montessori ed

This article is part of an ongoing series examining Montessori Organizations.  The information contained in this article was found by examining public records, specifically IRS form 990, filed by these organizations (found here).  Numbers presented are the average of the years 2005 & 2006.  I also include Sierra Club information as an external comparison to a highly successful and influential organization in the environmental movement.  

Montessori Organization Employees

As is clear from this graph, AMS has almost 3 times the number of employees as NAMTA or AMI.  

There are a variety of factors that influence an organization’s staffing needs, including the number of members and specific memberships rates, as well as the nature of services provided.   I lack the resources to investigate all these factors, but I am able to make some educated guesses.

Given the typical membership costs listed on each organization’s website…

• NAMTA $50/ year
• AMI-USA $50/ year
• AMS $90/ 12-18 months

and the membership dues revenue listed on the IRS form 990s, I can estimate each organization’s membership.

We can see that while NAMTA and AMI-USA have the same number of employees, NAMTA may have significantly fewer members.  However, NAMTA organizes more workshops annually and prepares more robust publications, and these services may require the larger staff/per member ratio.

In any event, AMS appears to have a much larger membership than either NAMTA or AMI-USA.

Sierra Club

I chose the Sierra Club as an external comparison because I admire their influence in national environmental policy.  The Sierra Club has 522 employees (not including volunteers) which is far more than AMS’s 13-14 employees or AMI-USA’s 5 employees. Honestly, I don’t know if there are 500 Montessori teachers in the United States.

Organization Employees including the Sierra Club

Today I joined NAMTA (North American Montessori Teacher’s Association) and renewed my membership with AMI (Association Montessori Internationale).  $50 each for one year memberships.  $100 total.

It would it be nice if there was a discount for joining multiple Montessori organizations…  “Join or renew with AMI today, and save 10% when you join or renew with NAMTA.”… or committing to longer term memberships… “Join for 3 years and save 15% on membership fees.”  

I’ll admit that AMI has a lifetime membership option at 1100 Euros, which at today’s exchange rate is $1,741.08.  Since a 1 year membership is $50, when they say lifetime they really mean you’re buying 35 years of memberships.  I’m 31, so a lifetime membership doesn’t save me any money until I’m 66 years old.  I admit that this calculation doesn’t adjust for inflation or the recent fall of the dollar against the Euro,  but even when the dollar gets stronger I don’t anticipate ever having $1000 or more that isn’t paying rent, buying groceries, or waiting for retirement.  

I appreciate AMI and all that it does, I’m simply bewildered that most major magazines have a better membership (subscription) offer than an international organization of professional educators.