The Board of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association has been discussing memberships for some time now. Because we don’t have a long experience with membership, it’s taken some time to work out some kinks.

We started with a charter membership. Everyone who joined at that time will always retain a charter member designation, but the membership itself did not last forever. This membership ran from whenever you joined until last July—specifically July 1, 2011. So last year was our first call for renewal.

Since then, in talking to members, we have learned several things. One is that we must improve communication with members, and we are working on that.

We also had requests for multi-year memberships.

We had questions come up from an organization who joined over who was the official member and who got the discount.

Then we did some math. The 10 percent member discount we offered on registration for 2012’s LauraPalooza actually cost the association more than $10 membership fee which means we were basically paying people to join.

We were happy to do this. LauraPalooza is only beginning to establish itself, and we wanted as many Laura fans and researchers to take part as possible.

Now that we have a little history and have proven that we can put on a conference on a regular basis, we feel it’s reasonable to increase rates, offer some more levels, and multi-year memberships.

It’s also time for renewals.

Since annual memberships were established to expire on July 1, even those who renewed as part of LauraPalooza registration will expire on July 1, 2012. Yes, that is BEFORE the conference. Therefore, to take advantage of member benefits AT the conference (a 10 percent discount on LIWLRA merchandise, early admission to both Alison Arngrim’s show and the authors’ reception), members will have to renew either before then or at the conference.

This is in line with what the membership schedule has been like all along. But because it may not be what people expect, we’ve decided to hold back on raising membership rates until AFTER the conference. So as long as you renew before the conference ends, it will STILL only be $10. Renew TODAY!

Click here to renew.

New Levels

• Half-Pint $5
  For members under age 18, this membership level has the same benefits as adult individual level. Members can buy multiple years at no further deduction in cost (for example 2 years would be $10), but can’t buy ahead past membership year in which they turn 18 (so you can’t pay $25 when you are 18 and get cheap rate when 19-22). This time we let children register early for Camp Laura if they had a parent who was a member, next time children should have their own Half-Pint or be part of a Family Membership to get the Early Bird registration.
• Individual $15
  For members over 18 a single year is now $15 . Members can also join for 2 years for $28 and 3 years for $40. If membership rates change, memberships purchased ahead are unaffected by any increase.
  Benefits:
  Member card
  Early Bird Registration during conference years
  10 % discount on all LIWLRA purchases including conference registration
  Added to members only announcement list (still in development)
  Can post on members only bulletin board page on Beyond Little House
  Attendance at Members Only events and early member admission at conference (will vary conference to conference)
  Sticker on name badge showing member at conference
• Institutional $25
  Institution is defined as organization, library, museum, or business. It is not for households or joint memberships.
  Benefits:
  Door cling-on – this is to take the place of an membership card 
  10 % discount on all LIWLRA purchases
  All of other benefits given to individual members (limited to 2  discounted conference registrations)
• Family $25 –
  This is for families. A family membership is limited to 2 adults and unlimited children living in the same household.
  Benefits:
  Same as individual, includes one membership card only (limited to 2 discounted adult conference registrations, unlimited children’s registrations)
• International Members –
  We’re also going to add $1 for International Memberships to help defray the difference in postage. If you purchase multiple years at once it will still only be $1.

Sarah S. Uthoff blogs at TrundleBed Tales; look for her on Twitter and YouTube and Blog Talk Radio
Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association, Vice-President and Membership Chair