By Ashley Bucher, JACL Membership Manager
Since I started at JACL, updating our membership categories has been an ongoing conversation. I remember being confused about the categories early on, and I quickly learned that this confusion was widespread among members and even leadership. “Why is Thousand Club $200 and not $1,000?” “I thought Century Club was only a lifetime category. There’s an annual one, too?” “Why does the Thousand Club Spouse pair with Century Club?”
In December 2022, the membership team began reimagining what our Premium and Life categories could look like. Dominique Mashburn (vp for membership), Phillip Ozaki (former development director) and I met to discuss this weekly for many months. After thoughtful conversations with staff, board, membership chairs and members, we planned to present an amendment to the Constitution-and-Bylaws at the 2023 JACL National Council meeting in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo during the National Convention. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to vote on the new categories.
Although we were discouraged and thought our hard work was all for naught, we realized how we could maximize the next year to make 2024 a success. The Eastern District Council suggested that we change our time-based Premium categories to be more timeless and recognizable. With this revision and additional feedback from a membership-wide survey, we brought our new and improved CBL amendment to the 2024 National Council in Philadelphia this past summer.
As I stood before 69 chapters in the Sheraton’s Freedom Ballroom, I braced myself for questions and objections. (If you thought the membership categories were confusing before, trying to make changes is doubly confusing!) To my genuine surprise, each and every voting card rose up high. I looked across the sea of orange cards, and a wave of gratitude washed over me.
Our delegates not only took the time to review and understand the amendment but also believed in it enough to vote “yes.” On behalf of the membership team, we can’t thank our chapters enough for trusting us with the future of JACL membership.
Now for the exciting part — making JACL history together! We’re looking forward to transitioning to the new categories starting in January 2025. If you’d like to upgrade early, please visit www.jacl.org/newcats. If you have any questions, our inbox is always open at mbr@jacl.org.
The membership department is thrilled to present a summary of the organization’s new membership category changes below! Details and meanings behind the new names are available on the JACL website (www.jacl.org/newcats). The history of the categories that are being retired is also featured here, as it is important to also honor the organization’s past.
Premium Level Changes:
- New $125 Level: Bronze Level
- $250 Level: Silver Level replaces Thousand Club (price increases by $50)
- $500 Level: Gold Level replaces Century Club (price increases by $150)
- $1,000 Level: Platinum/Millennium Level
- Instead of “Spouse” add-ons, members can add +$45 to any category above to become “Couple/Family,” which is more inclusive and consistent. For example, Silver Club Couple/Family is $295 ($250 Silver Club + $45 Couple/Family).
Life Levels Changes:
- $3,000 Level: Sapphire Life Trust replaces Thousand Life Trust
- $5,000 Level: Ruby Life Trust replaces Century Life Trust
- New $10,000 Level: Diamond Life Trust
The following membership categories will have NO CHANGES:
- Student/Youth
- Regular/Individual
- Couple/Family
(Also, there will be no changes to chapter dues/dues standardization. In addition, current Thousand Club and Century Club annual members (and any annual members) may renew at whichever membership level they prefer. Current Thousand Life Trust and Century Life Trust members will receive a notice to let them know the name of their membership has changed to Sapphire or Ruby, respectively. It is just an FYI that the name has changed.)
This amendment would not have passed without the guidance and support of Tiffany Ikeda, the CBL Committee, Paul Uyehara, Phillip Ozaki, Kim Hirose, Chip Larouche, Saki Mori, Sheldon Arakaki and so many others. Thank you for your JACL membership. Our future is brighter because of you!
