Educause’s New Membership Category Invites Emerging Edtech Into the Fold

Higher-education technology association EDUCAUSE is making room for smaller businesses and startups by introducing an “emerging edtech membership” option.

While corporate membership fees for the organization sit at $3,000 a year, the group’s new category costs $750 and is available to companies with revenue of less than $1 million.

“The Educause community understands that innovative edtech offers promising traction when it comes to some of our toughest challenges,” John O’Brien, EDUCAUSE president and CEO, said in a statement  (opens in a new tab). “We’re committed to encouraging the emerging edtech community to foster and elevate innovation across the higher-ed community.”

This isn’t the first move EDUCAUSE has made to support new companies. The group also introduced the Start-Up Alley showcase to attract smaller edtech players to the expo floor at its annual conference, EdSurge reports  (opens in a new tab).

Moreover, the group is looking to expand its membership options in general, announcing an all-in-one membership  (opens in a new tab), which combines access to the association, as well as the EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research  (opens in a new tab) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative  (opens in a new tab) (ELI), no longer requiring separate subscriptions. That change will go live next month.

While EdSurge points out that this is likely to boost revenue alongside membership for the nonprofit, Margita Blattner, senior director of business development, tells the site that the changes are also targeted at connecting startups with established higher-ed members.

“Our higher-ed peers are already working with emerging edtech, and we felt it relevant to attract those companies to Educause so they can pay and be involved formally instead of working outside,” she said to EdSurge. “Many forward-thinking institutions want to be on the cutting edge of piloting and testing with the companies. They’re trying to help share the solution.”

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