W3C Logo

W3C Membership

Classes of Membership · How to Apply for Membership · Contact Information

Membership in W3C is open to all types of organizations. This includes commercial, educational and governmental entities. Members may be either for-profit or not-for-profit organizations.

The benefits of membership participation flow downward to subsidiaries of Members. In the case of government agencies and departments, or educational institutions, this is interpreted to include sub-agencies, departments, laboratories, etc. When a subsidiary takes advantage of this provision, participation in W3C activities must be coordinated through the Member's W3C Advisory Committee representative. Participants so authorized will officially represent the Member organization. The subsidiary may not indicate in its publicity that it is, itself, a W3C Member. Subsidiaries are, however, permitted to join W3C in their own right. A Member may designate an employee of one of its subsidiaries to be its W3C Advisory Committee representative. Such might be desirable when the Member wishes its name to be listed, but a subsidiary is the focal point of all W3C activity.

Membership is open to other "membership organizations", but in this case the benefits of W3C membership generally only extend to the staff and officers of those organizations, and do not flow through to their own members.

W3C does not have a class of membership tailored to, or priced for individuals. However, an individual who wishes to join as an Affiliate Member may do so. Our processes are designed for organizational participation, and we do not have the support structure to handle large numbers of individual members.

Classes of Membership

There are two classes of membership: Full and Affiliate.

There are no differences in Member benefits between the two classes of membership. All new Members must commit to a three-year initial term of membership. After that, membership renews annually. Eligibility for Affiliate Membership will be re-evaluated at each point the Member Agreement is up for renewal; i.e. after the initial three year commitment, and each subsequent year.

Class

Eligibility

Fees
Full Offered to all prospective members $US 57,500 per year
Affiliate

Only offered to organizations meeting any of the following three criteria:

  1. Not-for-profit organizations.
  2. Governmental departments and agencies
  3. For-profit organizations which:
    1. Have annual gross revenue, as measured by the most recent audited statement, of less than $US 50,000,000, and
    2. Are either:
      1. Not majority-owned by an entity with over $US 50,000,000 revenue, or
      2. Are a subsidiary of a Full Member of the W3C.
 $US 5,750 per year


How to Apply for Membership

There are four steps to the process. All must be completed for membership to be activated and maintained:

  1. Fill out the Membership Agreement
  2. Arrange Payment method
  3. Prepare a Cover Letter
  4. Submit the Application

1. Fill out the Membership Agreement
  1. Print off four copies of the appropriate Membership Agreement, as described above:
  2. Appendix 1 to Agreements
  3. Fill in the blanks in the first paragraph and Sections 3, 6 and 8.
  4. Have all four copies of the agreement signed and dated by an appropriate individual with fiduciary authority.

2. Arrange Payment method
  1. Payment, in US Dollars, must arrive within 30 days of the cover letter, along with the membership agreements or membership access will be disabled.
  2. If an invoice is required, indicate this on your cover letter. Payment must be received within 45 days of our invoice or membership access will be disabled.
  3. Make checks payable to Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  4. While not required, prepayment of multiple years is acceptable.
  5. You may also pay by Wire Transfer.

3. Prepare a Cover Letter

In a cover letter please include:

  1. Membership class: Full or Affiliate.
  2. Member Organization Info: Corporate headquarters/main office postal address, main phone number, main fax number.
  3. Advisory Committee Representative: Name, title, postal address, email address, phone number, fax number.
    When selecting an appropriate AC Representative, please see Appendix 1 which outlines the role of the Advisory Committee.
  4. Invoice Contact: Name, title, postal address, email address, phone number, fax number.
  5. Membership term start date: January 1st, April 1st, July 1st or October 1st.
    As stated in Paragraph 3 of the Membership Agreements, membership terms are back-dated to the first day of the quarter of your membership application. If you apply during the last month of a quarter, you may choose to delay activation of your membership until the beginning of the subsequent quarter. Please inform us of your choice.
  6. Preferred URL for your organization, which we will link in our List of Members.
  7. Member Site Access: IP address or personal password system.
    There are two ways to gain access to the Member site. You may choose to use both methods:
    IP address enabling -- for access from within the Member organization. Please send the set of IP addresses using wildcards as appropriate, eg, "18.18.*.*" within your organization to be added to the Member Access List. See special provisions for educational institutions.
    Personal password system -- for mobile and remote access, or access by specific personnel within the Member organization.
  8. The following paragraph: "I certify that my institution is in the process of executing the W3C Member Agreement. Between now and the time that this agreement is fully executed, I request access to the W3C web site and mailing lists. I agree that all employees and others affiliated with my institution will use these network resources in compliance with the intellectual property policy found in paragraph 7 of the Member Agreement and will also protect the confidentiality of all communication and information as provided by paragraph 1.1.3 of the Process Document. I will assure that all those who use W3C resources are aware of these conditions."
  9. Signature by the same fiduciary authority as signs the agreements.
  10. Fax the cover letter to Susan Westhaver at the fax number below.

4. Submit the Application
  1. Fax the cover letter to Susan Westhaver at +1-617-258-5999. Your membership can only be activated when the Cover Letter with all the above information has been received by us.
  2. We must receive the four original signed Membership Agreements within 30 daysof the Cover Letter for your membership to remain active. One copy will be returned to you once it is fully executed by all Hosts. This process will be executed as rapidly as possible.
  3. Send the cover letter, all four original signed Agreements, and your check (if possible), via traceable mail, to the appropriate person from the list below:
IN EUROPE, AFRICA & MIDDLE-EAST: FOR JAPAN AND KOREA: FOR THE AMERICAS, AUSTRALIA AND ELSEWHERE:
Christelle Fonteneau
INRIA
Domaine de Voluceau
Rocquencourt, BP 105
78153 Le Chesnay Cedex
FRANCE
christelle@w3.org
Phone: +33 1 39 63 51 02
Fax: +33 1 39 54 38 50		 Saeko Takeuchi
Keio Research Institute at SFC
Keio University, Shonan Fujisawa Campus
5322 Endo, Fujisawa 252-8520
JAPAN
saeko@w3.org
Phone: +81 466-49-1170
Fax: +81 466-49-1171		 Maria Karatzas
Senior Contract Administrator
Office of Sponsored Programs, E19-750
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
USA


Contact information

If you require further assistance, please contact the following individuals:

IN EUROPE, AFRICA & MIDDLE-EAST IN JAPAN AND KOREA: IN THE AMERICAS, AUSTRALIA, AND ELSEWHERE:
Christelle Fonteneau
christelle@w3.org
Phone: +33 1 39 63 51 02
Fax: +33 1 39 54 38 50		 Saeko Takeuchi
saeko@w3.org
Phone: +81 466-49-1170
Fax: +81 466-49-1171		 Alan Kotok
kotok@w3.org
Phone: +1 617-258-5728
Fax: +1 617-258-5999


This page updated by $Author: kotok $
Last updated on $Date: 2002/06/15 02:12:18 $