Membership FAQ

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1. Who is eligible for membership?
2. What are the membership types?
3. What are the prorated federation dues for the 2007-2008 club year?
4. What benefits do members receive?
5. Why must clubs maintain 15 regular members, and why do the other membership types not "count" toward this requirement?
6. What is classification?
7. What are the requirements when choosing a club name?
8. Can men be invited to membership?

1. Who is eligible for membership?

According to the SIA bylaws, to qualify for membership, a candidate should be:

• working in a profession or business or in an occupation of comparable status or responsibilities to those of a person working in a profession or business; or
• recently retired from or temporarily or permanently out of work from a profession or business or an occupation of comparable status or responsibilities to those of a person working in a profession or business; or
• embarking on a career in a profession or business or occupation of comparable status or responsibilities to those of a person working in a profession or business.

Many clubs specifically ask for clarification of the phrase “profession or business” as used in the bylaws. It is understandable why clubs look for guidance in this area, because determining what constitutes a profession or business is not a black and white issue. Even if it were possible to generate an all-inclusive list of titles and occupations that are considered to be part of the profession and business category, the list would be out-of-date almost immediately as women enter new and diverse fields and their professional lives evolve. Additionally, titles continue to become more and more unique to the industries they serve, not always falling into standard categories and rarely articulating the true meaning of a woman’s responsibilities and capabilities.

Therefore, because it is so difficult to provide a concrete definition of “profession or business,” SIA empowers clubs to be inclusive in their interpretation of this phrase (and the related “occupation of comparable status or responsibilities”) rather than exclusive. Instead of focusing solely on title and occupation, clubs are encouraged to look closely at the actual work a potential member does and how her attitude, enthusiasm, ideas, and skill sets would add to the club. In other words, the primary focus of recruitment should be on specific contributions a woman can make to the club and to Soroptimist.

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2. What are the membership types?

Regular Member

• Definition: Those working in a profession or business or in an occupation of comparable status or responsibilities.
• Do they have to be assigned a classification code? Yes.
• What are the 2007-2008 annual federation dues and other mandatory payments? $44.00 federation dues; $6.00 SI dues; and $2.00 liability insurance (United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Guam only).
• Do dues include a subscription to SIA’s Best for Women magazine? Yes.
• What is the required number of regular members needed to maintain a club charter? 15.
• Can a regular member hold office at the club, district, region and/or federation level? Yes, regular members can hold office at all levels.
• Can a regular member qualify as a delegate at district, region and/or federation level? Yes.

 Retired/Unemployed Member

• Definition: Those recently retired from, or temporarily or permanently out of work from, a profession or business or an occupation of comparable status or responsibilities to those of a person working in a profession or business.
• Do they have to be assigned a classification code? No. However, if a retired/unemployed member re-enters the workforce, she will need to change her member type to regular and be assigned a classification code.
• What are the 2007-2008 annual federation dues and other mandatory payments? $44.00 federation dues; $6.00 SI dues; and $2.00 liability insurance (United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Guam only).
• Do dues include a subscription to SIA’s Best for Women magazine? Yes.
• Do retired/unemployed members “count” toward the 15 members needed to maintain a club charter? No, 15 regular members are required to maintain the charter.
• Can a retired/unemployed member hold office at the club, district, region and/or federation level? Retired/unemployed members can hold office at the club level if the club bylaws allow it. They cannot hold office at any other level.
• Can a retired/unemployed member qualify as a delegate at district, region and/or federation level? Yes.

Embarking Member

• Definition: Those who are embarking on a career in a profession or business or occupation of comparable status or responsibilities to those of a person working in a profession or business.
• Do they have to be assigned a classification code? Yes, if they are working. If they are still enrolled full time in a professional program of study, they do not need a classification code.
• What are the 2007-2008 annual federation dues and other mandatory payments? $44.00 federation dues; $6.00 SI dues; and $2.00 liability insurance (United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Guam only).
• Do dues include a subscription to SIA’s  Best for Women magazine? Yes.
• Do embarking members “count” toward the 15 members needed to maintain a club charter? No, 15 regular members are required to maintain the charter.
• Can an embarking member hold office at the club, district, region and/or federation level? Embarking members can hold office at the club level if the club bylaws allow it. They cannot hold office at any other level.
• Can an embarking member qualify as a delegate at district, region and/or federation level? Yes.

Life Member

• Definition: Those members who achieved life member status by July 2001 and who wish to retain that status.
• Do they have to be assigned a classification code? No.
• What are the 2007-2008 annual federation dues and other mandatory payments? $10 federation dues; $6.00 SI dues; and $2.00 liability insurance (United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Guam only).
• Do dues include a subscription to SIA’s Best for Women magazine? No. Life members may subscribe to the magazine by paying $11 (United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Guam) or $15 (all other countries).
• Do life members “count” toward the 15 members needed to maintain a club charter? No, 15 regular members are required to maintain the charter.
• Can a life member hold office at the club, district, region and/or federation level? Life members can hold office at the club level if the club bylaws allow it. They cannot hold office at any other level.
• Can life members qualify as a delegate at district, region and/or federation level? Yes.
• How long do life members maintain their status? Life members maintain their status for their lifetime as long as there are no lapses in membership or changes in membership type.
• Can life members change their status? If a life member decides that she wants to be a regular or retired/unemployed member, she may choose to do so but she cannot return to life member status.
• Does the federation still bestow life membership? The federation no longer bestows life membership, but clubs are encouraged to honor members for years of service. The federation continues to sell life member pins and other length of service awards.

