[chapter-delegates] Regarding the New Membership Level

[Jacques Berleur]

I must confess that this email from James M Galvin, as well as from 
Lynn St Amour in one of these last days are at least "curious". We 
get 30 pages to read before being recognized as able to have the 
right to speak correctly.
But no one, in the last 30 days has explained what kind of services 
we could expect from a paying membership. And that is the most 
important question. I should not register to be put on a list, and 
receive tons of messages which make me lose my time, like in this 
last month. What are the services provided to members? The 22 lines 
of the release of March 1st is very laconic about them 
(http://www.isoc.org/isoc/media/releases/050301pr.shtml) , and 
suggest more a commitment of the members than of the association...
Let us hope a satisfying answer.
Jacques Berleur, Chair
ISOC-Belgium (Wallonia) Chapter

>The last few days on this mailing list has shown us a lot
>of passion regarding the re-instatement of the paying
>membership level at ISOC. David McAuley and myself welcome
>your intense interest and we sincerely thank you for it.
>
>This discussion comes at an opportune time, since the Board
>of Trustees is meeting this weekend, 11 and 12 March. We
>would like to let you know what we are planning to do with
>respect to the items under discussion.
>
>Although many folks have requested that ISOC withdraw the
>new membership level, it is important to understand that to
>do so requires a Board decision. ISOC has always been a
>membership organization. For the past three years ISOC has
>deferred offering the paying membership level, as directed
>by the Board. The Board recently approved a new program and
>thus voted to re-instate the paying membership level. Lynn
>St. Amour's message earlier today includes pointers to most
>of the presentations, discussions, and the survey results
>from the past 3 years that were used to develop the
>program. Her Notes are repeated below and I am also
>including a pointer to the business case presentation I
>made to the Board in November of 2003 on this subject (so
>the last url below is in addition to Lynn's note earlier).
>
>As you should expect, we heard your reaction, as did
>Trustees, and as a result the paying membership level for
>ISOC will be discussed at this meeting. I am sure the
>Chapter Trustees will represent all of the discussion that
>has occurred here, as well as recognizing that there are
>many more Chapters that have not participated in this
>discussion. In addition, we will point all of the Trustees
>at the archive for this mailing list so that each can
>review the discussion directly. It is not possible to
>predict what the outcome will be, but we will inform you of
>whatever is decided.
>
>In addition, it is clear that many of you do not approve of
>the labels chosen for the membership levels, i.e.,
>"Associate Members" versus "Members". Certainly, we did not
>intend for such labels to divide the ISOC membership. Of
>course, we will revisit this question, with you, after the Board has 
>considered the issue of a paying membership level.
>
>Finally, I wanted to let you know that we have decided to
>postpone the Chapter testing of the new membership system.
>Since the membership system would reflect some of the
>matters we have been discussing it seems prudent to wait
>until the way forward is clear so we can make whatever
>changes are necessary before Chapters begin testing.
>
>I want to thank you for this opportunity to hear your
>concerns and respond to them. I am sure there will be more
>to say after the Board has met this weekend. David and I
>will be getting together tomorrow and we will do a review
>of the background of this matter so as to ensure we have
>included all relevant pointers to URLs.  If we have
>overlooked any we will send them tomorrow.
>
>Thank you.
>
>Jim Galvin
>David McAuley
>
>
>Resolution 02-8 Clarification of individual membership issues - 2002
>http://www.isoc.org/isoc/general/trustees/resltn-02.shtml
>
>RESOLVED, that in addition to Global membership offered free of charge,
>the Internet Society will continue to offer individual memberships in the
>$75-$500 range. Annual reminders will be sent to these members asking
>them to continue their support at their existing or higher level.
>However, since no additional services are attached to these higher
>levels, the payments are treated as donations and not dues payments.
>
>
>Nov. 17 - 18, 2002
>http://www.isoc.org/isoc/general/trustees/mtg30.shtml
>
>July 12 - 13, 2003
>http://www.isoc.org/isoc/general/trustees/mtg34.shtml
>
>Nov 8-9, 2003
>http://www.isoc.org/isoc/general/trustees/mtg36.shtml
>
>
>Resolution 03-08 Supporting a Professional Membership Class - 2003
>http://www.isoc.org/isoc/general/trustees/resltn-03.shtml
>
>RESOLVED that the board supports the notion of a new professional
>membership class and that the board asks the CEO to coordinate an effort
>that takes the report from the membership committee into account to 
>develop, by October 15, a value proposition and a business plan for 
>the
>new class for presentation to the board.
>
>
>http://www.isoc.org/isoc/general/trustees/docs/Nov2003/IM-members.ppt