FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Membership Donations
What does it mean to be a member of Real Diaper Association?
Where does my membership donation go?
Is my membership donation tax deductible?
Will I receive a receipt from Real Diaper Association for my donation?
What if I want to give in excess of the membership donation?
When are the membership renewals due?

Business Memberships
I own a business in Canada … can I join either at the individual or at the business membership level?
May I use parts of the RDA Diaper Facts on my business website?
Where can I find a Membership Seal?
Will RDA have a nation-wide business listing?
I have an online diapering business. What are the benefits to me of business membership?
What if I want to expose my business to RDA members online?
I just signed up as a Business Member with my partner.  Do we both receive membership into RDA?

Individual Memberships
I'm in Buffalo, New York. Can I click on the other parts of the directory to see who is in San Francisco or Atlanta?
I am a member of a parenting group. Can we join as one Group Member?

Advertising
Does RDA accept advertising?

Submissions
I've written a great article. May I submit it for publication? If I do, will I get credit and a link to my site?

Real Diaper Circles
I would love to be a Circle Leader, but I don't have enough time. Can I apply with another person as a co-leader?

International Interest
I would like to form a similar organization to RDA in my country. How did you organize RDA?

Q: What does it mean to be a member of Real Diaper Association?
As stated in the RDA Bylaws, available here, a member is one who monetarily donates or contributes to the Real Diaper Association. It should be understood that the RDA does not have statutory members, as contemplated by the California Nonprofit Public Benefit law. Therefore, a member does not have voting or other rights in the corporation.

Q: Where does my membership donation go?
Membership donations, which are tax-deductible in the United States, support the functions of the Real Diaper Association. They pay for our Executive Director, who organizes our volunteers and advance our cloth diaper outreach and education programs, such as the Great Cloth Diaper Change and our Real Diaper Circles, and they cover the administrative costs of the organization.

Q: I own a business in Canada … can I join either at the individual or at the business membership level?
Yes, you can. Simply choose Canada as your country and choose your province when you sign up.

Q: Is my membership donation tax deductible?
Yes, RDA is tax exempt under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue code. All donations are tax-deductible. Save your cancelled check or PayPal statement as your receipt for this tax-deductible donation to Real Diaper Association.

Q: Will I receive a receipt from Real Diaper Association for my donation?
Yes, if over $250.00, otherwise your cancelled check or PayPal statement serves as a receipt for your tax-deductible donation.

Q: Does RDA accept advertising?
Yes, RDA does accept advertising. All money from advertising goes to support the functions of the Real Diaper Association.

Q: What if I want to give in excess of the membership donation?
Please send any donation through Paypal to payment@realdiaperassociation.org.  As RDA is tax exempt under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue code, all donations are tax-deductible. Save your cancelled check or PayPal statement as your receipt for this tax-deductible donation to Real Diaper Association. Thank you for your support.

Q: I've written a great article. May I submit it for publication? If I do, will I get credit and a link to my site?
You may submit your article, but there is no guarantee that your article will be used by the Real Diaper Association. Once you submit an article, you have given the Real Diaper Association the right to use it, or any piece of it, in any manner that they choose. If a pamphlet is used in its entirety, then you will be given authorship credits. If any part of the pamphlet is used, you may or may not receive credit depending on how it is used. If your article is published by RDA, your business name and homepage link can be listed with your byline.

Q: May I use parts of the RDA Diaper Facts on my business website?
Regarding using text found on our pages, please do feel free to use it in your independently written article or Facts page, citing the source appropriately and linking back to the original page on the RDA website. Remember, our text is copyright protected. Direct quotations should not exceed 100 words. If you want to refer to larger blocks of text, you may link to our Diaper Facts page directly.

Q: Where can I find a membership seal?
The business membership seal can be found in the welcoming email business members receive when they join. If you feel that you have not received this email in error, please contact heather@realdiaperassociation.org.  The business membership seal is only available to businesses that have joined the Real Diaper Association.

