SCC Membership Rights and Responsibilities
SCC Overview
The Specify Collections Consortium (SCC) is an Industrial Affiliation Program of University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc. (KUCR), a Kansas nonprofit corporation. The SCC is dedicated to advancing digitization and data processing in biological and geological research collections. Our software engineering and technical support are built on over 30 years of engagement with the global research collection community, providing software and technical assistance to collections of all sizes.
Institutional Membership in the SCC grants access to our latest Specify software and technical support. As a Member-driven, non-profit organization, SCC member institutions share a strong commitment to collaboratively advancing modern, open-source cyberinfrastructure for research collections worldwide.
Membership in the SCC continues to grow each year, expanding our global footprint and collective efforts with a vibrant international community of collaborating collection scientists and informatics engineers. The SCC team remains dedicated to sustaining research collections with innovative software updates and providing efficient problem-solving and technical support for collections computing. The SCC has a proven track record as an effective open-source software partner, collaborating with researchers, curators, collection managers, students, and volunteers at hundreds of collections worldwide.
The SCC team enthusiastically looks forward to working with scientists and staff from additional institutions to advance database computing in collections through Specify software, welcoming them into the shared vision and governance of the SCC as highly valued and important partners.
Membership Levels
SCC membership levels are grouped into three categories. Support is proportional to membership contribution.
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Institutional-level Memberships take into consideration the size and budget of the institution, number of organizations, collections, collection objects, and users, while also looking at how the collections are managed. These levels include Catalyst, Foundation, Visionary, and Luminary.
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Collection-level Memberships are charged by collection, and are defined as the Affiliate level. Collection utilization, activity, staff, size, and support needs determine the pricing for each, with Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, and Extra Large sized collection prices.
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Student Memberships are limited time memberships for individual Masters or PhD students for their theses or dissertations.
Institutional Membership
Institutional Members play a crucial role in supporting the broader ecosystem of biodiversity and geology data management. They contribute directly to the sustainability of open-source tools that are critical for scientific research and education globally, creating a ripple effect that benefits the entire scientific community.
The intellectual and financial contributions from these leading institutions are what enable the SCC to provide essential software, comprehensive support, and continuous innovation to hundreds of collections worldwide, including those that would otherwise lack the resources to digitize and manage their invaluable specimen data. This investment ensures that critical specimen data can be curated and mobilized for scientific use, collectively enriching our understanding of Earth’s biological diversity and geologic makeup for generations to come.
Joining at an Institutional Membership level is a strategic investment in an institution’s long-term interests. One of the most significant advantages of Institutional level Membership is the direct input into the SCC’s governance and strategic direction. Luminary, Visionary, Foundation, and Catalyst Members gain permanent seats on the SCC Board of Members and Advisory Committees (Technology and User).
This unparalleled access means the Institutional Member has a seat at the table, shaping the priorities for software development, technical services, and the overall roadmap for Specify. Institutional Members will actively participate in critical discussions that determine the cyberinfrastructure support capabilities not only for their collection but for the entire global collections community, enabling the platform to evolve in ways that directly serve their institutional goals.
Institutional Membership provides the unique chance to directly influence priorities by contributing code and capabilities to Specify software projects. Institutional members can meet one-on-one with the Product Team to discuss desired features that they are interested in contributing and jointly create a requirements document. All code contributions will go through an iterative procedure with developers, including code reviews. The opportunity to contribute is fully documented with steps that parallel that of SCC developers.
This collaborative development model ensures Specify can evolve independently from main application additions, driven by needs and expertise of its users. By contributing, Institutional Members help shape a platform responsive to their needs, more powerful and versatile for everyone, while remaining a cutting-edge solution for the community.
In an Institutional Membership, the SCC team will engage with a single representative as the primary contact (“Point Person”) for most technical interactions. Ideally, the Point Person will be a technical employee of the institution, responsible for fostering a technical support relationship with the institution’s collections staff. This role involves developing a deep understanding of their data processing needs and workflows, as well as handling front-line help desk technical support for Member collections staff.
