Membership Benefits & Options

The Alliance offers different routes for organisations and individuals, ranging from full membership to public open-source contribution and community participation.

Benefits of membership

The Why Join? page explains why organisations choose to participate in the Alliance. In practice, those benefits come from:

• Using the applicable CHERI Alliance membership mark to gain recognition
• Participation in working groups
• Learning from experts and real-world implementation experience
• Building relationships with companies, researchers, and practitioners across the ecosystem
• Helping shape technical priorities, standards, and adoption activities
• Increasing visibility through events, publications, product listing and community activities
• Contributing to shared software, guidance, education, and outreach
• Support and benefit from a growing community working towards more secure computing
• Voting and eligibility in Governing Board elections

For many organisations, access to working groups, increased visibility, and industry connections are the most valuable benefits of membership.

Participate at your own pace

Apart from Ambassadors, who commit to supporting Alliance activities, membership does not require a minimum level of participation. However, members who engage in working groups, events, and community activities typically gain the greatest value from membership.

How you participate is entirely up to you. Engage in the areas that match your interests, expertise, and priorities. The Alliance is also designed to be responsive: if enough members want to collaborate on a particular topic, we can create a working group or activity to support it.

That said, even a simple show of support matters. Being listed as a member helps demonstrate demand for CHERI and encourages suppliers, developers, and adopters to invest in the technology.

Membership for organisations

Full membership

Full Membership is designed for organisations that want the highest level of participation, visibility, and influence within the CHERI ecosystem, while helping shape the future direction of the Alliance.

Commercial organisations must join as Full Members. Research organisations, public bodies, non-profits, and open-source organisations may also choose Full Membership if they want access to its additional benefits.

Full Membership includes:

• Visibility – Showcase your organisation through a dedicated member page, Alliance communications, conferences, publications, speaking opportunities, and promotional activities
• Greater influence in Alliance governance – Full Members elect the majority of the representatives on the Governing Board and can nominate candidates
• Reduced certification fees – Discounts on CHERI product certification

Community membership

Community Membership is available to research organisations, public bodies, non-profits, and open-source organisations that want to participate actively in the CHERI ecosystem and help shape its future.

Community Members can participate in working groups, events, ecosystem discussions, and other Alliance activities. They also receive a dedicated member page on the Alliance website, providing visibility within the CHERI ecosystem and helping others discover their work.

Community Members are a valued part of the Alliance and play an important role in advancing research, open source, education, public policy, and adoption. They can also vote for up to two Community representatives on the Governing Board and may stand for the available Community seats.

Community Membership is provided free of charge to encourage broad participation and collaboration across the CHERI community.

Membership for individuals

Individual contributor

Individuals who want to contribute expertise, participate in the community, and engage with Alliance activities can join as an individual Community Member.

Ambassadors

For motivated people interested in education, outreach, events, content creation, and community building, committing to volunteer to help the Alliance. Ambassadors are also Community Members.

Membership fees

The CHERI Alliance is a small, lean, non-profit organisation. Membership fees help fund collaboration infrastructure, administration, communication activities, and community events, many of which are offered with free attendance to maximise participation and encourage more organisations to discover CHERI.

We are fortunate to receive support from the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), but membership contributions remain essential to sustaining and growing Alliance activities.

As our mission is to accelerate adoption of CHERI, we have decided to make the membership fee very accessible: we prefer more members than getting a lot from a small group of companies. This is why:

• for Full Members - our fees depend on company size. Additional discounts are available for multi-year memberships and successful referrals. Contact us to get all the details
• for Community Members - it’s free!

Ready to get involved?

Join the organisations, researchers, and individuals helping shape the future of secure computing.

Contact us to discuss membership details and find the best way to participate in the CHERI ecosystem.