Associate member

• Definition: This type of membership may be granted by the federation to an eligible prospective member who wishes to join Soroptimist and there is no club in her community, or to any current member of a disbanding club. 
• Do they have to be assigned a classification code? Yes.
• What are the annual dues and other mandatory payments? $75.00, plus a one-time new member fee of $7.50.
• Do dues include a subscription to SIA’s Best for Women magazine? Yes.
• Can associate members hold office? No, associate members cannot hold office at any level.
• Can associate members qualify as a delegate at district, region and/or federation level? No.

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3. What are the prorated federation dues for the 2007-2008 club year?

• Members inducted July 1 through September 30 pay $44.00.
• Members inducted October 1 through December 31 pay $33.00.
• Members inducted January 1 through March 31 pay $22.00.
• Members inducted Apri1 1 through June 30 pay $11.00.

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4. What benefits do members receive?

In addition to intangible rewards such as friendship and personal fulfillment, members also receive the following benefits:

• Opportunity to participate in Soroptimist’s life-changing programs
• Access to professionally developed materials and resources in the members area of the SIA website
• Ability to learn and share best practices in our online networking forum
• Subscription to our award-winning Best for Women magazine, published quarterly
• Subscription to our email newsletter, the "Soroptimist Summary"
• Leadership development and networking opportunities at club meetings, region conferences, the biennial convention and other meetings
• Opportunity to provide feedback, offer suggestions and voice opinions through the Soroptimist Snapshot online surveys and other market research activities
• Opportunity to develop business relationships by posting a listing in the Member-2-Member Marketplace online directory
• Opportunity to serve as a mentor or mentee in the federation mentoring program
• Invitations to take advantage of special offers and discounts through our partnering organizations, including Pink magazine and Janney-Montgomery-Scott.

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5. Why must clubs maintain 15 regular members, and why do the other membership types not “count” toward this requirement?

The 15 member rule has been part of the Soroptimist International Constitution since the 1930s. In 2001, SI created the embarking and retired/unemployed membership categories in response to a poll of the membership in each federation that revealed that members thought there were many potential members who were just starting in careers or who were currently not working who could not, according to the law, be invited to join Soroptimist. Before the addition of these membership categories, members had to be actively engaged in a profession or business to be invited to join. By adding the new types and opening membership to these women, SI hoped to expand the pool of potential members. However, SI strongly supports that Soroptimist is an organization of working women, and that the core of its membership and leadership should continue to be “employed” business and professional women. Therefore, the SI Constitution states that only regular (i.e., working) members will be counted toward the 15 needed to maintain the club charter.

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6. What is classification?

Classification is the four-digit numerical code assigned to a member’s occupation. The Classification Guide includes instructions for determining the classification code. Regular and associate members require classification codes, as do embarking members who are working.

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7. What are the requirements when choosing a club name?

As Soroptimist strives to increase awareness of its mission and recruit members, it is increasingly important that both internal and external audiences – recipients of Soroptimist service, potential members, Soroptimist members in other federations, the media and the public at large – can easily identify and locate clubs within our international community. When selecting a new club name or changing an existing club name, the name should not only be geographically descriptive of the community it serves (i.e., contain an actual “place” name such as town, city, county) but should be identifiable throughout the entire Soroptimist family. Additionally, the club name should represent the area of club service rather than the various locations from which membership is drawn. Clubs who are selecting or changing their name are encouraged to contact the membership department at headquarters for guidance and suggestions.

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8. Can men be invited to membership?

The Soroptimist International Constitution, Article I, Section 2 states, “Soroptimist International is an association of Soroptimist federations of classified service clubs for women. Membership is by invitation only.”

During the 1980s, Rotary International was forced to admit women to membership. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that since women were being denied access to business opportunities, and since the Rotary meetings were held in places of public accommodation, Rotary Clubs could not restrict membership to men only. The other men’s service organizations quickly changed their requirements and allowed women to join. Women’s organizations have not faced the same legal challenges because despite gains toward equality, women have yet to achieve the power and status of men in the business world.

When the Supreme Court decision was announced, Soroptimist clubs in the United States were challenged regarding the restriction of membership to women only. The precedents set in the Rotary decision probably did not apply to women’s groups because of their minority status, but SIA did not wish for its clubs to become involved in costly legal battles.

It was in this environment that SIA asked for, and finally received in 1990, a waiver to the SI Constitution to allow clubs to invite men to membership. This waiver, however, was granted only to those clubs in U.S. states with public accommodation laws. SI granted a second waiver in 1997 to clubs in Brazil, which has similar public accommodation laws. Such laws might support legal action against a Soroptimist club by a man seeking to join, if he was denied membership based solely on gender. This would be hard to prove because Soroptimist membership is by invitation only, but lawsuits are expensive. At the time, 36 states in the United States had public accommodation laws. There have never been more than 35 men in Soroptimist membership.

U.S. clubs in the states with these public accommodation laws may invite men to membership, as may clubs in Brazil, if they choose. This option is not available to clubs outside Brazil or the United States. The recruitment and retention material that is used throughout the federation reflects the aims and purposes of Soroptimist as an organization for business and professional women  who wish to improve the lives of women and girls.

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