Council on Foreign Relations

Membership

 

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is first and foremost a membership organization. With more than 4,300 members, CFR's ranks include top government officials, renowned scholars, business leaders, acclaimed journalists, prominent attorneys, and a host of distinguished nonprofit professionals. Members participate in meetings, panel discussions, interviews, lectures, book clubs, and film screenings to discuss and debate the major foreign policy issues of our time. Members have unparalleled access to world leaders, senior government officials, members of Congress, and prominent thinkers. Included among CFR members are a group of term members. Term members must be between the ages of thirty and thirty-six, and term memberships are limited to five years. Here is a summary of the membership process:

• A candidate for membership must be nominated in writing by one CFR member and seconded by a minimum of three other individuals (maximum of four). Seconding letters do not need to be from CFR members, but letters from members are strongly encouraged.
• A candidate for term membership must be nominated in writing by one CFR member and seconded by a minimum of two other individuals (maximum of three). Candidates applying for the November 1, 2010 deadline must be between the ages of thirty and thirty-six on January 1, 2011
• Prospective candidates should contact Membership Affairs via applications@cfr.org to receive a link to the online application.
• Each candidate will be prompted to enter the names and email addresses of his or her nominator and seconders. All letter writers will be emailed a link to the website where letters can be posted securely and will only be visible to the membership committee.
• Membership and term membership is restricted to U.S. citizens (native-born or naturalized) and permanent residents who have applied to become citizens. If foreign born, a candidate must submit a statement that he or she has been naturalized or is a permanent resident who has made formal application for citizenship. These statements can be emailed to applications@cfr.org.
• Deadlines for receipt of all materials for prospective members are March 15 and October 1. For prospective term members, the deadline is November 1.

Members of the Council's Board of Directors and membership committee are precluded from nominating, seconding, and writing supporting letters on any candidate's behalf.

Membership Selection Procedure: A Summary
Membership
Term Membership
Application Checklist
Rules and Regulations to Keep in Mind
Nominating Letters
Seconding Letters
Application Deadlines
Notification
Application Eligibility
Contact for All Membership Matters and Correspondence

Corporate Membership

 

Membership

Quality, diversity, and balance are the key objectives sought by CFR in the composition of its membership. New members are named twice a year by the Board of Directors, which invites individuals to join based on recommendations by the membership committee. The committee is composed of five members of the Board and a number of other members chosen by the committee chair. To be considered by the membership committee, candidates must be nominated by a CFR member and seconded by three other individuals. The roster of members is listed in the annual report, which can be found on our website (www.cfr.org/about/annual_report).

In each round of membership selection, the membership committee considers significantly more candidates than there are vacancies; therefore, it is inevitable that the names of some candidates will appear before the committee on several occasions. Given the high level of the competition, it is impossible for us to accept every qualified candidate.

For more information on membership, please contact Scott Bradbury, program coordinator, Membership Affairs at 212.434.9484 or via applications@cfr.org.

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Term Membership

The Stephen M. Kellen Term Member Program encourages promising young leaders in government, media, nongovernmental organizations, law, business, finance, and academia to engage in a sustained conversation on international affairs and U.S. foreign policy. The program allows these younger members to interact with seasoned foreign-policy experts and participate in a wide variety of events designed especially for them. Each year a new class of term members, between the ages of thirty and thirty-six, is elected to a five-year membership term. The term membership program has grown to the point where the Board has indexed the number of term members to constitute no more than 15 percent of total CFR membership.

The term members enjoy a full range of activities, including events with high-profile speakers, an annual Term Member Conference, roundtables, trips to financial and governmental institutions around the country, and one week-long study trip abroad every two years.

For more information on term membership, please contact M. Kristy Clark, program associate, Membership Affairs at 212.434.9491 or via applications@cfr.org.

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Application Checklist

• Please contact Membership Affairs via applications@cfr.org for access to online application;
• Letter of nomination from a CFR member;
• Three seconding letters for membership (maximum of four);
• Two seconding letters for term membership (maximum of three);
• All materials should be submitted using the online application.

