OASIS Revised Membership Categories and Dues

["Patrick Gannon" <patrick.gannon@oasis-open.org>]

OASIS Members:

In the last four years, OASIS has experienced many exciting changes. We've
grown from 49 to 64 committees, from seven to 36 approved standards, from
2,000 to 5,500 participants. We've expanded our outreach, enhanced our
services, and added support staff in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North
America.

To keep pace with this growth, the Board of Directors has approved a set of
revised membership categories and dues, effective 1 September 2006 for new
memberships and 1 January 2007 for renewals. The changes address a variety of
concerns and reflect much member input. We listened to those of you calling
for a more equitable dues model. We considered investments needed to maintain
a productive environment for standards work.  

While the existing levels of OASIS membership (Foundational, Sponsor,
Contributor, and Individual/Associate) remain the same, the following changes
will be made:

* Both Foundational- and Sponsor-level membership will be offered in four dues
categories to provide greater parity and accommodate organizations of
different sizes and types. 

* The categories of Contributor-level membership will be increased from three
to five in order to better distinguish between large- and medium-sized
organizations. Our current category for non-profits will be more clearly
defined as "academic/government/associations."

* The Contributor-level "government" category will be offered to government
agencies from non-OECD countries. OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development) currently comprises 30 self-selected member countries.

In addition to these category changes, annual membership dues (which have
remained stable since 2002) will be adjusted in order to maintain the
financial health and capability of our consortium, to fund needed services,
and to more equitably distribute the cost of supporting OASIS.

Details are provided at http://www.oasis-open.org/join/categories.php. 

OASIS staff (member-services@oasis-open.org) are available to assist in
ensuring your organization participates at the appropriate level and that you
are taking advantage of all the benefits available to you. Note that the
expanded breakdown of categories may represent an opportunity for current
Contributors to receive greater visibility through the full promotional
benefits enjoyed by Sponsors. 

We trust all members will find these changes reasonable, acceptable, and fair.
After reviewing the information, if you have any questions or ideas about how
we can better serve you in the future, please let me know.  As always, your
support is greatly appreciated.


Best regards,

Patrick Gannon
President & CEO
OASIS
+1.978.667.5115 x201  - office
+1.978.761.3546       - mobile
Skype: pgannon
www.oasis-open.org