Q: When are the membership renewals due?
Memberships are annual, with donations payable the day you join and renewable one year later. For business members, your gross sales the day you join determine your appropriate donation level; your gross sales the day of your renewal determine your renewal donation level. If, during that year, you would like to adjust your gross sales level, you may log in to your membership account and edit your private information as well as your public listing. Adjusting the level will not change your donation level in the current year in any way. This should adjust the donation level as assessed the next year.

Q: Will RDA have a nationwide business listing?
The Real Diaper Association does have a nationwide listing now. All users can use all areas of our directory. We call it a Local Resource Directory because it is sorted locally, and we want cloth diaper users to connect with businesses and cloth diapering advocates local to them. The RDA listing is not going to be like those that exist elsewhere online. There will not be one page in which all businesses are shown nationally.

Q: I have an online diapering business. What are the benefits to me of business membership?
You could think of the benefits of membership in a couple of ways. How will a local listing help your business? It may be that you will find a new market by digging deeper into your own local community and meeting customers face-to-face. In this market, you will be the expert. People may buy from you because they have met you, and they have seen and touched your products. Or they may just prefer to buy locally. In this market, you won't be competing with 100s of online businesses.

You may also want to think of the benefits of solidarity with other businesses and with cloth diaper users. By advocating collectively, we will have a stronger voice in media, government, and industry. When we supply reliable, current scientific information, all of our members can use this to show diaper users a clearer picture of their choices. When we fund broad studies into the health, environmental, and cost benefits of cloth diapers, we will open the way to further fulfill our mission: to put more babies in cloth diapers.

Q: What if I want to expose my business to RDA members online?
For the Real Diaper Association, the website is just part of the organization. As a whole, the organization would like to take that abundance of diapering energy that exists online and reach out beyond that small market to the parents of the rest of the 4 million babies in diapers. Rather than doing this at a distance, we want every diapering parent to show those close to them how easy it is to use cloth diapers. Our focus is on the face-to-face, so our focus in on the local. If you decide that a stronger local presence will help your business, then please join us.

Q: I'm in Buffalo, New York. Can I click on the other parts of the directory to see who is in San Francisco or Atlanta?
Yes.

Q: I am a member of a parenting group. Can we join as one Group Member?
No, you may not. Each person needs to join as an individual member of RDA.

Q: I would love to be a Circle Leader, but I don't have enough time. Can I apply with another person as a co-leader?
Absolutely! Read through So You Want to be a Real Diaper Circle Leader about the responsibilities and requirements of a Circle Leader. A co-leader should compliment and assist the Circle Leader in the tasks of running the Real Diaper Circle and therefore, should be considered carefully.

Q: I just signed up as a Business Member with my partner.  Do we both receive membership into RDA?
No, you have purchased a single business membership.  Your partners may join as individuals, at a reduced rate from the business membership.

Q: I would like to form a similar organization to RDA in my country. How did you organize RDA?
We started with an idea to support cloth diapering and gradually gathered a group of hard-working people. To create a legally recognized organization, we needed to take a series of steps in particular order. We took those legal steps even as we worked to build the resources available through the organization. Our steps: outline mission and intentions, create plan and bylaws, create volunteer and educational materials, open website with resources and directory, accept donations, hire lawyer, incorporate, create a board of directors, protect servicemark, apply for tax exemption. While building the organization, we also created pamphlets, postcards, and other publications; sponsored an educational campaign; and put a lot of emphasis on preparing members to be local advocates. We have been active on cloth diaper related issues nationally and internationally, as we have made alliances to fulfill our mission. We continue to grow benefits available to RDA members, and we look forward to reaching future goals of professional staff, grant seeking, and sponsorship of research.

What is required of your organization depends on your specific intentions and your national laws. We would be happy to share our experience and offer advice as you create your organization. For more information, click here.