As part of our multi-year plan to modernize the Consortium, the SCC is transitioning to a new membership structure (detailed in the SCC Membership Rights and Responsibilities) that bundles software access, support, hosting, and governance into a single, predictable rate.
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Transition Option: For the upcoming fiscal year (July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027), existing members may choose to remain in the “Old Model” at an updated rate or move immediately into a “New Model” tier to take advantage of bundled hosting. Below are tables showing updated pricing during the transition period.
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Modernization: To ensure equity and sustainability across the community, the old membership model will be retired on July 1, 2028. At that time, all memberships will be fully transitioned to the new structure.
Last year, the Specify Collections Consortium (SCC) announced the plan to adjust membership and hosting rates for the first time in seven years. Inflation and cost‑of‑living increases have significantly affected our operating costs over that time. To ease the transition for our members, we introduced a phased approach starting in July 2025 when membership rates increased by 10% and hosting rates increased by modest percentages. The second phase of this approach begins in July and is reflected in the FY27 Old Model Price Increase table below.
In addition to this price increase, we are in the process of reassessing membership levels. Over the past seven years, SCC member institutions have experienced a wide range of changes, some have expanded their collections and activities, others have navigated periods of financial difficulty, and some began their participation under especially flexible membership terms designed to support early growth. As we move forward, we are working to ensure that membership levels and associated rates more accurately reflect each institution’s discipline, activity, utilization of SCC services, collection size, staffing, and available resources. This effort helps us distribute the shared responsibility of sustaining Specify software and the SCC more equitably across our community. Our larger members will continue to play an important role in supporting the broader consortium, but they should not disproportionately carry the cost for institutions whose membership levels no longer align with their current scale or needs.
We understand that budget cycles require planning. SCC staff will reach out in the coming weeks with a customized assessment of your institution’s tier and the specific pricing, hosting and support benefits included whether you choose the Transition Option or Modernization. Regardless of whether a member chooses to stay in the old membership model or move to the new one, their membership level may change to better reflect their current condition. In the meantime, if you have questions or would like to begin a membership review conversation, please contact us at membership@specifysoftware.org.
Thank you to all of our members for your continued support. Your commitment and engagement strengthens our shared mission to build and sustain world‑class, open‑source infrastructure for biodiversity and geology collections worldwide. We appreciate your continued support during a period of growth and modernization for the SCC.
FY27 Old Model Price Increase
| Current Membership Level | FY26 (Current Year) |
FY27 (July ‘26-June ‘27) |
New Membership Equivalent (Available Now) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Associate (per collection) | $1,100 | $1,300 | Affiliate (Small) $1,500 |
| Full (per collection) | $5,500 | $6,000 | Affiliate (Large) $6,000 |
| Founding (per institution) | $44,000 | $48,000 | Foundation $50,000 |
Membership Levels from Old Membership Model
Members who remain in the old membership model will continue to pay for Specify Cloud hosting separately. Those who move to the new membership model will have database and asset hosting included (with storage allocations based on membership level).
| Specify Cloud Service | FY27 (July ‘26-June ‘27) |
|---|---|
| Database Hosting (under 1 GB) | $300 |
| Database Hosting (each GB over 1GB) | $200 |
| Asset Hosting (up to 25 GB) | Included with hosting |
| Asset Hosting (per 100 GB) | $75 |
Specify Cloud prices for Old Membership Model