You asked why so few IBCLCs are ILCA members. I suspect there are numerous
reasons. Here are the ones I've been told:
a) I'm no longer working (read paid) in the field.
b) I can't afford $100 dues with what I am making.
c) I don't see any value in the membership; ie., it doesn't meet my needs.
d) Office people never responded to me, so I stopped rejoining.
e) Journal doesn't have what I'm looking for (most often, this has meant not
enough clinical information/focus/orientation).
f) Conferences are too expensive to attend, don't have sessions I can use,
are always at a time of year where I can't get away/am otherwise
engaged/conflict with family vacations, are too far away, etc. (often these
sorts of comments are clustered together)
g) My letters/questions to officers were never acknowledged or replied to
(people who have mentioned this have stated that they felt such lack of
response indicated lack of concern for members' needs)
h) The high cost of dues in the US does not reflect actual earnings of most
LCs (this is a variant on one of the other comments above)

You may wonder why I am able to enumerate so many reasons.. People have
called me to discuss this issue; many feel badly that they are not part of
what should be their professional association. However, they don't feel that
the association reflects their needs, so they have opted out.  One might
counter by saying that their failure to stay involved may be WHY the
association does not reflect their needs.  I see this as akin to the chicken
and egg problem (which came first), but regardless of one's orientation in
this regard, the loss of so many people (only 1/3 of certified individuals)
means that the organization (ILCA) is far weaker than it ought to be and
thus less capable of either identifying or supporting the needs of the
IBCLCs in the field, on the front lines, etc.

Perhaps as more and more IBCLCs are nurses employed in hospitals, more will
join ILCA. (Presumably, their salaries will be such that they can afford the
dues and may be able to get the time off to attend meetings, participate in
other ways, etc.  This, however, further dilutes the impact of other
professional backgrounds which, in my view, also weakens what the profession
could be.

Whatever the reason, it is important for ILCA to survey the NON-members of
the field; that is, those IBCLCs who have chosen NOT to join, or not to
rejoin.  I wish them good luck in this endeavor (and it needs to be done by
means other than electronic if they are to truly survey the majority).
Assuming that all such individuals are computer-literate is a mistake that
could contribute to skewed results and therefore skewed outcome assumptions.

Kathleen G. Auerbach, PhD, IBCLC
Ferndale, WA

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