Membership Renewal FAQs

To help us arrive at a fair and equitable fee structure, we engaged a group of five Executives enrolled at the University of Ottawa’s Master in Business Administration (Executive MBA) program. The group undertook a study to compare the CPEIA with other technology associations. This effort, at no cost to the CPEIA, was carried out under the oversight of our President and CEO and then presented to our Board of Directors, which is drawn from, and is representative of, our Membership.

We are switching to a Jan. 1 renewal date for all Members. For any Member with a renewal date part way through the calendar year, your fee will only increase on your annual renewal date. We will switch you over on your anniversary date with a partial billing at your new effective rate. For example, if your renewal date is May 1, four months into 2016, we will honour your current rate until May 1 and invoice you for eight months at your new rate for 2016.

That will depend on the size of your organization. We have made certain to limit the fee increase for smaller organizations to ensure their continued participation in the CPEIA.

As an existing Member, your fee will not increase until your annual renewal date.

The fee is based on total number of global employees. This was deemed to be more equitable than using revenue as the benchmark and requiring Members to disclose financial information they may not wish to.

On the other hand, this approach does mean large industrial companies pay more based on their financial and business strengths as reflected in their employment base. But this is fair as they have a greater opportunity with their larger customer bases to commercialize printable and flexible electronics and see a greater return on that investment.

Based on the assessment of the University of Ottawa’s EMBA team, the new CPEIA fee structure is either lower than, or comparable to, those of similar technology industry associations, depending on the Member’s number of employees.

For example:

• A large organization with more than 499 employees might pay as much as $10,000 a year with other associations. With the CPEIA, the same Membership is $3,500.
• For a medium-sized business with 100-499 employees, the new CPEIA Membership fee is comparable with other associations.
• Small businesses with fewer than 100 employees will pay $250 to $750 a year under our new fee structure, versus around $2,000 with other associations.
• A public sector R&D organization will pay $2,500 as a CPEIA Member, versus $10,000 elsewhere.

Any Member is welcome to make a voluntary contribution beyond the standard Membership fees. This gives them the opportunity to take a premier position as either an Executive Partner ($10,000) or a Sponsoring Partner ($15,000).

Taking this level of commitment is recognized by CPEIA on its website and its communications activities, which can pay big dividends to your organization through increased recognition and sales revenues.