SCC personnel will offer training for the Point Person and serve as a second-level support for expertise to accept, research, and resolve complex issues. The SCC anticipates that, should data migration be required, the Point Person, or another designated employee, will be responsible for migrating data from existing legacy systems to Specify databases.
Luminary Member
The Luminary Membership represents the apex of the SCC partnership, designed for organizations that are, or wish to become, architects of global research infrastructure. Ideally suited for international consortia, federal agencies, or world-leading institutions, Luminary Members hold the highest degree of influence in the Consortium. In addition to receiving top-priority technical support and technical services, they have access to executive leadership for strategic alignment. The specific scope will be defined by mutual agreement, proportional to the member’s size and needs.
Visionary Member
The Visionary Membership level is designed for large-scale entities, such as government agencies or national consortia, seeking a high level of strategic influence and support. Members at this level assume a central leadership role, working with other institutional members to guide the SCC’s strategic direction and technical roadmap. They receive priority technical support, and enjoy the most comprehensive services. The specific scope (e.g., number of collections and organizations) will be defined by mutual agreement, proportional to the member’s size and needs.
Foundation Member
The Foundation Membership level is suitable for a single, large institution with numerous collections or for a collaborating group of organizations. Members at this level play a leading role in SCC governance, providing insights to guide the SCC’s strategic and software development directions. Institutions at this level may collaborate with Specify staff and enjoy robust support across multiple collections. The specific scope (e.g., number of collections and organizations) will be defined by mutual agreement, proportional to the Member’s size and needs.
Catalyst Member
The Catalyst Membership level is ideal for a single medium or small institution ready to accelerate their digitization efforts. Members at this level provide direct input on SCC governance and receive input plus hands-on technical support for growing their collections program. The specific scope (e.g., number of collections and organizations) will be defined by mutual agreement, proportional to the member’s size and needs.
Collection Memberships
Collection Members also play an important role in biodiversity and geology communities. They join the world-wide Consortium of collections, each contributing directly to the sustainability of open-source tools that are critical for the collections community.
The SCC actively connects institutions within our community, bridging expertise and talent to collectively address complex challenges. This rich community environment ensures that each Member institution is not working in isolation but is part of a dynamic, supportive network dedicated to advancing shared goals. Member engagement strengthens this community, creating a more resilient and resourceful network that benefits every Member.
The SCC also promotes and supports open collaborations, providing a robust infrastructure (such as the Awesome Specify repository in GitHub) for Members to share their add-ons and integrate them into the Specify ecosystem.
An Affiliate Member may be a single Specify collection or encompass multiple related collections. Affiliate memberships are priced per “Member Collection”. To determine the price, each “Member Collection” will be grouped into one of five categories; Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large. Collections are assessed by discipline, activity, utilization, size, staff, and institutional resources.
Affiliate Member
Affiliate Membership offers core support and collaborative opportunities, ideal for institutions advancing their data-mobilization initiatives. Categories are:
Student Memberships
Student Memberships are intended for Graduate Students working with their Masters or PhD projects. The membership will allow the member to create one collection on a Specify hosted server, which will exist for a limited term. All managed data and assets will be exported and shared with the member at the conclusion of this term. Student Memberships will be $500 per year. The member must provide start and end dates for the membership. Extensions may be granted upon mutual agreement.
Consortium Governance
The SCC is led by a Board of Members (BoM) composed of organizational representatives from all Membership Levels. Luminary Members are entitled to up to four permanent seats on the BoM, Visionary Members are entitled up to three permanent seats on the BoM, Foundation Members are entitled up to two permanent seats, Catalyst Members are entitled up to one permanent seat on the BoM, and an additional six rotating seats filled from the Affiliate membership complete the body. The Board may also call up to four External Members, who are representatives of non-member organizations and act in an advisory capacity. The BoM meets a minimum of four-times per year and is responsible for the vision and oversight for the organization.
