Our commercial activities provide funding for our campaigning activities and must align with the vision and mission of CAMRA. The Commercial Division develops and executes initiatives and communications in support of those.

The vision and mission of CAMRA are outlined here.

All commercial activities must be assessed on their alignment with the CAMRA vision and mission. If they do not align, they must be modified to fit, not go ahead or be stopped.

If in doubt, please consult the Commercial Division at the CAMRA Office.

The Commercial Director has overall responsibility for commercial policies and procedures. Support is provided by the Commercial Committee and the following Advisory Groups, and any others as convened by the Committee from time to time:

Publishing

More information is here.

All CAMRA brand and marketing communications (all print, website, social media and other digital content) must be developed in line with our Brand Guidelines.

The Good Beer Guide relies on a data set collated by branches on an annual basis to identify, in our view, the top 4500 pubs in the UK. Showcasing this data will be done in two key ways; print and digital access through our website.

The printed Good Beer Guide (GBG) will be published annually by CAMRA with a total of 4,500 entries. The following policies will apply:

• Any change to the regional and or county allocation of GBG entries will be determined in full consultation with Regional Directors based on the total number of pubs in each county and application of a nationally agreed weighting.

• An objective system is to be used for branch allocation of entries in the GBG, in full consultation with branches, based on the total number of pubs in each branch area with various weighting factors.

• The selection criteria for entry in the GBG should be clearly stated in the publication. The main criterion shall be that the pub or club serves live beer of good quality at all times.

• Branches should use all beer scores submitted via the National Beer Scoring Scheme (NBSS) to assist in selecting pubs.

• Following publication, branches have the right to withdraw pubs and clubs which do not maintain the standards which gained them their entry, or where a change of ownership or personnel raises reasonable doubt that those standards will not be maintained.

• Branches may include outlets that are not pubs.

• GBG must adhere to the sponsorship and advertising policies (see Section five of this document).

The digital aspect of the Guide will be reflected in the search function of the CAMRA website pub selection.

Beer tasting notes, themed selections and additional content will be available via the website access.

CAMRA Trading is the commercial selling arm of CAMRA. CAMRA Books is a recognised publishing house, and in line with other publishers facilitates/supports authors in publishing books.

The following policies apply:

• CAMRA Books must adhere to communications policies and sponsorship, and advertising policies.

• CAMRA Books will not publish content which could damage CAMRA’s reputation.

• CAMRA Books will seek to recognise the different voices in the industry and facilitate publishing books that are of interest to consumers who have an interest in beer, cider, perry and pubs.

• Supported by the staff team and working group, the Commercial Committee will review proposals before any financial commitment is made.

• No books will be published which are not projected to make a surplus within two years of the publication date.

• All branches will be given the opportunity to purchase books at a discounted price.

• Members must be offered a minimum discount of £2 off the RRP on any book that is published by CAMRA centrally.

• CAMRA will not seek to profiteer from the sale of products.

Sponsorship and advertising refers to opportunities that CAMRA has so it can raise business to business revenue and reciprocal arrangements.

The following policies will apply:

We will not enter sponsorship or advertising arrangements with organisations in direct competition with our products or services, unless such arrangements deliver a defined commercial advantage and do not compromise our strategic interests.

CAMRA must not seek sponsorship or advertising from any entity that could damage our image. This includes but is not limited to:

• Tobacco companies.

• Gambling organisations. An exception is during CAMRA’s raffle where we work with the Gambling Commission to ensure that we abide with our gambling licence.

• Pub owning companies that indulge in unacceptable or unfair business practices, specifically including those that affect tenants and lessees, that would allow them to use CAMRA’s resources for recruitment and/or public relations activities.

• Companies with an inherently negative or controversial public image (e.g. adult entertainment establishments).

NB: Any company which a branch or region considers to indulge in such practices should be referred to the Chief Commercial Officer.

CAMRA sponsorship opportunities must be developed in a way which upholds CAMRA’s independence for example:

• National CAMRA events must not be solely sponsored by a single brewery or pub-owning company.

• The Good Beer Guide must not be sponsored by a pub or a brewery.

• CAMRA Books publications must not be sponsored by companies which as a consequence calls into question CAMRA’s editorial independence.

• Individual items at national events such as glasses can however be sponsored by such groups.

• Events or publications which are regional may be sponsored by a single brewery or pub-owning company.

• Any brewery promotion or endorsement carrying CAMRA’s name shall be led by quality and any financial incentives will be transparent.

• Any potential sponsorship of a national competition such as Pub of the Year or Champion Beer of Britain should first be referred to the National Executive (NE) and appropriate committee(s) for approval and information. To avoid doubt, competitions can be sponsored by companies which do not have a vested interest in the outcome. However, the name of the sponsor should not appear in the title of the competition but should be “in association with…” or “supported by…”.

All sponsorship must come with an agreement in writing which covers the terms and conditions of the sponsorship including the costs and obligations on both parties.

To ensure any sponsor does not exert control over our organisation or the sponsored event, it should be made clear from the outset that ownership remains with CAMRA, and that the aims of CAMRA are paramount.

Unless formally agreed, all sponsorship should be paid once an agreement is signed. However, instalments can be considered.

CAMRA will seek to develop new sources of income to fund the campaign. Any outcome of this development will be within the following policies:

• CAMRA will seek partnerships with organisations that align with the vision and mission of CAMRA or with organisations that do not detract from them.

• CAMRA will not ordinarily enter into cooperative partnerships with rival festivals but may do so where there are clear mutual benefit and no conflict with CAMRA’s strategic objectives.

• CAMRA will only develop merchandise/products within the bounds of standard commercial profitability.

• Final proposals on new sources of income must be approved by the Commercial Committee.

Any business development opportunities must adhere to:

• Communications policies.

• Sponsorship and advertising policies.

Companies to whom CAMRA is affiliated and companies that CAMRA are in partnership with for any reason shall be clearly stated publicly on the CAMRA website. These companies have no voting rights at the CAMRA AGM.

If the NE allow any organisation to become affiliated to CAMRA, the fact shall be publicised to the membership and made publicly available.

Associate membership with no voting rights and low subscription is available, at the discretion of the NE.

Data on changes in membership within a branch shall be accessible by the Membership Secretary of each branch and shall be compliant with data protection regulations, in line with guidance here.

New members shall be informed of the branch to which they belong according to their postal mailing address and who their branch contact is. A member may request changing their primary branch at any time.

The NE and the Commercial Committee are authorised to implement short term membership recruitment incentives which are intended for recruitment of new members only.

Concessionary rates of membership subscription shall be sufficient to cover the costs of membership services and membership administration.

Rates of membership subscription shall be made publicly available via the CAMRA website and made publicly available.

The Commercial Committee may recommend an increase to membership subscription rates to the NE without reference to Conference as part of Members’ Weekend. Any increases will be notified individually and/or to joint members as appropriate at least three months in advance of any increase. Subscription rates shall not exceed:

• An amount to reflect any increase in the Retail Price Index from the date the relevant rate of subscription became effective.

• Plus, an amount to reflect any tax that may be levied on subscriptions.

Any proposed increases in excess of those specified in above shall be referred to Conference with the reasons for the increase published to all members beforehand.