= Payment Policy = May First/People Link membership payment status schedule has three categories: good standing, at-risk, and suspended. The follwing definitions help us to manage our financial accounts more efficiently as our membership continues to grow. We encourage our members to contact us with any questions of concerns so that we may adjust their dues payment on a case-by-case basis (see ''Payment Policy'' below). '''Good Standing:''' Members who have paid their yearly dues within the last 12 months or those that that pay their dues within 30-days notice are in good standing. Automatic messages are sent to the billing email address for a membership account immediately upon expiration of yearly dues. '''At-risk:''' Members that fall behind 60 days are considered at-risk. Members with a status of at-risk will be issued an automatic warning notice through email. Dues must be received within two months of this notice. '''Suspended:''' Members that fail to pay their dues within 90 days are automatically suspended. All services, including websites, email, email lists, and data will be put on hold until the account balance is paid. A leader at MF/PL will attempt a personal email or phone call before any services are shut down. '''Inactive:''' Members that have not responded to suspension notices will be fully deactivated and all data then archived or removed from MF/PL servers after a period of some months. === Payment Plans === For members unable to pay their full balance payment schedules may be coordination with the Membership Associate, which is typically a monthly minimum. For example, this might be the annual dues amount divided by 12 for a monthly payment. If a member fails to make a timly monthly payment, that member is no longer eligible to follow a payment plan and must pay their dues in full as per the payment status schedule. Additionally, members that are unable to pay their yearly dues in full can apply for a reduced rate by contacting the Member Associate. We recognize that this may be especially necessary for members that have fallen years behind. ''The question here is how to segment the payment plan group, and document their terms for tracking purposes. That would be key.'' === Initial Implementation === * Implement mechanisms in the control panel to assign distinctions and produce reports on members by status. * Writing or rewriting the automated email messages to reflect the new policy and status distinctions. * The Payment Policy will then be announced in an email message to all members (see ''Announcement'' below). * Sending automated messages to all members not in good standing. * Begin contacting suspended memberships. === Announcement === Dear Members, Greetings! We're reaching out to you today to let you know about exciting new developments here at May First/People Link. First of all we want to thank you for your support of MF/PL these past 6 years. We have grown from a few dozen members to a vibrant network of over 500 individuals, activists and organizations that are grassroots-based, national, and international in scope. This incredible growth only confirms the need for the kind of politically progressive internet infrastructure that MF/PL provides. We are continuing to develop new ways to serve and engage our members. Our first annual Membership Meeting is coming up this Fall. We sincerely hope you all can join us. For more information on the meeting, http://mayfirst.org Our growth has not come without costs. As our community has increased, so has its demand for services. To meet these demands, we have been making critical investments in hardware and equipment, technological upgrades, software applications, enhanced security measures, and more. Membership dues are critical for these efforts because we pool our collective resources for the benefit of our entire membership. Our dues have always been low to ensure that these services can be made as broadly available as possible. This means that every member's contribution counts. In the past we have been generally lenient with regards to dues collections. The Leadership Committee of this organization has discussed and decided that to fulfill our commitment to our collective community and to our core political principles - particularly that the incurred costs are shared by all - we as leaders must hold individual members accountable for their dues payments. If you regularly pay your annual dues, then nothing will change. For members that have fallen behind in their payments, we will be contacting you to settle your dues within 90 days before your website and data is removed from our servers. As usual, the billing contact for your membership account will receive automated messages according to a simple payment status schedule. The major change to our approach to collecting annual dues is that they must be paid within 90 days of expiry to maintain active membership status and to keep your website up. If the total sum owed by the deadline is unworkable, we are happy to make an alternative arrangement with you. Low-income members that need scholarship assistance will be considered on a case by case basis. Please contact Hilary Goldstein, our Membership Associate, about the possibilities. This is an important step in our growth as an organization and we welcome any feedback here and at the upcoming Membership Meeting in September. In Solidarity, [Signatures....]