As of writing, Alcor has more than 1100 members with cryonics arrangements. The Alcor Facebook page, however, has more than 14,000 likes. While it is easy to “like” something on social media, this number indicates that there are a lot of people who support our mission and research but are not quite ready to make cryonics arrangements for themselves. In 2012, I sent a proposal to the Alcor Advisors and Board of Directors to introduce a new kind of membership that allows people who support Alcor’s mission to join the organization as Associate Members. Associate Members pay a small annual fee ($60 or $5 a month) and get a paper copy of Alcor’s magazine, discounts on conferences and events, access to the Alcor forum, and the paid fees can be used to lower or eliminate the application fee for full membership. Alcor now has 317 Associate Members. This is not bad at all, but membership statistics at other cryonics organizations, such as the Cryonics Institute, indicate that it should be possible to have at least twice the amount of Associate Members as members with full cryonics arrangements.

One attractive feature of Associate Membership is that, unlike full membership, it can be easily gifted to friends and family, too. In fact, what I would like to achieve with this column is to encourage each and every reader (yes, you, too!) to think of someone who supports cryonics and life extension and encourage them to become an Associate Member, or even gift it to them.

You know this friend who is still figuring out her life insurance…Associate Membership!

What about that person who would like to join Alcor in the future but only when they introduce fracture free storage… Associate Membership!

That colleague who is fascinated with the idea of cryonics needs to think about it a little more…Associate Membership.

And there is this person who has been saying for 5 years now that they will sign up but never gets around to start the process…. Associate Membership.

Not sure about which cryonics organization to join? Join both major US cryonics organizations as a non-funded member and learn more.

What would it be like if Alcor had 5,000 Associate Members instead of 300? For starters, more resources would be available for publication of the magazine, social media presence, bigger conferences, and other outreach events. Local life extension and cryonics groups would see substantial growth in attendance, and new groups can be started to bring people with shared interests together. Support for cryonics research would grow. And when cryonics is under threat by hostile critics or legislators, we can draw from more people to mount an effective response. And perhaps, most importantly, a larger membership will allow Alcor to recruit more (young) talented writers, advocates, and researchers who can work together to bring human suspended animation closer to reality and strengthen the scientific and legal status of human cryopreservation.

So think hard about all these conversations you had over the last couple of years, or the people you’d really, really, like to see reading more about cryonics and Alcor and call Alcor (480) 905-1906 or head over here, and give the gift of life:

http://www.alcor.org/BecomeMember/ associate.html

Originally published as a column in Cryonics magazine, January-February, 2017