey with a blank canvas. As a to ensure the Association are able to the NSRA does. We hope this recent result, the information gained from the navigate this crisis. We should take survey is evidence of our determination responses is helping the NSRA sketch this opportunity to thank all the NSRA to work with you, the shooter, to out the ‘agenda for change’. This is, staff and volunteers who have been ensure that we can continue in our however, just the very first stage, we extremely flexible during this period, efforts to develop, support and aim to build upon these foundations and have been working tirelessly to actively encourage through further consultation. The help facilitate a safe return to shooting, across the . It is next steps, which will take the form wherever and whenever possible. important that everyone who takes of more specific surveys and virtual Despite the pandemic heavily part in this great sport that we all focus groups, are going to be very skewing the workload, this has not love is supported by a passionate important. We are giving it all of our hampered our efforts to modernise. and dedicated organisation for many effort, but in order for the NSRA to be The competitions department have more years to come. the organisation you want and need it been working hard to implement the The Board recognises that the to be, we are going to need your help first stage of our move to an online shooting community has become much and support. We would encourage as competitions portal, and as you will see more diverse in many ways over the last 20 years. Regrettably, the NSRA has been rather slow to embrace such “It is important that everyone who changes and this has understandably led some members of the community to view the Association as out of touch. takes part in this great sport that we all Therefore, it is crucial that we take steps to rectify this, and it is our mission love is supported by a passionate and to work with the shooting community to make sure we take the right steps. dedicated organisation”

AUTUMN 2020 ON TARGET 11 NEWS | SURVEY RESULTS

in this edition of On Target, we have been working with GoMembership to develop an online membership platform. This is just the tip of the iceberg, there will be many more developments to follow that will enable the NSRA to serve shooters more efficiently and effectively. The responses from the survey will be instrumental in helping the NSRA to guide and prioritise our investment in future projects. Some examples include, but are not limited to: • Far greater collaboration and engagement with British Shooting, particularly with regards to coaching Figure 1: Representation of the breakdown of the survey respondents by age, gender and location. and supporting up and coming talent • Upgrading the targets at the Lord Roberts Centre survey, well this was done to align with that most are very active participants. • Improving and upgrading the Sport /UK Sport ages that are Shooting is definitely a sport which is facilities and ranges at the West used in funding applications so that conducive to a long career as more Midlands Regional Shooting when we have the results of the Club than 55% of respondents indicated that Centre (Aldersley) Survey we can assess how many clubs they had been shooting for more than • Improving the National Meetings could be eligible for funding. The aim 20 years. 13% said they have been and competitions in general will be for the NSRA to better support shooting between two to five years, The survey has also given us food club grant applications in the future. 12% of respondents stated they have for thought, and we will be discussing *The age breakdown has been been shooting for 10 to 20 years, in depth how to address some key combined into broader ranges than another 12% have been shooting for development areas that have been those used in the survey, this has five to 10 years and roughly 8% of identified, such as how to provide more been done to aid visualisation, a full respondents have been shooting for educational and outreach opportunities breakdown as per the ranges used in less than two years. to start to improve the PR of shooting the survey will be made available on We wanted to ascertain how many sports. Furthermore, the survey has the NSRA website at a later date. shooters will likely be heading to highlighted that there is an increasing Shooting is one of the most inclusive university in the next 12 to 18 months. need to focus on improving our sports, which is reinforced by the Approximately 4% of respondents communications and online facilities. fact that around 11% of respondents indicated that they were, and almost This is something we will discuss further indicated that they were a person with half said that their chosen university during focus groups, so we are fully a disability. Sport England’s study had a shooting club. Hopefully the able to understand how best to deliver Spotlight on older adults and their other 50% will be able to join a local a service that aligns with the needs of relationship with sport and physical club to continue in the sport. Don’t the shooting community of today. activity 2016-2017 stated that “we forget that the NSRA club finder can have an ageing population – the help identify local clubs. Also, if you’re SURVEY RESULTS number of people 60 or over is due reading this and your club is not on the Who completed the survey you may to pass the 20 million mark by 2030 club finder, please consider asking the ask? Was it only the current members according to the Office for National Secretary to file a request. of the NSRA? Well, thankfully this was Statistics. We know that as you get Most respondents are members of at not the case. We believe that the results older you’re far more likely to become least one club: One (65%), two (20%), indicate we have a representative inactive. Our research shows that three (4%). 10% of respondents are sample of the wider community since 42% of people aged 55 and over are currently not a member of an NSRA 1601 NSRA Members, 479 former inactive compared to 29% of the adult affiliated club and less than 1% are NSRA Members and 1716 other population”. It is clear from the age members of four or more clubs. 96% of shooters who stated they were not data shown in Figure 1 that shooting respondents indicated that they were currently members nor had ever been is a sport that is accessible to many full members of those clubs. 50% of a member of the NSRA answered the within the older population. This data respondents said they were members of survey. What did this population look is very encouraging and shows that an NRA affiliated club and interestingly like? Figure 1, pictured above, shows shooting is a great way to keep people nearly 12% (463) did not know if the breakdown by age*, gender and active in sport at every stage of their their club was affiliated to the NRA, location. You may remember some life. We found that 74% of respondents compared to 2% who did not know if rather strange age ranges used in the shoot at least once a week, highlighting their club was affiliated to the NSRA.