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Rules and Regulations to Keep in Mind

It is the responsibility of the candidate to contact Membership Affairs to initiate his or her application. Candidates and/or nominators are responsible for securing seconding letters within the content guidelines set forth below. CFR members are urged to commit themselves to nominating a candidacy only when he or she is confident the requirements of the process can be met. Please also note:

• CFR membership is restricted to U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the United States who have made application to become citizens. If a candidate was born outside of the United States, he or she must submit a statement that he or she has been naturalized or is a permanent resident who has made a formal application for citizenship.
• Officers of CFR as well as members of the Board of Directors and membership committee are precluded from nominating, seconding, and/or writing supporting letters on any candidate's behalf.
• A member who is a spouse, close relative, or near in-law of a candidate may not nominate or second that candidate for membership in CFR. Members should also refrain from writing on behalf of clients.
• A member should write only in support of candidates whom that member has direct personal knowledge. Additionally, members are encouraged to make comparative judgments about candidates, where appropriate.
• The membership committee asks members to write no more than two letters per round (either one nominating letter and one seconding letter, or two seconding letters).
• CFR visiting fellows are prohibited from applying for membership until they have completed their fellowship tenure.
• Candidates for term membership must be between the ages of thirty and thirty-six on January 1 of the year in which their election takes place. Term membership elections are held in June of the following year from the application deadline.

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Nominating Letters

Letters nominating a candidate for consideration by the membership committee should be no more than 500 words in length. Please address the following criteria, which have always been central to the committee's consideration of membership candidates:

• Intellectual attainment and expertise
• Degree of experience, interest, and current involvement in international affairs or in other areas affecting international affairs
• Promise of future achievement and service in foreign relations
• Potential contributions to the Council's work
• Desire and ability to participate in Council activities
• Standing among his or her peers

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Seconding Letters

Seconding letters need not be so comprehensive (no more than 300 words), but should amplify why, in the opinion of the writer, a candidate should be considered for CFR membership by addressing the above criteria or by providing other relevant information. Thoughtful, candid, and succinct comments are far more important in seconding letters than formal endorsements of candidates. In seconding letters particularly, writers should express why a given candidate should be considered for CFR membership for reasons beyond the basic criteria above.

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Application Deadlines

Strict observance of deadlines is essential to staff support of the membership committee's work and we request your continuing cooperation. The preparation of individual membership files for submission to the committee is a continual process. Applications that are not completed prior to the deadline for any given committee meeting will not be forwarded for consideration at that time, but will remain on file and can be submitted for consideration at a future committee meeting once completed.

Membership	March 15 and October 1
Term Membership	November 1

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Notification

All membership candidates and their nominators will receive notification of the committee's decisions according to the schedule below. Seconders of elected candidates will also be notified.

Application Deadline	Notification
Membership, October 1	February
Term Membership, November 1	June
Membership, March 15	June

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Application Eligibility

Candidates who are unsuccessful at any given meeting may remain eligible for consideration at a subsequent committee meeting, provided they submit updated biographical information and secure a minimum of one and maximum of three additional letters of support that provide new insights that would be helpful in the selection process. If new letters and materials are not received, it will be assumed that a candidate does not wish to be considered at the subsequent meeting of the membership committee. If a candidate is not elected after two consecutive meetings, the application will be placed on hold for a period of three years for membership candidates and one year for term membership candidates. After the hold period, the candidate may reactivate the file for consideration. For term membership applicants, the hold period does not apply if a candidate would be ineligible to reapply due to age. The process is entirely one of affirmative selection.

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Contact for All Membership Matters and Correspondence:

Membership Affairs
Council on Foreign Relations
58 East 68th Street
New York, NY 10065
Telephone: +1-212-434-9484 Fax: (212) +1-212-434-9801
E-mail: applications@cfr.org

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