The Board of Members is advised by two additional groups to identify priorities for new capabilities, hosting, and support services; a Technology Advisory Committee and a User Advisory Committee. Luminary, Visionary, and Foundation Members are guaranteed a permanent seat on both the Technology and User Advisory Committees. Catalyst Members are guaranteed a seat on either the Technology or User Advisory Committees. Up to eight additional members fill rotating seats and are selected from the Affiliate membership. Up to three External Members from outside of the SCC may be seated for renewable one-year terms.
Members of our current Board of Members and Advisory Committees are listed on our Speciforum. Persons affiliated with a Member institution who would like to be considered for a seat or have a nomination for the BoM to consider, please email us at membership@specifysoftware.org.
Membership Levels, Rights, and Responsibilities
All Membership Levels include:
- Full access to the Speciforum
- Specify support proportional to Membership Level
- Optional Specify Cloud hosting
- Access to Specify Support Services, separate from Help Desk support, as described in the SCC Membership and Technical Support Services Prices
- Onboarding webinars
All Members are expected to:
- Consider collaborative opportunities for grant proposals and joint development opportunities with the SCC and fellow Members
- Maintain up-to-date administrator, finance, technical, and general contact information
- Champion Specify to the wider collections community
- Share resources, documentation, and processes that may be of benefit to the entire Consortium
- Support fellow SCC Members
Institution Memberships
Luminary Member ($150,000+ USD/year)
- Four permanent seats on the SCC Board of Members, one permanent seat on each of the SCC User and Technology Advisory committees
- “First-in-line” access to all technical support services and staff
- Access to private webinars with SCC staff upon request
- Early Bird Access - Preferred and priority access to all new software products and releases to give feedback and impact development
- Hosting allocation of 75 GB of database storage and 1.5 TB of assets, including backups, updates, and maintenance*
- Access to executive leadership for strategic alignment
- Unlimited users with no limits on concurrent access
Visionary Member ($100,000+ USD/year)
- Three permanent seats on the SCC Board of Members, one permanent seat on each of the SCC User and Technology Advisory committees
- Accelerated access to all technical support services and staff
- Access to private webinars with SCC staff upon request
- Early Bird Access - Preferred and priority access to all new software products and releases to give feedback and impact development
- Hosting allocation of 50 GB of database storage and 1 TB of assets, including backups, updates, and maintenance*
- Unlimited users with no limits on concurrent access
Foundation Member ($50,000+ USD/year)
- Two permanent seats on the SCC Board of Members, one permanent seat on each of the SCC User and Technology Advisory committees
- Priority access to all technical support services and staff
- Collaborative proposal and project development planning for software innovation, collection data analysis, integration, or digitization initiatives
- Early Bird Access - Preferred and priority access to all new software products and releases to give feedback and impact development
- Hosting allocation of 25 GB of database storage and 500 GB of assets, including backups, updates, and maintenance*
- Unlimited users with no limits on concurrent access
Catalyst Member ($25,000+ USD/year)
- One permanent seat on the SCC Board of Members, one permanent seat on either the SCC User and Technology Advisory committees
- Complete access to all technical support services and staff
- Early Bird Access - Preferred and priority access to all new software products and releases to give feedback and impact development
- Hosting allocation of 10 GB of database storage and 100 GB of assets, including backups, updates, and maintenance*
- Unlimited users with no limits on concurrent access
Collection Memberships
Affiliate Member ($750-$8,000 USD/year per collection)
- Access to rotating seats on SCC Advisory committees
- Full access to the Speciforum, help documents and videos, for technical support, answers to incidental support questions
- Base hosting allocation of 1 GB of database storage and 25 GB of assets, proportional to collection count and category, including backups, updates, and maintenance*
- Technical advice for funding proposal and project development
- Access to all SCC software tools and updates
- Unlimited users with no limits on concurrent access
*Storage allocations are listed below for the base level of each membership tier, and increase proportionally with additional membership contribution. For Members that need additional storage beyond their membership level allocation, Storage space will be charged at the current rates, as described in the SCC Membership and Technical Support Services Prices, reviewed quarterly.