> About W3C Membership > Membership Fees > October 2008

As of 2008-10-01, the annual Membership fee for an organization is shown by a fee table. To summarize the changes:

• The highest fees were raised for all three currencies.
• Fees for non-profits/government agencies in "high income countries" (see below for explanation) and for smaller for-profit organizations in other countries were raised for all three currencies, by a slightly higher percentage than for the highest fees.
• There were no changes in fees for non-profits/government agencies in "low income countries".

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.

Determination of Currency

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.

Hallway discussion during W3C Technical Plenary Week 2005

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:

• In Europe, the Middle East, and Africa: EUR
• Japan and Korea: JPY
• All other countries: USD

Determination of Fee

All W3C Members share the same benefits and responsibilities. Membership fees vary depending on certain characteristics of your organization.

• Nature of activity
  • For-profit
  • All other organizations, including not-profit organizations and government agencies.
• Annual gross revenue
• Country of headquarters

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.