Jonathan Godfrey, National President

The world around us is changing—how blind people connect, advocate, and organise is changing—and Blind Citizens NZ must decide whether to adapt boldly or drift quietly. I’m hoping that some of what I write below is therefore seen by some people as somewhat provocative. I think it needs to be, because Blind Citizens NZ needs everyone reading this column to ask what the future of a membership organisation of blind people speaking for ourselves will look like in the future. You will get your chance to respond when we formulate a new Strategic Plan in the first half of 2026.

It seems to me that if we don’t like what the status quo offers, we must find ways to change it. I’m not talking about minor tweaks here and there; I mean doing things that help redirect effort, to find a reset button that sets us up for a long and proud future.

I share the following personal story not to compare people to sheep, but to illustrate how sometimes the systems we build with care still need radical reshaping to meet our future needs. I signalled the need for change in my address to the AGM this year. I didn’t mention in that speech what was happening for me behind the scenes to make me want to talk about change. Shearing sheep is hard work. While Amy and I have proven we can do it, we’ve also worked out we don’t want to be doing it.

We’d invested a lot of time and energy into building a small flock of sheep that are well-suited to our constraints. We do not want to spend the rest of our lives rounding up sheep. We want them to come to us because they enjoy us as much as we enjoy them. Our flock definitely needed some new blood if we were to transform it into the flock we want in five years. We started a strategic direction which would see us gradually work towards a flock that has less shearing and less dagging. What we learned, though, is that we needed to make more change than we first thought, and some ruthless decisions had to be faced. This experience made me reflect on Blind Citizens NZ too. What will our ‘flock’ look like in five years? And what must we change now to make that possible?

I want to use the three years given to me by way of re-election to promote change without straying from our fundamentals. I believe the reasons I found Blind Citizens NZ an attractive proposition for my time and energy are as true today as they were when I paid my life membership, but membership only formalises commitment. It is engagement that creates momentum. Without momentum, even the best structures or organisations will fail.

I keep hearing people say that all membership organisations are in trouble. It isn’t that people don’t value the existence of organisations like ours, but that people just don’t pay membership fees to as many organisations as we used to.

As it happens, I pay more memberships today than I’ve ever done before, but only to organisations that I see having benefits to my future. I am also guilty of freeloading off the good work of organisations I don’t actively join or actively engage with.

Hundreds of people know that Blind Citizens NZ exists, but for some reason, they choose not to engage with our work, either at a local level or with issues we face at a national or even international level. Some of those people say they don’t want to join an advocacy organisation. That’s okay, but many of them also join with our members to discuss issues they face in life. They value the connections and benefit from the work done by our Branches, Networks, and yes, our National Office. They follow our Facebook page; they read this magazine. They participate in email lists, which we moderate. I observe other organisations uplift content we create, or that we share with our members, and pass that on to people who are not our members.

This is why I continue to claim that Blind Citizens NZ is actually benefitting many more people than our membership database suggests we do. That wider community represents a silent majority, though. We assume they’re content with what we do and say, but I’d actually like to meet more of them and know why they aren’t more actively engaged with our movement.

I seriously doubt the need for blind people to voice the needs of the wider blindness community will magically disappear any time soon. There will be opportunities for a new generation of leaders to emerge in the coming decade, and I have every intention of those leaders inheriting an organisation that is well placed to do what we have done well for eight decades thus far. I don’t pretend to know who will stand up above others, but I have met plenty of people who remind me of my former self; people who are doing OK in life, but want things to be better for themselves and other blind people around them.

I know what ongoing value Blind Citizens NZ could play for my future, but I need to be sure that once I end my time as President, the organisation will carry on delivering for blind people. That poses some challenges related to succession planning, but for the purpose of this column, let’s assume there are people willing to commit to being Board Members and that they are as committed to our advocacy agenda as others have demonstrated in the past.

To lead, though, requires followers. In the case of a membership organisation, that means having members who contribute to discussions, either locally, online, or at specially organised events away from home. The more people we have contributing to our collective movement, the stronger our organisation will be.

This is why I believe the most critical issue facing us today is to make sure that all blind, deafblind, low vision and vision-impaired people who want to participate in our discussions are getting the chance to do so, and maybe I don’t care enough that they aren’t financially committed. Even social media influencers (individuals who share information that is valued by hundreds to thousands of other people) need a following. Their success is not accidental. It is earned, but their following doesn’t pay a subscription either.

I suggest that our Branches are not recovering. Networks work in some places but not others. We need more sustainable structures. The question for us is not how to revive the past, but how to structure ourselves for the future we actually live in.

In the 20th century, we had 15 branches that held regular face-to-face meetings. We didn’t need any other structures because the Branches were doing well for our people. By the end of the 20th century, though, our membership was already falling, and the future of many Branches was on the line. Today we have just six Branches, and if we are honest, none of them is as strong as they were 20 years ago. It is the Branches which I liken to my sheep. Some are bigger than others, and some are louder.

