Notice to Members: 2023 Membership Rate Increases
It's not news to anyone that inflation has spiked over the past two years. In the US, inflation has risen by 8% over the past year and 21% over the past five years. Inflation has been even higher for many of the activities that VFS engages in, especially food and beverage costs, audio-visual charges, printing, and shipping our publications.
VFS always tries to balance cost and benefits, to provide our members and attendees with the best value in the industry, cutting costs wherever possible to keep our fees low. Philosophically, we don't want to add to the vicious inflation cycle either, but we must offset our rising costs.
We have not raised individual membership dues in the last five years. A lot has happened during this time, but working with our members, we have continued to excel in our mission in advancing vertical flight. Our membership rates have been far below comparable educational and technical societies, and this is no longer sustainable. Effective Jan. 1, 2023, the membership rates will be as shown in the table below, still well below similar aerospace and engineering professional societies.
Supporting students and future generations of engineers remains a priority for VFS. Consequently, we're keeping the rate at $25 (the same it has been for the past two decades) but follow the industry trend of discontinuing print copy delivery of Vertiflite, the world's leading publication on vertical flight technology. Student members will now only receive the magazine electronically, unless they request continued delivery in hard copy.
We look forward to continuing to serve our members in the coming year and beyond. Thank you for your continued support!
Posted Oct. 25, 2022