Dear AFCEANs,

Forgive the rather dramatic headline but we are making changes to the method of paying membership dues (individual and corporate) that need to be communicated to your entire Chapter – so I need your help in promulgating the information to both your individual and your corporate members.  

To overcome a newly-identified requirement to charge Value Added Tax to European membership I have decided that the European office can no longer accept membership dues.    From 1st October all membership fees money must be paid directly to Headquarters.  

For individual members, after postal renewal notices have been received, the easiest way to renew is to go to your member profile in the portal (via www.afcea.org ).   To access the portal only requires your membership ID and password (and there is guidance if you have forgotten your password.)   Look to see if any updates are required to your entry then click the ‘Renew Membership’ button and follow the easy steps provided.   It will be equally simple to provide your credit card details on the paper renewal form if you decide against electronic renewal.   For those still using cheques they would have to be written in US dollars drawn against a US $ banking account.

For those Chapters that add a fee on top of the official membership dues then they will have to make alternative local arrangements to collect the money.

Chapters may continue to receive individual membership payments if they wish but would have to forward them to AFCEA HQ before the memberships can be processed.  AFCEA HQ cannot apply the system of grouping membership payments and accepting payments twice a year as has been the case up to now with AFCEA Europe. 

Similarly, chapters may continue to receive corporate membership payments if they wish but the payments and renewal details must be forwarded to AFCEA International.   Corporate members who have set up an automatic payment facility into the AFCEA Europe bank account will have to make alternative arrangements to pay directly into Fairfax.   We shall be contacting corporate members direct to let them know of this change but it would be appreciated if Chapter officers could give this advanced warning.

Chapters must advise AFCEA HQ (Diane Dellen – email to ddellen@afcea.org ) if they have been involved in the recruitment of corporates in order to receive the finders' fees. The method of reimbursement for both finder’s fees and Chapter rebates has yet to be developed and will be communicated separately, later.

I ask that you review your local membership forms and your web site to make sure the information is updated to reflect the changes in procedure.  For example, any old copies of membership forms that mention AFCEA Europe and the AFCEA Europe bank accounts should be removed as soon as possible.  Members or potential members should be directed to the AFCEA International web site where they can renew or join on line.  The AFCEA Int. Service Centre can be reached by email at services@afcea.org or by phone 00 1 703 631 6158 (fax. 001 703 631 6160).