Jesus christ, the dues!!!

[McCordRM]

Perhaps I'm missing something... but the minimum monthly dues is $100 PER MONTH??? For a not-for-profit organization seeking funding to fight a cause, they certainly haven't opened the doors to many E-Cig consumers. I'm in the military and $100 a month is a pretty good percentage of my paycheck. I give to the Scottish Rite Hospital every month to help out the kids... and even then I don't donate $100 per month. So to help protect my habit and get the word out... wow. I'd love to help out, but ... wow.

[angjen0816]

i sure hope thats a typo...maybe its suppose to be a dollar a month? or even 10?

[McCordRM]

I pulled it straight from their site. You pay (minimum) $200 to register, then $100 per
month. It's hard enough getting Joe Blow American to financially back anything... but
putting it out of their reach even if they want to help? I just don't get it.

[Piedlourde]

They are primarily a supplier/manufacturer organization, so membership levels look like they are set up for businesses.

There's a donate button at the bottom right of that page where you can make a one time smaller donation.

[eric]

This has been a long debated issue with little to no reassurance by the ECA of lowering their membership fees even marginally. I believe I've seen Lacey mention it a couple of times, but nothing ever came of it.

I do, however, wish ECA the best and I really do believe allowing consumer membership and lowering the monthly membership fee to something more reasonable would really help our cause.

[yvilla]

McCordRM, yes, as Piedlourde said, those dues are tailored for manufactutor/supplier members, as ECA is actually a trade organization.

Please do consider becoming a member of CASAA (Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association). There are no fees to join, but donations will be welcome soon. Our website is still being finalized (CASAA | The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association), but should be fully available soon, and with a registration for membership form. We intend to work cooperatively with ECA, as well as with other groups.

In the meantime, we have a subforum here on ECF. CASAA - e-cigarette-forum.com • The place for electronic cigarette reviews, news and chat

[MHR7331]

They are primarily a supplier/manufacturer organization, so membership levels look like they are set up for businesses.

There's a donate button at the bottom right of that page where you can make a one time smaller donation.

Love your avatar

I'm crushing your head!

[BigJimW]

I'd suggest listening to Matt Salmons interview on VapersPlace for insite why the dues are so high.

Fighting the establishment for e-cigs is not cheap and I don't expect Salmon to foot the bill himself. If you want a heavy hitter in the dugout, you need to pay the premium price.

[eric]

BigJim, I totally agree with you on a lot of your points, but this one just isn't sound enough for me.

Implementing a "Consumer" tier to their membership system isn't difficult. I agree the interview was promising, but it still doesn't justify the lack of consumer membership.

10 founding members.
1 associate member.

11 members total. Come on now.

They're basically shooing the money out the door as I see it. I don't think they're a bad organization or that they deserve less than they are asking for, I just think they're passing up their own interests.

[Andtyler2]

I'll check out the CASAA forum. I'll donate some small sum to ECA. But I also strongly agree with the comments of some previous posters. Tiered memberships are nothing new--particularly for non profits. If you want to build a movement, you can ill afford to discourage the assistance of those of us who want to help but don't have quite the same economic interests that suppliers do in keeping PV's legal and freely available.

ECA needs to consider the advantages of broadening their base of support in a more formalized manner by incorporating a consumer level membership. Asking the average vaper to cough up over a thousand bucks in a year is nuts. (That seems pretty steep for the trade folks, too, but they can speak for themselves) We're all on the same side of this issue. As a consumer member of ECA I could more easily stay on top of legal developments and share that information via a permanent link to the ECA site from FB, personal blogs, my email signatures, etc.