Membership

The majority of membership joined in August of either 2007 or 2008, which for me means I have been up to my ears in membership renewals this month, but I definitely do not mind it! This dues renewal business inspired me to write a blog entry about our dues structure, especially since it was recently amended at our annual membership meeting.

Let me start off by giving you a short (and when I say short I mean short, I promise) history:

When the membership dues structure was set up it was separated into five categories (Foundation, Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze). People could join at whichever level most closely described them or their business. I will give you definitions of each in just a second, but for now we will discuss the foundation level of membership. Most of our members joined at the foundation level. A foundation members is a landowner who hopes to see wind development on their land at some point. When the dues structure was originally set up, landowners (or foundation members) could join for a minimum of $100/year, they could volunteer to pay $1/acre with a maximum of $1500/annually. In 2008 the membership voted to change the dues structure to require all foundation members to pay $1/acre. Since then we have seen less renewals as well as less new members at the foundation level, therefore the board of directors decided to bring the issue back before the membership this year. On August 13th the membership voted to change the dues structure back how it was originally set up.

Okay so maybe my history of the dues structure was a little long, but long story short... Landowners may now join our association by paying a minimum of $100/year.

As far as the other membership levels go:

Platinum members are defined as wind development & specialty companies, consultants, utilities, transmission service providers, etc. Platinum members pay $1000/year.

Gold members are defined as counties, cities, school districts, chambers of commerce, economic development corporation, etc. Gold members pay $250/year.

Silver members are defined as individuals and businesses providing services & products or directly involved in wind energy. Silver members pay $100/year.

Bronze members are defined as individuals and businesses supportive but not directly involved with wind energy. Bronze members pay $50/year.

You can find out more about our association and the benefits of membership by checking out our Web site. Be sure to click on the link to our brochure on the about us page.