The Australian Marketing Institute this week revealed that it is asking members for a one off $99 levy to help cover the costs of after facing financial difficulties.
The so called “service enhancement fee” is a non-compulsory one-off payment and is said to be necessary to fund structural changes and additional services added over the last year.
The organisation says that additions such as offering members indemnity insurance and additional services and improvements - such as round table events and resources such as its Deloitte report on how to raise the profile of marketing, have created additional costs and cash flow issues for the organisation.
The levy requested of members is not compulsory, but AMI CEO Lee Tonitto, wouldn’t be drawn on how many of its member base would pay up but said: “We’re confident - we have a strong member engagement and members have been very supportive of the AMI.”
The AMI has also undergone significant structural changes and cost-cutting to rationalise its operations to become a “leaner organisation while retaining the quality of service” it provides members, she said.
It has made cuts to headcount and shifted towards a more “flexible and variable” workforce that includes three full-time staff, but also makes use of a larger number of contract and part time workers, as well as around 100 senior marketers who contribute in some voluntary capacity.
Tonitto calls the changes in organisational structure a “contemporary approach” that allow the AMI to “flex and scale as the demands change”.
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