Emphasizing Community During An Era of Challenge

Last year we launched a new initiative called Membership May. We found that with our growing event calendar and increased effort toward SOF Imperatives initiatives, our small team wasn’t able to put a steady focus on growing our network of Individual Members.

And thus, Membership May was born! It’s the time of year when we *usually* hold our Annual Tampa Reception, which is essentially our Birthday Party…. But it’s also a celebration of the building blocks of our Foundation: the Individual Members and Partners.

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The Importance of Our Network

The Global SOF Foundation is nothing without its members. Sure, our staff is important and we keep the processes flowing and push the envelope forward. 

But the Foundation is really centered around our growing network of individuals and organizations, with their valuable experiences and connections adding more unique capabilities to our kit.

The more active and engaged those capabilities are, the more we are able to get out of them and share them with our global special operations community. 

Here’s just a few very recent examples of the network engaging:

• Active Duty Members nearing Separation were invited to participate in a free virtual, half-day transition seminar hosted by our partners at The Honor Foundation
• Corporate Partners and Advisory Council Members were invited to a free virtual Brown Bag Session with LTG (Ret) Tom Trask and Mr. Mark Mitchell discussing the SOF Imperatives
• Corporate Partners have been introduced to a key representative in the INDO-PACOM region for potential support to their Nation’s SOF

We’re proud of how extensive our membership is–we have at least one member from 61 Nations across the globe, and that’s a number we hope to keep boosting! 

The connections we’re building with our international SOF community is one of our biggest focuses and one of the factors that makes us truly special.

Plus–over half of our Members are Active Duty! That gives us an excellent network of recent experience that we can tap into when developing our SOF Imperatives and determining what capabilities to advocate for, whether with The U.S. Congress, Industry, or Partner Nation SOF.

It’s so important, especially in these unprecedented times, to keep this network strong and active. And we can only do that through engaged Individual Members and Corporate Partners.

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What’s in a Membership?

So what does it actually mean to be part of the “Revolution,” as our President & CEO Stu Bradin loves to call it? Perhaps you’re already a casual observer of the Foundation–you’ve attended an event or two, maybe you follow us on social media, and you’re even probably reading this blog right now!

But making the commitment to join as an Individual Member comes with added bennies. 

	Participate in a unique, active networking organization that is geared towards enabling the global SOF community. If you’re not using this pandemic time to grow your network from home, you’re missing an opportunity!
	Subscribe to the exclusive GSF newsletter, informative emails, and opportunities for special operations community insights. We’ve also been sending out some popular “Quarantine Catch-Up” emails during COVID19 that only go to our Members and Partners!
	Access to GSF forums, workshops, outreach, and other educational programs at discounted members rates. We’ve even added Member- and Partner- Only virtual events to our event offerings.
	Use the Member Toolkit, with discounted or free access to virtual training opportunities, apps, books, and more! Our Partners have been especially generous during the pandemic, adding more discounts and training options.
	Personal access to online GSF member and Corporate Partner directories. Plus, if you can’t find someone in the directory you can always reach out to us and we can try to make the requested introduction.
	SOF For Life Access: Where former SOF personnel post their resumes for potential hire by corporate partners. This is now on a new platform, so all Members can now update their resumes and Partners are starting to add jobs to the Job Board.

And if that’s not enough for you, a Corporate Partnership for your organization is something we’d be happy to discuss! You can learn more about becoming a “CP” here, and contact Stephen Jones, our Director of Partner Relations, if you’d like to discuss.

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Membership May: The Details

Now that we’ve thoroughly convinced you to join as an Individual Members, you probably want to know what the Membership May perks actually are…

We’re offering special discounts on two membership types:

• 50% off a Lifetime Membership with Code: 50LIFE
• 25% off a 3 Year Membership with Code: 25MEMBERMAY

Plus, Active Duty Membership is ALWAYS FREE. Here’s a pricing rundown…

Membership Type	Cost	Duration
Active Duty Military or Police	FREE	Until Active Service Ends
Annual Member	$25	One Year
3 Year Member	$50 $37.50	Three Years (for the price of less than two!)
Lifetime Member	$500 $250	For the Lifetime of the Member

So don’t delay… Join in May!