From CEDAM’s Office and Systems Manager, Katie Fritz

1. New Membership Levels and Benefits

We’ve been thinking hard about how to make CEDAM membership more valuable and more inclusive of the whole Community Economic Development industry. We are excited to announce both updated membership levels AND several new member benefits in 2012!

Here’s the breakdown on the new membership levels:

You are an Individual Member if…

• You are an individual who supports community economic development
• You want to keep up with current industry news and access trainings
• (See all benefits)

You are a Practitioner if…

• You are a nonprofit organization or governmental department doing community-based economic development in a Michigan neighborhood, city or county (this includes CDCs, neighborhood organizations, main street programs, social change organizations, community engagement organizations, human development organizations and more)
• You want to save thousands of dollars, get better at what you do and expand your reach
• (See all benefits)

You are a Partner if…

• You are a statewide or national association, intermediary, university program, financial institution, for-profit developer, vendor or consultant
• You want to stay up-to-date with the CED industry and promote your services to CEDAM’s membership
• (See all benefits)

Current CEDAM memberships have been converted to the appropriate level in our member database for the 2012 renewal season. No member will be asked to pay more in 2012 than in 2011. If you are a current Individual member and would like to switch to a Practitioner or Partner membership, you’ll be able to do that through the member portal or by email.

We hope that you’ll find your 2012 CEDAM membership more valuable than ever before. And along those lines…

2. Get Ready to Renew your Membership

The renewal process in 2012 will look a little different than in previous years. Instead of a paper form in the mail, you will receive an email next week with instructions and a link to renew your membership online. Only primary contacts at organizations will receive this email – when you renew, everyone else at your organization will be renewed automatically. You will still be able to pay by check or credit card. For more information, visit the Membership Renewal section of our Help page.

We hope this renewal process will be faster and easier than ever. To sweeten the deal, if you renew or join by February 15, you’ll be entered into a drawing for your choice of a free single-day CEDAM training or a $50 Visa gift card – so don’t delay!

3. New Member Portal Features

Thanks to recent software updates, you can now do the following through the CEDAM member portal:

• View the outstanding balance on your account
• View and pay invoices online at your convenience
• Make a single payment for multiple trainings
• Get a random password when you create an account
• Make a credit card payment over the phone

To learn more about how to use the member portal and these new features, visit the help page.

Still have questions about any of these changes? Give me a call at 517.485.3588 – I’d be happy to talk to you!