As they grow, they have been able to devote more time and resources to ACRA activities. On issues involving member input in a timely manner, all companies are equal unless they do not have the capacity for or regularly follow e-mail. It should be remembered that virtually all ACRA members are small businesses by federal standards. This does not mean, of course, that they are making that much greater a profit or even breaking even, but gross income was chosen over net income since it generally does not fluctuate quite so much from year to year, and because the dues are a smaller percentage of overall costs for large firms. Gross rather than net profit was also used because the smaller firms would feel taken advantage of if they made a profit that would require high dues one year while a much larger company did not make a profit and paid much lower dues.
Smaller firms do indeed pay much lower dues than large firms.
But the bylaws were written to try and attract as many firms as possible. If everyone paid higher dues, the smaller firms would not join. In a sense, the larger firms are subsidizing the smaller firms in part because they recognize and are willing to pay for the benefits of an organization that can carry some clout with other sectors of CRM and with government agencies, among others. ACRA was set up to make a difference, and it was felt at the time of incorporation that we needed the commitment of companies in terms of their manpower and funds to do what needed to be done to get the attention of the public, clients, and the other sectors of CRM, etc. Having corporate membership has proved to be one of the keys to our success so far.