Membership Dues Increase Comments

Below is the feedback we have received on the Member Dues Increase motion.
This webpage will be updated as comments are submitted.
*Last updated October 20 at 8:25 AM ET.

•  The increase is affordable for me. I approve.
• Individual Member - South & Central Asia
• I think we have a problem with financial transparency. The proposed increase rationale is “to support the work of the association and continue the programs and services that our members have told us make a positive impact on their work. To date, these include Opportunity Grants, Conference Bursaries, Regional Institute Travel Grants, and Member Dues Waivers. All of these programs are supported by the revenue realized each year by the organization.” 1) How will the additional revenue generated by the membership increase “support the work of the association and continue programs and services”? Please provide data.2) Is the organization in financial need? Please provide data. 3) What parts of the organization are under financial strain? Please provide data.4) I realize that losing the 2020 conference was a hit to our primary revenue stream, but weren't we fiscally prepared for something like this? And if we were fiscally prepared, was it necessary to charge $259 for a virtual conference in 2021? (yeah, I'm still bitter about that)The organization reported a net profit of $345,315 in 2021 (as of Aug. 31st). It certainly doesn't sound like we are on a sinking ship, folks.The finance report from the October 6th Membership Meeting (slides are available on the "Member Center" page of the International ACAC member portal) states that the organization had a net profit of $345,315 in 2021 (as of Aug. 31st), which includes an expense of $219,609 attributed to “General and Admin Expenses.” I assume part of this goes to our Executive Director in Virginia, but there isn’t much detail included. I wondered how this stacked up against past years, so I tried to find the minutes from past years. The only way I found them is by searching for "minutes" in the website's search engine. There is a breathtaking lack of financial reporting. Does anyone outside the board know the annual budget figures? The last budget reported in the general meeting minutes was in September 2019 (close to $1,500,000 USD annual budget). Nothing was reported in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, or 2020.***My sincere apologies if this information is housed somewhere else, but I think the specific details of our organization’s finances should be publicly available and certainly linked in the meeting minutes.***All this is to say that an increase in membership dues doesn’t seem to be backed up by publicly available data. If there is data to substantiate the increases, I would be very interested in seeing it.
• Anonymous
• I think the increase in fees in appropriate (and inevitable), however, I suggest increasing the fees a set amount across the board rather than the percentage that was used. The price should increase a set amount all categories. I purpose delaying any price increase until next year. The email was sent to renew but the prices are still being determined.
  *The renewal message was sent in error; members were notified via a retraction email on October 7.
• Anonymous
• I agree with the increase, as long as it doesn't increase each.
• Beatriz Plagaro, Post-Secondary School - Europe
• International ACAC dues are the most reasonable of all of the professional organizations and provides incredible value. I fully support the increase.
• Sarah Contomichalos, Individual Member - Canada & U.S.
• Very reasonable increase with careful consideration. Support, of course.
• Yongqian Tan, Individual Member - East Asia
• I don't really mind the dues increase as it's not much.
• Xuejie Wang, Secondary School - East Asia
• It is reasonable.
• Iriarte Andujar, Post-Secondary School - Canada & U.S.
• 1. I approve of the idea. I get so much benefit from IACAC, happy to pay little extra.2. Is there any way we could be able to pay, with Chinese money, on AliPay?Many people can pay in Chinese money, but sending it out of China is difficult.If you need technical help, someone from my London based company, Wen Connect, can show how to make an Alipay connection.3. Could we have a motion to set up a small endowment, etc. to be used for scholarships or whatever?I would like to pledge 700 RMB, if possible, and can pay with Alipay.
• Joseph Herion-Klunder, Secondary School - East Asia
• I think it is reasonable to propose an increase due to the fact that no increase has incurred in so long. However, I would encourage you to consider having a sliding scale for members that come from small institutions. There are many large schools with a dedicated team and budget to international recruiting where $100+ for membership is a small cost and there are many smaller schools who are hoping to develop themselves within the international recruiting committee but that do not have the staff or budget of other institutions.
• Sophie Holz, Post-Secondary School - Canada & U.S.
• In principle, I agree with the increase, with some conditions/caveats  - it is clear from the most recent members' meeting that the Association currently has a healthy profit margin.  This is good, provided that the additional resources (and perhaps even greater increase-related profits in future) are allocated in areas that will benefit the members the most and also ensure:the continued membership of current members, as well as - the continued growth of membership numbers (which appear to have declined slightly recently).Some suggestions for reallocating the profits (and additional fees obtained from the increase) are suggested below: - Expanding the resources archive to provide comprehensive guides on applying to various regions (updated regularly)- Expanding and increasing the number and relevance of professional development opportunities (especially those that can be recorded and archived for future viewing)- Expanding the number of 'scholarships' that can be awarded; as well as - expanding the reach of the mentorship programIn my view, these interventions can help to ensure the  continued membership of current member while promoting the usefulness / benefits of membership in order to grow membership numbers as well as the organization as a whole
• Dante Greeff, Secondary School - Southeast Asia & Oceania
• I believe many of us use the IACAC membership to provide networking support and especially to support the conference each year.  Without being able to have conferences held (virtual conferences do not accomplish the same things as face to face can) and with COVID still present in our day to day lives, it seems a difficult time to push forward a membership increase at this time when the physical resources available to us as an organization are lower than ever before; we should be trying to maintain our community.
• Thomas Waterfall, Secondary School - East Asia
• I think that these modest increases are totally justified and support them.
