Medical alert bracelet / MedicAlert NZ

I sent a please explain letter to Medic Alert asking why I was suddenly being sent invoices, and got the following. It was in a pdf that was apparently sent out a few years ago, I don't recall getting it. Excuse the formatting, new lines etc seem to have disappeared in the copy pasta.

Short version is that they relied on donations from members who signed up a long time ago rather than charging a fee, and only charged fees to newer members. But the older members basically didn't make donations which wasn't sustainable.

Dear <<Fore Name>>,In 2006 an annual fee was introduced and applied for new Members only, effective 1 July 2007. The Foundations Members at the time had recognized donations alone could not be relied upon to meet the ongoing costs for maintaining Health Information Technologies and Data updating services for every Member, required to maintain the integrity of their secure electronic demographic and health Information files, accessed by emergency services and health professionals using your genuine MedicAlert® Medical ID. At that time the board decided to defer making the fee compulsory for Foundation Members, in the expectation they would continue to make donations. This has provided Foundation Members with a further twelve years of no fees. Unfortunately, we have finally come to a point in time where fees must be compulsory for all members. The Foundation has been researching its fee model and discovered Foundation Members like yourself account for approximately 70% of the Foundations Membership base, but as a whole contribute 7.7% of the Foundations Revenue used to fund your membership and services. Members who joined after 1 July 2006 now account for approximately 30% of the Foundations Membership base but contribute over 61.84% of the Foundations Revenue. The Foundation also found the average donation by individual Service Members was almost double that of Foundation Members, recognizing the additional value they see in the vital services provided by the Foundation.While recognizing some Foundation Members have been extremely generous, this disparity was very startling to learn, voluntary Members on the Board felt it was inequitable and unfair, particularly for a Registered Charitable Organisation. Over recent years the Foundation has cut back on mail to Foundation Members who have no history of making Service Contributions, as it was no longer affordable for the Foundation to maintain this service.Over the past twelve years the Foundation (like other charities) has been exposed to new government-imposed compliance and increased labour costs, amongst other cost increases, with no new reliable revenue streams to meet the aggregated cost. The trend is that when costs increase, donations do not usually go up.Due to your Medical Risks and the importance of you keeping your Service Supported Medical ID active, we want to ensure you can afford to continue as a Member of the Foundation. Funding options may be available if necessary, to pay your fees, including a Disability Allowance from the Government if you qualify. Attached is a notice with Member Response Form, if you are happy to proceed and pay the fees you can do so now to help prevent the cost of an invoice being posted out. If you need assistance to pay the Service fee, it is most important you promptly complete and return the Response Form, as next month the Foundation will be issuing the invoice. As a valuable member of the Foundation, and on behalf of the Voluntary Board, I wish you well and welcome your most generous and urgent consideration of this matter

Edited to include a short version

duckDecoy

Handsomedan

duckDecoy