Membership in the American Council of Learned Societies is restricted to organizations. There are three types of membership: Constituent Learned Society, Associate, and Affiliate.
Constituent Learned Society
The purpose of the Council, as set forth in its constitution, is "the advancement of humanistic studies in all fields of learning in the humanities and the social sciences and the maintenance and strengthening of relations among the national societies devoted to such studies." Constituent learned societies pay dues based on the number of individual members, ranging from $990 for societies with under 1,000 members to $9,900 for societies with over 20,000 members.
The following are the criteria for admission as a constituent learned society, as adopted by the Council:
Policy Statement on Admission of New Constituent Societies
Societies seeking admission should be national or international in membership and preference will be given to societies that are broad in their interests. Typically, their membership and interests will significantly differ from those already represented among the Council's constituent societies. A candidate society should make a substantial, distinctive and distinguished contribution to the Council's ability to advance scholarship in the humanities and humanistically oriented social sciences, to represent that scholarship in the academy and in the wider society, and to strengthen the relations among societies dedicated to these purposes.
A society's primary focus must be on the advancement and support of scholarship. A substantial proportion of its individual members will be scholars and the society will normally support continuing scholarly research and publication in a way that is distinguished and recognized. The Council may seek the advice of appropriate scholars in evaluating the scholarly strengths of applicant groups.
A society seeking admission should be mature and stable. Normally it will have been in existence for a minimum of five years and will hold an annual scholarly meeting. It should possess a sound constitution and by-laws and should be well-administered and financially secure. Copies of the constitution and by-laws and the latest audited financial statement should accompany an application for membership.
Although the number of constituent societies is not fixed, maintaining an effective size for the Council and a reasonable distribution among the scholarly interests represented is an important consideration. Each case is considered on its merits and on the contribution it will make.
See ACLS Learned Societies for more information.
Associate
The support of the Associates provides significant annual funding, but it also, and perhaps more important, represents recognition of the value of the activities of ACLS on the part of a diverse group of institutions, principally universities and colleges. Associates receive copies of all major ACLS publications, and ACLS turns principally to scholars from these institutions to recruit screeners and panelists for the Fellowship Selection Panels. Associates fees are $6,620 for institutions that grant the Ph.D. in the humanities and social sciences, $2,755 for institutions that grant M.A.s, and $1,660 for all other Associates. ACLS welcomes new Associate members at any time throughout the year. Associates are invited to participate in the Annual Meeting.
See ACLS Associates for more information.
Affiliate
Affiliates are organizations and institutions, such as the Association of Research Libraries and the Federation of State Humanities Councils, whose goals and purposes are so closely linked to those of ACLS that a formal connection is desirable for both parties. Affiliate members serve to increase the community and the effectiveness of those actively working on behalf of the humanities under the ACLS umbrella.
Affiliate membership offers a formal institutional connection with ACLS, which includes the benefit of working with the Conference of Administrative Officers (CAO); ongoing contact with the ACLS staff on matters of interest to the scholarly community; and continued involvement in the crucial network of contacts with which ACLS works. Affiliates are invited to attend the ACLS Annual Meeting and meetings of the CAO, ex officio, at their own expense. They pay an annual membership fee of $1,150.
Acting upon recommendations from the Executive Committee of the Delegates, the Board of Directors approves requests for Affiliate membership, acting upon recommendations from the Executive Committee of the Delegates. Each applicant is asked to submit a recent annual report and a statement explaining its reasons for seeking affiliation.
See ACLS Affiliates for more information.