Review of Membership Subscriptions
05 Dec 2016
Recently the board of IBANZ has been looking at the structure of IBANZ and in particular the membership subscriptions you pay to belong to our professional association.
The ongoing consolidation in our market place has been increasing and the shape of the market is considerably different to that which existed when IBANZ was formed over a decade ago. We have seen significant growth of the largest companies through acquisition. Cluster groups have also consolidated and become part of Australasian organisations.
These changes have put pressure on the existing membership structure of IBANZ which is based on Individual Members with a Corporate Membership. The annual subs are currently $2,000 per Corporate plus $195 per individual, which effectively produces a minimum fee of $2,195 for a one person organisation. The current maximum corporate cap is $29,500.
Last year IBANZ felt it was appropriate to commission an independent report on the existing membership structure and the likely impact of future market changes. Finity produced a report which was circulated to Members late last year.
Earlier this year IBANZ consulted with the major companies and cluster groups to gauge their reaction to the Finity report and to hear what members thought about the future direction for IBANZ. A Board sub-committee considered all the feedback and produced a proposed way forward for the Board.
Further consultation followed the results of which were given to the IBANZ Board at their October meeting. In general the feedback was positive, it was agreed that IBANZ was taking the issues seriously and had produced a solution that responded to the concerns being raised.
While no solution will ever fully satisfy everyone there seems to be general consensus that the proposed approach is a move in the right direction and provides a reasonable compromise.
The key points of the proposal are as follows:
- Corporate fee of $2,000 will be removed
- Fee will be based on the number of individual brokers in a corporate
- A minimum and maximum cap for each corporate to be applied
- Will apply immediately for new members and from 1st April 2017 for existing members
IBANZ is a not-for-profit organisation which over the 12 years of its existence has seen both profitable and loss years. There is always a balance to be struck between retaining sufficient funds to run the organisation and undertake beneficial project while not accumulating excess amounts which be retained by Members for their own purposes.
The IBANZ Board believes that the fee restructure will provide the association with the necessary funding in a fair and equitable way.
The initial rates/caps proposed have been calculated to produce the same revenue as received for the 2016 renewal. Small corporate members will see a reduction in their subscriptions while the larger members will pay more. The details are
- Individual rate $350
- Minimum cap $1,800
- Maximum cap $45,000
A strong organisation promoting the needs of members to government, media and consumers is becoming increasingly important in today’s environment. Our members have confirmed lobbying as our single most important activity given that it can only be done effectively by a single industry voice. The now very active regulatory environment will only increase this aspect of our work.
In addition members agree setting standards through a Code and providing ongoing education and professional development are also vital for the reputation and competency of our profession.
We trust you will agree that IBANZ has taken a considered view of the future and that the changes outlined above will provide a sound basis for your association going forward.
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