POLICY STATEMENTS REGARDING THE SITE MEMBERSHIP ROSTER

(Reprinted from the SITE Procedural Manual - Section D)

 

 

I.  ENDORSEMENT OF PRODUCTS/SERVICES

 

The overall objective of SITE is to stimulate the growth and professional development of its members, to the benefit of their employers, and the industry as a whole.

 

SITE maintains a neutral position on specific issues facing the insurance industry and with differences among member companies and product/service providers.  It is the intent of SITE neither to sponsor nor endorse any one company's philosophy or any one provider's product or service.

 

SITE does not permit the advertisement of any materials in its publications and the organization's guidelines do not permit the use of its membership roster for solicitations or publicity by outside entities.  SITE will refuse to honor any/all requests for the sale and/or use of its membership roster.

 

SITE will consider entering into agreements with member organizations, which the Board believes will benefit the Society in achieving its mission.  These agreements may include fee for services, or other financial arrangements.  The Board of Directors will use the following criteria in evaluating such agreements:

 

§         The services offer a direct benefit to the Society in achieving its objectives;

§         The service is intended to generate one of the following: new memberships and/or non-dues revenue;

§         The associated costs to SITE are less than those associated with the expected benefits to SITE and its members.

 

SITE must insure the equality of treatment of products/services that may be available to members through other SITE members.  This parity position is best achieved by not endorsing any products/services.

 

SITE does provide an arena for providers to market their products/services by the rental of exhibit booths at the Annual Conferences of SITE, and at Regional meetings and workshops.  Discounts and/or other considerations to potential purchasers may be consummated individually during the exhibiting periods.

 

II.   USE OF MEMBERSHIP ROSTER BY VENDORS

 

The Membership Roster is not to be used by vendor members for publicity nor to solicit business from the membership.

 

Vendor members who exhibit at the annual conference will be provided with a pre-conference list of attendess approximately one month in advance of the annual conference, for the purpose of contacting pre-registered conference attendees.  These vendors will also be provided with one post-conference list of the final registration list, which must be used within 90 days of the end of the conference.

 

Vendor members can also promote their business by sending news releases on new products and services to be included in the Industry News section of the Society newsletter, InSITE.  This information will also be posted on the SITE website with the publication of InSITE, and a link to the vendor's website may also be provided.

 

Vendor members who exhibit at the annual conference receive a free advertisement and “hot link” from the Society's website “resources” page.  Vendors who have not exhibited at the annual conference may receive the “hot link” service at a cost of $100 for members; $150 for non-members.

 

 

Vendor members who exhibit at the annual conference receive a full page advertisement in the conference notebook and a listing in the SITE JOURNAL published following the conference.

 

Vendor members who exhibit at the annual conference and collect business cards from attendees are free to solicit business from those attendees who have left their business cards.  If business cards are collected for the purpose of a raffle or drawing, and if those individuals participating will later be contacted by the vendor, we respectfully request that the vendor disclose that fact to the attendees either in advance of collecting the cards or in the subsequent communication (i.e., “this email is being sent to you as a result of information we received from you at the SITE Annual Conference”) and these e-mails should have an opt out feature.

 

By signing the membership application, vendor members agree to abide by the SITE membership roster use policy.  Violators of this policy are subject to immediate suspension of their membership.

 

III.  USE OF MEMBERSHIP ROSTER FOR SURVEYS

 

The Membership Roster is not to be used for the purpose of general surveys.

 

In the event of an unauthorized survey, SITE's President should send a letter to any offender(s) explaining the procedure (see next paragraph).  This letter should further explain that a second violation of the procedure might result in the loss of SITE membership.

 

All requests to conduct a survey will be approved by the Board of Directors or the Executive Committee.  Their decision should be based on content and the overall value of the survey to the SITE membership.  All requests to conduct a survey should be submitted to the President.

 

Results of all surveys must be made available to SITE members; perhaps by publication of the results in SITE's newsletter (InSITE) or by means of an article in the SITE JOURNAL.

 

Updated and approved by the SITE Board of Directors, February 2002