Networks are working in some places (for example, Taranaki and in my area, Manawatu and Districts).

We also have functioning Special Interest Networks for guide dog handlers and people interested in Braille. One of the best outcomes from our AGM and Conference in October was the group of women who collectively decided that they’d like to see a women’s network formed. The Otago network returned to Branch status after years of effort to keep the movement alive in the years following the demise of the Branch there. At this point, Otago is the only Geographical Network to Branch success story. Unfortunately, most of the Branches that became networks have continued to decline, and members living in those areas are now without coordinated activities. The centres that have had a Branch in the past, which now have no Branch or Network, form a disappointingly long list: Waikato, Rotorua, Gisborne, Napier, Hastings, Nelson, and Canterbury. That’s a lot of blind, deafblind, low vision and vision-impaired people not getting the benefits of community, which many longstanding members sought when we came to Blind Citizens NZ and continue to enjoy today.

It is clear to me that the Branch model is only sustainable in a small number of places, but that Networks aren’t necessarily a perfect solution. Some Branches continue to truck along, but even the Branch with the highest number of members has a very low proportion of the potential membership in their area. Even the strongest of our Branches cannot afford to sit back and relax. They must find new members before they too dwindle. Networks are like the second breed of sheep we tried on the farm. They haven’t been uniformly successful.

So, where are the people who might be our future members? What would bring them to our events and activities? Are we doing enough to maximise our outreach and make sure we welcome all comers? Are we still too hung up on people coming to physical spaces? After all, our Special Interest Networks don’t just survive, they thrive, and do so primarily online. I’m not sure, though, if a virtual organisation is what many of us want. I know my kids play online farming games, but I would find that unsatisfying to say the least. Maybe, though, I need to look further afield (okay, bad pun) for other types of sheep. Maybe Blind Citizens NZ needs something different to Branches and Networks, which create productive spaces for blind people to share our aspirations and lived experiences.

About half of the paid-up membership Blind Citizens NZ has today are Members-for-Life. These people decided that a large lump sum payment was justified because Blind Citizens NZ offered a value proposition, and they had enough disposable income to make that investment. I do accept that we also have members who cannot afford that lump sum payment but are just as committed to the longevity of our organisation as any life member. They make sure they pay what they can afford, when they can afford it. The number of Members-for-Life has remained relatively constant over the last 20 years or so. It is in decline, but nowhere near as much decline as the number of people who pay an annual subscription.

Is our future in trying to continue to seek annual subscriptions? We don’t see each other as much in a face-to-face setting as was common in the 20th century, and many people just don’t carry the cash that used to change hands at Branch meetings. The ability to pay subscriptions by way of a cheque is a thing of the past, and not everyone in our community is able to use online banking with confidence.

A subscription does reassure us that a person is committed to the kaupapa of the organisation. In future, we need to check in with all Members-for-Life to be sure that they continue to support our work. Finding the best way to do so to meet the new legal requirements must be found, and we must remember that not all of our existing members are digital citizens.

Some people might work out that getting a person’s subscription actually creates costs to the organisation. If a person receives this Focus magazine in print, Braille, or audio, the cost of producing and posting the four issues per annum exhausts the annual subscription people pay. In effect, a person who pays a subscription and lives in a Branch area gets this magazine for free because their subscription goes to that branch. They are supposed to get Branch newsletters to keep them informed and included.

Geographical Networks also send out newsletters.

This process may well be part of the list of things people think or have found too onerous and therefore dissuades them from more active involvement in a Branch Committee or taking a Network Coordination role.

I challenge every Branch and Network to think about what makes them sustainable, and how much we are each doing to make sure our Branch or Network is remaining sustainable. I invite every one of you, whether you are a paid-up member or just an interested bystander, to tell us what you want for the future of Blind Citizens NZ. What would make you more engaged, active, or interested in what we’re doing for each other as a community? Please do provide feedback. Details on how and when are elsewhere in this issue.

Blind Citizens NZ has been a powerful voice for eight decades—not because we stayed the same, but because we adapted with purpose. Obviously, I believe we must change our organisation, and that we must get on with this job now. Change cannot be a single event; it must be a sustained process, and every former, current and future member can play a part in helping shape what Blind Citizens NZ will be in 20 years’ time when we turn 100. Will you be there? I hope so.

In the meantime, I hope your summer finds you in places you want to be, with people whose company you enjoy, and the kinds of pleasures that get you ready for an exciting 2026.

For me, summer means deciding which sheep to back as the winners and which will be replaced. I’ll continue to enjoy my time on the farm, getting plenty of fresh air and exercise. I expect many of you are hoping for a more relaxing summer. All the best.