Re: [Membership] Fees for Organizations

[Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>]

On Fri, Apr 30, 1999 at 01:22:18PM -0000, Dr Nii Quaynor wrote:
> 
> Does this create two classes of members, paying and non-paying? How would we
> manage the influences of the paying members so that organizations dont
> capture the At-Large? Is this consistent with the intent of the At-Large vs
> SOs? Is this a back-door take-over for the very group some of sought to
> exclude from the At-large initially?
> 
> I can be convinced but I feel uncomfortable about it right now.
> 
> Nii

As has been noted, it is still one person one vote, so the only form 
of influence would be if the amount paid by an organization was a 
significant fraction of the total income from this source.  That is, 
if IBM and AT&T joined and each paid $100,000 for the privilege, and 
there were no more organizational members, then indeed that money 
could have an undue influence.  But if IBM and AT&T and Songbird and 
2000 other organizations joined, and each of them paid $100, then 
there would be no realistic undue influence.  (Very large wealthy 
organizations will always have ways of influencing things, but it 
wouldn't be through this particular mechanism.)

The San Francisco Bay Area is fortunate to be home to the
Philharmonia Baroque orchestra, one of the best early music ensembles
in the world.  They sell attendance at concerts, of course, but there
is also a membership organization, where people donate money to fund
the activity, and that funding is a substantial part of their income. 

There are many levels of membership in the organization, depending on
how much you pay.  We could adopt a similar model -- the "individual"
membership ($50 or less), the "contributing" membership" ($50-$100),
the "supporting" membership ($100-$250), the "network hero"
membership ($250-$500), and the "Internet Sage" level ($500-$1000). 
Each level would still get one vote, but in addition you would get a
little perk: The individual member gets listed on a web page, the
"contributing membership" would get an ICANN coffee cup, whereas the
"Internet Sage" would get a nice fountain pen and a lifetime email
address. 

ICANN already has the "ICANN Startup Fund" (which reminds me, I 
was going to donate something), but a lot more could be involved.

-- 
Kent Crispin                               "Do good, and you'll be
kent@songbird.com                           lonesome." -- Mark Twain