• Rebecca Grappo, Individual Member - Canada & U.S.
• The case presented for a proposed increase in dues seems reasonable in the way that it has been presented by the board and the way in which it is published on the website.  However, membership in International ACAC does not guarantee  all the privileges of membership.  Higher education institutions are encouraged to have all members of the international admission team sign up for membership and are encouraged to have the primary member list International ACAC as the primary affiliate.  Yet. higher education institutions are not permitted to send all its paying members of International ACAC  to the Annual Conference, a practice uncommon at other regional affiliates.  Often, members of International ACAC who also are also members of NACAC are turned away from conference registration.  While the increased dues structure may be necessary and fiscally sound, it may in fact deter institutions from having additional members who will not be able to have access to all association opportunities.
• Anonymous
• This seems to be a rational and reasonable proposal.  I recognize that it will not affect me much, as a retired member.  But if I was still an institutional member, it would not result in me cancelling my membership.
• Jim Miller, Retired Professional - Canada & U.S.
• I see no barriers to the increase proposed.
• Anonymous, Post-Secondary School - Canada & U.S.
• Could we not simply peg the member due level to inflation to save time seeking approval for increases in dues? Something like the Cleveland Fed's Trimmed Median CPI would be a reasonable benchmark.
• Charlie Pybus, Post-Secondary School - Europe
• This seems like a sensible proposal given that International ACAC's revenue is somewhat limited to membership dues and registrations for the conference and regional institutes. There are also some advertising and sponsorship opportunities that could be increased, but I don't believe these need a vote.
• Ronn Beck, Post-Secondary School - Canada & U.S.
• I support this motion. I believe the work of IACAC will be increasingly important as higher/international education faces new challenges. I think this community creates significant synergy in the face of those challenges, and that that justifies the marginal increase in cost. I think there is much to gain/maintain by acknowledging the role of funding, and much to lose by not doing so.
• Johnny Yang, Individual Member - Canada & U.S.
• Since there seems to be a need to produce more revenue to meet costs by raising dues, I do think that you could increase the Retired Professional Category to easily $15 (no-one would mind, I'm sure) or even $20.  Good luck!
• Marjorie Nieuwenhuis, Retired Professional - Canada & U.S.
• If it is inevitable we should increase. However, due to post pandemic economic crisis I suggest that it should not increase at all: atleast for this year.
• Farhan Naeem, Secondary School - South & Central Asia
• I'm okay with this.
• Terra Good, Post-Secondary School - Canada & U.S.
• If there is a need to raise member fees for financial viability, there may not be much choice. However, the exchange rate works unfavourably for international counsellors. So capping it at say, a 10% rise and maintaining it for 2-3 years would be good. If any gap can be bridged through special paid events and endorsements and sponsorships, that would be ideal. Thank you.
• Revathi Shivakumar, Individual Member - South & Central Asia
• I am conceptually supportive of a dues increase to help cover increased operating costs and additional programming, but I'm not sure I can vote in favor of this as it is currently presented without more information. I would like more information on how this motion is being integrated with the focus on equity and inclusion as the FAQ provides limited information in that regard. Given the organization's move toward integration of DEIJ, it seems like more work might be necessary to make the case that the dues increase as presented is indeed aligned with those goals. How can we be sure that we're not differentially disadvantaging some current or future members with this increase? Are there opportunities to actively engage in DEIJ efforts through our membership fee structures that we're not currently exploring? Put another way, does our current fee structure constrain our ability to advance DEIJ efforts? I will also add that the fees for for-profit institutions seem low. I appreciate the efforts to keep fees low for non-profits, CBOs, and individuals as there are often resource constraints and I believe that the organization should be primarily for members of those organizational categories. I would be in favor of a larger fee increase for for-profit organizations to both encourage intentional membership by those organizations and as a means of subsidizing schools, CBOs, and individuals who may be more resource constrained. Finally, I would love to see more details on how the Board anticipates using the increased revenue. I appreciate the mention of Opportunity Grants, Conference Bursaries, Regional Institute Travel Grants, and Member Dues Waivers. I saw that revenue would also go toward supporting "the work of the organization." What does that entail?
• Anonymous - Canada & U.S.
• I think that the increases are moderate and appropriate for our membership growth. In fact the dues for Intl ACAC are still some of the most reasonable of the many organizations out there. One comment I might make is to see if there is an option when universities pay their dues to include within that payment/registration an option to cover the dues of a secondary school. While the secondary school dues are quite reasonable some offices have zero PD funds and I imagine there are many universities that would be interested in sponsoring dues if it were bundled with the invoice/payment for annual university membership dues. Just a thought. Thanks for your work on this!
• Dane Rowley, Post-Secondary School - Canada & U.S.
• I think the modest increase in dues is an appropriate move for the organization to make so that we can remain financially viable and have the flexibility in budgeting needed to accomplish our work. Thank you, executive team!
• Jacob Wooden, Post-Secondary School - Canada & U.S.
• I'll support the motion to increase the dues, because of the improved services, programmes and events require to keep us abreast of the times, innovations and trends
• Kenneth Adu-Awuku, Secondary School - Africa, Sub-Saharan
• A reasonable fee increase proposal - I vote in favour of the motion
• Susan Kearvell, Post-Secondary School - Europe
• I believe the increase is fair and in keeping with financial demands and the current economic scenario.
• Reginaldo Aguiar, Secondary School - South America