ANNUAL DUES BILLING Q & A

Starting this current Senate year, 2021-2022, the Virginia JCI Senate will be fully moving to an annual billing cycle – that is, all Virginia Senators will be asked to pay their annual dues at the same time, in the first quarter, with the deadline of August 31st. This process actually started last year under President Jackie, for the 2020-2021 year, when two quarters were combined, and we are completing that process by moving everyone else’s dues to the beginning of the Senate year.

Up until recently, the VA Senate followed a quarterly billing cycle. Under this system, dues for certain Senators were required to be paid each quarter; every quarter, the Senate sent notices reminding a different group of Senators to renew their dues. Under the annual billing cycle, all members are asked to pay their annual dues at the same time, at the beginning of the year.

If you paid your dues in April or May of 2021, your dues actually went to the 2020-2021 Senate year. We’re now in the 2021-2022 Senate year, and we’re asking for dues for this current year. It’s important to emphasize that we’re NOT asking for extra or additional money from our members; these are the dues that are up for renewal each year – we’re just asking sooner than you might be used to. But once you renew at this time, we won’t ask again for the rest of the year, until the first quarter of the 2022-2023 year.

No. Under quarterly billing, members were not paying for the year ahead. They were paying for that current Senate year (July through June). Remember that we’re NOT talking about the calendar year. We’re talking about the Senate year, which runs from July 1st of one year to June 30th of the next year. And when we talk about quarters in the Senate year, that means the 1stquarter that ends August 31st, the 2nd quarter that ends November 30th, the 3rd quarter that ends February 28th or 29th, and the 4th quarter that ends May 31st. It’s also important to remember that under the quarterly billing system, whether a Senator paid in August (1st quarter) of one calendar year or May of the next calendar year (4th quarter), they were paying for the same Senate year. So it’s possible that a member could be ¾ through the Senate year before they paid their dues for that year. If that’s confusing to you, that’s because it is confusing! Quarterly billing is confusing! Annual billing will simplify this process and will be easier to understand.

Annual billing benefits both members and the VA Senate organization. Under the annual billing cycle, all members are asked to pay their annual dues at the same time, at the beginning of the year. Once we fully transition, annual billing will make it easier for our members to know when their renewals will be up and to plan for it – everyone will be due at the same time in the first quarter (due by Sept. 1). For the Senate organization, it means that we’ll be able to contact all of our members about their renewals at one time during the year. Instead of repeatedly sending out letters, emails, and making phone calls to our current members throughout the Senate year, we can spend three-quarters of that Senate year – more time and more resources – focusing on activities that serve our members and advance the goals of the Senate. We can focus on activities to activate Senators and welcome new Senators. We’ll also be able to have the funds from membership upfront and be able to better plan the use of our financial resources for that year. More and more state JCI Senate organizations are shifting away from quarterly billing and moving to annual billing processes, for all of the reasons outlined above. In other civic and volunteer organizations that collect membership dues (including the Virginia Life Membership Association), annual billing is already the standard practice. In short, annual billing, which is becoming the norm among membership organizations, is administratively simpler and more user-friendly for both members and the organization. It will be a win-win, once we fully transition.

While we are working on moving our members to the annual billing cycle, we’ll also be flexible this year and throughout the transition to those Senators who might need more time adjust. Even though we believe this will be a significant step forward for the Senate and benefit for members, we also want to support every member through this transition. We understand that this may be a big change for some of our Senators, and that not everyone may understand yet the change or what it means for them. We expect that this change will be a process, not a one year and done deal. If you’re having trouble paying your dues in the first quarter, let us know, and we’ll work with you. A few Senators have asked about paying half now and paying half later – we can do that. Or if you have another suggestion, let us know. We can be flexible!