How are membership earnings calculated and paid to instructors?

HeatSpring Membership is an offering that has evolved over the past few years. Customers pay a monthly fee ($19) for a basket of benefits, including:

• Extended access to paid courses that have expired (can't post on discussion board)
• Certificates of completion for free courses
• The ability to enroll in designated paid courses for free

We share Membership earnings with instructors in a way that is similar to course enrollment fees: 50% of gross margin.

Here’s a breakdown of how one-month of membership earnings are calculated:

• Revenue: $19
• Cedit card and video hosting fees: $9
• Gross Margin: $10
• Gross Margin x 50% is the instructor share: $5

The instructor share is then divided equally across ALL courses that Member has ever enrolled in. In some cases this is one course, and that instructor recieves the full instructor share. In other cases the Member is enrolled in ten courses, so each course instructor receives 1/10th of the instructor share.

Membership payouts occur monthly and are bundled with other earnings from paid course registrations and affiliate earnings. You can see a full breakdown of your historical earnings, down to the individual transaction level, on your instructor dashboard.