BALIF Members-

In celebration of Pride, to ring in BALIF's New Year (which starts on July 1, 2020), and in recognition of the current financial crisis caused by COVID-19, we are automatically extending all existing BALIF memberships through the end of our 2020-2021 fiscal year -- June 30, 2021 -- for free! We are also offering free memberships to all members of the LGBTQ+ legal community who have recently graduated from law school (Class of 2020) and/or that are currently unemployed.  

As noted previously, we recently transitioned to a new payment processor and updated our membership structure from a rolling annual subscription to one that tracks our July 1 to June 30 fiscal year. While we had spent many weeks planning and preparing for a smooth transition, we unfortunately were not able to anticipate and prevent the numerous hiccups that occurred and we are very sorry for any confusion that this has caused. 

Our members deserve better. To right this wrong, the BALIF board unanimously approved an extension of all memberships to expire June 30, 2021. This means that existing members will all have their membership renewal dates changed, regardless of when they first joined, to June 30, 2021. Additionally, given the turbulent economic times we live in due to COVID-19, the board has also approved providing one-year memberships for free (expiring June 30, 2021) to the law school Class of 2020 and currently unemployed lawyers. Please help spread the word and help us grow our BALIF community. Folks who would like to take advantage of this special offer should email balif@balif.org. 

For planning purposes, please note that all previous memberships that were enrolled in auto-renew, no longer have saved payment information. Previously auto-renewing memberships are no longer set to auto-renew and there is a 30-day grace period for renewal. This means that old and new memberships will remain active through the following year (2021-2022) as long as they are renewed before July 30, 2021. New members will be automatically set to auto-renew when they sign up to be a member, but old members who would like to auto-renew will need to log into their BALIF account (sometime before July 30, 2021) and re-enter their preferred payment information.

All of these changes will come at the cost of more than $34K in membership dues that we were otherwise set to receive during 2020-2021. We kindly ask those of you who have the means to do so to help us recoup some of this cost and/or prevent extended losses by donating to BALIF at www.balif.org/donate.

With professional networking events, educational programs, social action, community activism, advocacy with proposed state legislation, judicial appointments, amicus briefs, mentoring new lawyers and law students, and more, there are many ways to plug into BALIF and make an impact in and get support from our community! We encourage you to reach out to us with suggestions, comments, concerns, and questions by emailing us at membership@balif.org.

Sincerely,

Michael Nguyen & Christine Capuyan
BALIF Membership Committee Co-Chairs
membership@balif.org