Hello Fergie, and welcome to APCW. It’s good to see such an interest right off the bat! 
>>>…why not have a link to the APCW at the bottom of each email to other casino-portal webmasters…
Members are encouraged to place APCW banners on any gambling related pages on their site they wish. You may use banners in emails if you want to, or text links… basically I don’t mind how you let people know you’re in the APCW, so long as it’s done responsibly.
As far as linking to one another, that is a possibility. We could put links below the banners which stated something like:
“Click Here to Visit Another APCW Member Site”
Getting members to participate may not be 100% though… 
All the members who I see in CAP would join in, I think. But there are some members who just want the banner on their sites. That’s certainly their decision to do, although I think they are missing out.
As far as ant fees or donations go:
Donations : I just don’t feel right about accepting any donations, as I have stated that the APCW is a service oriented business… not a non-profit organization.
Fees : Currently, I have collected ZERO dollars for APCW. As you have seen above in this thread, many webmasters will not join if there is a fee… even just a $10 one. Perhaps if there is ever a need for APCW to “hire” someone to help me crunch numbers, then a small monthly “dues” would be implemented. As of now, webmasters are still on the FREE schedule. :p