As of 2008-10-01, the annual Membership fee for an organization is shown by a fee table. To summarize the changes:
As stated in the W3C Member Agreement, the initial Membership term is three years and, during that time, the Membership Fee for an organization does not change. A history of W3C Membership Fees is available.
Each organization pays Membership fees in one of three currencies, depending on the country where its headquarters are located. W3C uses multiple currencies to offset some of the vagaries of currency exchange rates, which vary more often than W3C changes its fees. This means more predictability for Members (when establishing their budgets) and more predictability for the W3C staff -- almost all of the Member fees that are received in a given currency are also spent by the W3C staff in that same currency.
US Dollars, Euros, and Japanese Yen were chosen as the three currencies in light of the locations of the three W3C Host institutions: MIT, ERCIM, and Keio University.
The currency for a given country is determined as follows:
All W3C Members share the same benefits and responsibilities. Membership fees vary depending on certain characteristics of your organization.
The country of headquarters influences affects the currency of payment, but also whether a lower fee level is available. To promote diverse Membership, W3C offers lower Membership fees for organizations in some countries, based on a World Bank classification of country income. This resource defines four categories of countries: high income countries (HIC); upper middle income (UMC), lower middle income (LMC), and low income (LIC). The World Bank revises their categorization each year on 1 July. The changes take effect in W3C fee calculations on the following 1 January.
During the first three years of an organization's membership, if the World Bank classification of a country changes, that change does not change the annual membership fee for that organization. Any country classification changes will affect the annual membership fee for an organization in the fourth and subsequent years of membership.
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