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Dear Members and Associates:

Here is a brief update of our recent progress at Associated Cities, Inc, and our immediate goals, vision and initiatives:

■Conversion from an LLC to a Non-Profit: We are pleased to announce that, while there still remains some unfinished business to clean up, the transformation to a pure NP corporation has been completed. This will ensure that this Association will be member-owned, and run by an membership-elected Board of Directors, as well as numerous membership-run committees populated with elected members who will assist and guide all our activities. There are a few liability issues that I believe we are 90% through the process of making them non-issues, and I anticipate they will all be dismissed within 30 days, giving us a green light to proceed aggressively with our plans to make Associated Cities the Number One resource for all GeoDomain owners worldwide.

■Membership Structure: We have a new Membership Committee in place that will soon announce our new membership rate structure. This new structure will greatly increase our Membership, and open the doors making it easier for all owners of developed City.coms to join. Owners of multipleCity.com properties will be given one rate for all of their domains; owners of small City.com properties will be given a full membership opportunity for as little as $295 per year, giving them full access to all of the benefits that most of us have shared for years. In the past, some owners of multipleCity.com properties usually only joined with one of their sites; there was minimal incentive for the owners to pay additional dues for subsequent memberships. Now, there will be a cap on membership dues that an owner of multiple sites would pay, and each and every one of the City.com’s under an owners portfolio will join, giving our Association a robust membership roster that is sure to get the attention of National advertisers.

■Advertising Programs: As we build our network of pure City.com Members, our Executive Director Patrick Carleton will focus on securing lucrative advertising contracts, some regional, some national, some market specific…but all designed to bring much needed revenue to our City.comproperties. While this is not a new idea, and as many have said it was actually the original idea and goal of forming Associated Cities, for many reasons this has not become a program that benefited our Membership. This will change in the coming year. We plan on making it profitable for each and every one of us to be Associated Cities members. The potential addition of 100 PLUS new City.com properties to our membership will give us the strength and market share to attract the advertisers.

■GeoDomain Expo: We will form an Expo committee, and explore whether to keep all Expo responsibilities in-house, or appoint an outside organization to manage and organize our future Expos in return for a guaranteed revenue share. We also expect to announce our date and location of our Associated Cities GeoDomain Expo 2011 during September.

■Vision: Associated Cities needs to become an industry powerhouse, providing numerous programs and support, even legal, for the GeoDomain industry as a whole. From the members-only group email list that Associated Cities members have all used when we have a question or need advice, to our actually having formal representation in Washington to protect our interests…to having many lucrative advertising opportunities through our Association…to getting back to the basics of running a successful Expo that attracts not only all of our Membership, but also many new investors that would like to invest in our industry…our needs are many. In order to accomplish these initiatives, we need an active and robust Membership, along with the dollars necessary to accomplish these aggressive goals. I believe we are taking the proper steps necessary to achieve these results.

Please do not hesitate to contact me regarding any ideas or comments you may have. More to come, and thank you all for your patience during this time of transition.

Regards,
Fred Mercaldo
President
Associated Cities, Inc.