Re: [atlarge-discuss] Membership fees

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>]

James T., and all fellow members,

  All lawyers that I have known or do know presently love to
argue over small issues as much or more that larger issues.

  That said however, you are none the less right in my view
anyway, that what members get from any organization that
has a membership fee is minimal.  Basically with an atlarge
type organization such as this one is trying to become is
participation in the debate's on issues that effect them,
and perhaps an opportunity at some point in a leadership
position of some sort. Otherwise not much else is worth
much of a membership fee.  Yet Danny is also right in that
without some membership fee it is unlikely that this
organization will ever be viable for very long, if at all.
Hence a membership fee for members is necessary, but
should not be the primary source of the organizations
funding.



James S. Tyre wrote:

> Danny, with respect, you are comparing apples and rutabagas.
>
> At the bottom, you say "you get what you pay for," but what do you get back
> from belonging to any of these three organizations, or hundreds of similar
> ones?  Obviously it varies some from org to org, but, generally speaking:
>
> 1.  Publications that are free to members, priced or unavailable to
> non-members;
> 2.  Discounted or free admission to certain programs put on by the
> organization;
> 3.  Because of group bargaining power, discounts on goods and services as
> wide-ranging as travel, health and life insurance, etc.
>
> And so on.  In the case of ACM, many consider access to the ACM Portal to
> be worth the price of membership by itself.
>
> This organization certainly should not be "diversifying" into doing
> anything remotely resembling my number 3 above.  If there comes a time when
> we do have regular publications and/or programs, one must question
> seriously whether it would be antithetical to the reason for this
> organization to charge anything for such matters, to charge non-members
> more than members, or to limit availability only to members.
>
> My own thoughts on whether this organization should charge something for
> membership are not fully formed, there are arguments both ways.  But
> comparing this organization (even if it develops into what we would like to
> see it become) to ALA, ACM, IEEE or many others does not advance the debate
> meaningfully.
>
> At 10:59 AM 6/2/2003 -0400, DannyYounger@cs.com wrote:
> >Responsible organizations understand the need for realistic membership fees.
> >Examples follow:
> >
> >1.  American Library Association:  64,000+ members
> >      Fee structure:
> >      $50 First-year Members Only
> >      $75 Second-year Members
> >      $100 Third-year+ Members
> >      $25 Student Members
> >      $35 Non-Salaried Members
> >      $45 Trustee and Associate Members
> >      $60 International Librarians
> >
> >2.  Association for Computing Machinery:  75,000+ members
> >      Fee Structure:
> >      $50 Student
> >      $50 Hardship
> >      $53 Retired
> >      $99 Professional
> >
> >3.  Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers:  380,000+ in 150
> >countries
> >      Fee Structure:
> >      $143 USA
> >      $133 Canada
> >      $121 Africa, Europe, Middle East
> >      $114 Latin America
> >      $113 Asia, Pacific
> >      $35  Student
> >
> >As these membership numbers demonstrate, a reasonable fee is not a barrier to
> >participation.  Icannatlarge can continue to bury its head in the ground, or
> >it can decide to grow up and become a responsible organization that offers
> >its
> >members rights, benefits, and all those services that accrue from having a
> >proper budget in place.
> >
> >You get what you pay for, and when you pay nothing that's usually what you
> >get...
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> James S. Tyre                               mailto:jstyre@jstyre.com
> Law Offices of James S. Tyre          310-839-4114/310-839-4602(fax)
> 10736 Jefferson Blvd., #512               Culver City, CA 90230-4969
> Co-founder, The Censorware Project             http://censorware.net
>
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Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 131k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" -
    Pierre Abelard
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