Idea No. 11 for keeping AAJA extraordinary: 

I believe AAJA needs to consider offering multi-year memberships like the Online News Association and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists do. ONA offers professional, academic and associate members a one-year membership for $75 or a three-year membership for $150. (Maybe this is why ONA is one of the fastest-growing journalism professional groups.) And both NAHJ and the National Association of Black Journalists offer lifetime memberships (NABJ’s includes convention registration).

What does AAJA get out of it? Well, besides generating higher membership revenues, this is a way for members to say they are committed to journalism and to AAJA beyond the current calendar year. Members who’ve payed to play, as it were, also tend to be more engaged and more involved than the member who waits to renew until just before convention. We would have to sort out what year(s) the revenue is booked in or if members can pay over time as they do with Platinum memberships, but overall I think it’s definitely an idea worth pursuing.