Individual Member

$100 per year Supporter; or $200 per year Supporter Champion

Note: There is an alternative $10 / $20 per month subscription option (via our Patreon account).

Open to anyone.

Benefits include our quarterly email Newsletter, plus:

• Take part in polls to help choose reporting standard options. Poll results are used to help us develop industry consensus standards taking account of consumer opinions.
• Take part in Q&A sessions. As new standards are being developed we hold online sessions to provide an overview of what’s coming, and answer your questions.
  • Champion level bonus: Send your questions and suggestions any time, directly to the chair of our elected standards development panel.
• Livestream, and recording access to our Annual General Meeting (AGM).
  • Champion Level bonus: Livestream and recording access to our quarterly members update meetings with the developers of our standards.
• Your name in our online members’ directory. This is optional – you can opt out during signup.
  • Champion Level bonus: Additional recognition in the members’ directory.

* An individual voting option is available for independent professionals working in the field of accessibility and technology. Benefits are similar to those given to organizations, such as participation in standards development, and access to prototypes. (Additional cost: $100)

Organizational Member

$400 per year

Open to registered organizations working on anything relating to accessibility and technology (e.g., as a testing company, customer, vendor). Includes for profit companies, non-profit organizations, academic groups, and government departments.

Benefits include our quarterly email Newsletter with Professional Supplement, plus:

• Vote on standards adoption, and other member matters. Each organization receives 1 vote on the adoption of industry consensus accessibility reporting standards.
• Full access to meetings. Any employee, owner or director can attend meetings on behalf of the organization. While some meetings limit number of participants, you can usually send multiple staff to attend. All meetings are held online, and recording access is available for all-member meetings, including quarterly updates from the standards developers, our AGM, and Annual Planning meeting.
• Organizational listing with logo and link in our online members’ directory.
• Access to members area of website. During the standards development process, access to tools and resources are made available exclusively to our professional voting members.
• Stand for election, and join committees. Any of your staff may stand for election to our board of directors and our standards development stewardship panel. Other opportunities to contribute include participation in our committees working to support the promotion of our mission.
• Access to prototypes. During the standards development process and prior to publication, our professional voting members have exclusive access to prototypes. Organizational members receive access to Beta prototypes to assess and prepare for how they can capitalize on and utilize the new standards.

Strategic Partner Organizational Member

Open to organizations as described above.

Rates are based on type of organization:

• Non-Profits and Academia: $500
• For-Profit Companies: $1,000 to $10,000 (increments of $1000 per additional $1M annual revenue)
• Government Departments: $10,000

Benefits

Benefits include those of organizational members, plus:

• Your Seat on the Council of Strategic Partners (CSP), providing direct access to the standards development process. The CSP meets monthly with the standards developers, and provides a consultation and advisory role.
• First access to prototypes. Strategic Partner Organizational members receive exclusive access to Alpha prototypes and first access to Beta prototypes. Having first access provides you with an edge to assess and prepare for how you can capitalize on and utilize the new standards.
• Prominent listing with your logo and link in our online members’ directory. You may also provide links to your own related content (media, resource websites, apps, etc.) on our website.

We are working towards similar missions, promoting access and inclusion. We can support each others’ work:

• You promote us on your website and member communications, and we promote you similarly
• You can provide an annual webinar to our members on why they should consider joining your organization, and we do the same for your members
• Your organization’s leadership is considered a member and afforded all of the benefits of membership of SAR (except voting and standing for election), and vice versa
• Your members are not considered members of SAR, and vice versa
• Membership is based on a singed agreement / memorandum of understanding between our organizations

Note: Associations have the option of foregoing any of the above, and become voting members of SAR by signing up as regular organizational members.

The sponsor of a given project receives the benefits of Strategic Partner Organizational Members (although the sponsor can also be an individual), and the sponsor (individual or organization) is not required to be working in the field of technology accessibility.

Project sponsors receive a prominent logo on our website, along with the name of the project they are sponsoring. Membership lasts through the duration of the project.

Project sponsorships start at $25,000.

Membership options

For employees of SAR-membership-eligible companies, there are three possible pathways to join as a member:

1. Join as an Individual Supporter or Supporter Champion. This option is open to anyone. It does not include voting rights or access to prototypes, but it does keep you in the loop as to what is coming in the future.
2. Offer your services as an In-Kind member (see other options on this page). This option lets you vote and participate in return for your time and skills; but you are not representing your employer.
3. Discuss options for joining SAR with your company leadership. If and when the company joins, you can represent them as a full voting, participating member.

If you would like to discuss any of the above options or issues, you can always ask to meet us.

Why is this the case?

We provide one vote to organizations, as well as independent individual professionals. By “independent” we refer to gig workers, freelance, retirees and such. If you are an employee of a an SAR-membership-eligible company then we cannot consder you as “independent”.

The proliferation of our new standards may result in resource implications for companies, and so the leadership companies must decide whether to join SAR and receive the benefits that come with membership. In fairness to all of SAR’s paying members, we must ensure that representation of any given company’s opinions and votes are cast only by authorized representatives of that company. This is why it is not possible for one or more individuals who work at a given company to join as individual voting members, because by virtue of their employment we have no way to ascertain whether those individuals are casting votes independently.

We are a small but growing organization, and people can help by volunteering their time and skills in certain areas. In return, we waive the membership fee for the remainder of the current fiscal year. All In-Kind memberships require approval of the Board of Directors. An In-Kind Member maintains the status that they are eligible for as a paid member, including voting rights.

Our current In-Kind Services needs:

• Graphic, Video & Communications Design
• Captioning / ASL meeting services
• Marketing lead [Filled]
• Web social media marketing support [Filled]
• Website development and maintenance [Filled]
• Web hosting services & web technical support [Filled]

If we are working on a project where there is a skills requirement that is not being met within the current membership, we may seek outside expertise to become a member. Invited Experts do not pay membership fees for up to one year, but are otherwise afforded the full benefits of membership, including voting rights.

Membership invitations always come from the Board of Directors. Invitations will be sent to our professional mailing list and/or by direct outreach to individuals or organizations. (Please do not contact us to offer your services as a potential Invited Expert. If you are an expert in this area, please consider joining as a member.)