12 ON TARGET SUMMER 2020 As mentioned earlier, the NSRA will be working to improve our “We need to explore what changes are competitions, which we hope will be very appealing to the 68% of necessary so that we can better serve respondents who indicated that they are competitive shooters. We asked what level of competition the diverse shooting community” was of interest (multiple responses were allowed) and Table 1 pictured survey. This is a generic breakdown, with major UK retailers, such as on page 14, shows a considerable and a more detailed view for each Tesco, could in essence pay for your portion of respondents are ambitious specific discipline will be made annual membership. This is something shooters. The NSRA are determined available on the NSRA website at that could be available once our to help facilitate all levels of shooting, a later date. online membership portal is up and from grass roots through to the elite running. However, we may have to who represent their country on the CONCLUSIONS revisit this in the future consultations world stage. We believe that there are around we plan to run over the next year or We were hopeful that this survey 37,000 individuals who are members so. On a positive note, over 40% of would generate responses from of NSRA affiliated clubs, so to have survey respondents thought that the as many disciplines as possible. the survey completed by nearly ability to manage their membership Amazingly, 42 different disciplines 10% of that community is a good online was important, which has have been represented in the achievement and with nearly 50% validated our earlier decision to focus responses. It is evident from the data of the current NSRA membership our efforts on delivering this in time in Figure 2, pictured below, that this answering the questionnaire it will for 2021 renewals. survey is very much representative of enable us to make better informed The NSRA needs to explore what the diverse shooting community that decisions moving forward. There will changes are necessary so that exists today. As can be seen from be other opportunities to contribute, we can better serve the diverse Table 2, pictured on page 14, there since there will undoubtedly be other shooting community that exists in are some disciplines which prove questions that arise once this survey 2020. We will continue to remain more popular with older shooters than is fully analysed, which with over committed to supporting Smallbore younger shooters, and vice versa. 300,000 data points is going to Prone shooting, but we aim to We have found this information to be take some time. equally support the myriad other very interesting, it will be useful in We were surprised that only 10% disciplines within our remit, such as helping the NSRA to tailor the services of respondents viewed the possible the Benchrest, Hunter Field Target, and support that we offer to all of the introduction of a loyalty scheme being Lightweight Sport Rifle and the ISSF/ disciplines within in our remit. part of NSRA membership as very Olympic disciplines (10m Air Rifle/ Figure 2 shows a graph of the important or extremely important. & 3P 50m Rifle and so on). number of respondents for each of the Perhaps we did not explain this very In this respect the NSRA is different disciplines represented in the NSRA well. The idea behind this scheme is from the NRA who primarily deal with Organisational Change – Phase 1 that discounts on everyday shopping non-Olympic/non-ISSF disciplines, or British Shooting who deal solely with ISSF Olympic disciplines and elite shooting. The NSRA provides the structure (coaching, rules, competitions) for grassroots shooting that feeds into the Home Countries organisations and British Shooting. The recent announcement of the collaboration between the NSRA and British Shooting is evidence that the NSRA is working towards the common good. We recognise that we need to engage far and wide and move away from the Bisleycentric criticism that we hear on occasions. We do however need to be based somewhere, and we feel that Bisley, the historic home of shooting in the UK, is a Figure 2: Respondents torder by their preferred disciplines and Association membership status. fitting location for our headquarters.

SUMMER 2020 ON TARGET 13 NEWS | SURVEY RESULTS

GOMEMBERSHIP THE FUTURE’S DIGITAL

The NSRA has taken a far reaching strategic decision to form a partnership with GoMembership (www.gomembership.co.uk ) to develop an online membership system Table 1: Respondents that take part in or aspire to take part in competitive shooting activity. which will deliver a much improved service to our clubs and individual members, as well as a streamlined Although, the responses from the a few smart modifications it could and efficient administration platform at survey have encouraged us to spread become the gold standard. This is at all levels. Through the NSRA website, our wings and we will be exploring a time when BASC has removed its members will be able to easily access the potential of developing more “firearms licensing legal expenses their Membership portal to join or regional events over the next few years. insurance” from their membership renew their membership, manage their All shooters are aware of the package (BASC website 1 July personal data, make online payments importance of protecting their 2020). It is important to note that via direct debit or credit/debit card, ability to access to the sport. This this is still included in the NSRA maintain records of qualifications protection is often achieved via insurance package and protects and credentials, as well as book onto political representation, something those members with an FAC and/or NSRA courses, events and much more. which we all value, irrespective of the shotgun licence. A key component of this system discipline we shoot. The NSRA need The NSRA is listening and we for the NSRA will be the course and to communicate better and show the look forward to working with the event management software. This wider community that we are battling on 900+ people who have indicated will enable individual members to many fronts, with legislation covering they would like to be involved in enter competitions online, access Section 11/4 as well as the potential the further consultations that we all the information they require and restrictions pertaining to lead in plan to run over the next 12 months update records as and when needed. ammunition. We also need to be clearer or so. Once again, we would like A range of customised benefits about the comprehensive insurance to say a huge thank you to everyone will also be available to Club and package that is included with NSRA who took the time and effort to County Association Secretaries. There membership, and demonstrate that with respond to this survey. will be a gradual transition and implementation process over the next twelve months to ensure the change in system is carried out carefully and smoothly. This will present us with enough time and opportunity to provide you with any support you require through the changeover and to ensure you are able to enjoy all the benefits that will be available. We hope you will welcome the changes we are going to introduce, and can assure you we intend to illustrate how our new way of working will be real progress for us all. Many of you have commented in the past about why and how we need to modernise, so hopefully this announcement will come as welcome news. If you are Club Secretary and would like to involved in the implementation process at an early stage, possibly on a FREE TRIAL basis, please email [email protected] Table 2: Detailed breakdown of the age ranges that shoot each of the disciplines represented in the ‘NSRA Organisational Change – Phase 1’ survey responses.

14 ON TARGET SUMMER 2020