A new membership model is coming to Associated Church Press renewals this year.
From its inception, the Associated Church Press was a publication-centered organization with its membership structure based on print publication circulation. In the early 2000s, an effort was made to accommodate members with adjacent or supplementary digital publications, even a few digital-only publications, and individual memberships. At the time, we could not have anticipated the rapid shift to digital publication and distribution, online subscriptions taking a bite out of print circulation, and models of free ad-supported digital distribution.
To accommodate this new reality, after much study and consultation, the board is opting to move away from the circulation-based structure for membership and into a full-time equivalent (FTE) model for membership for 2024. Organizations similar to the ACP charge between US$105 and US$175 per individual. We still want to honor publications as our primary membership.
As such, we will ask each of you to self-report your FTE count, including publishing, editorial, design, visual, administrative, advertising, and distribution staff, so that we can structure your membership correctly. We will be reaching out to each of you individually or you can email us to update your member level immediately.
Individual memberships will be reserved for freelancers or those not directly representing a publication. Single employees or volunteers who work to produce a publication will continue to be counted as publication staff members and should register as publications, not individuals.
You can read the entire 2024 membership letter from ACP President John Thomas III online.