To be accepted as a Member your organisation must be:

1. Operationally active in humanitarian relief.

Qualifying activities are:-

• Providing aid in cases of natural or man-made disasters
• Providing aid in cases of health emergencies
• Providing aid in cases of post-conflict recovery
• Helping refugees and displaced persons

Qualifying countries of operation are those which:-

Have called for international humanitarian assistance in the past or are likely to do so in the future

and/or:- Are prone to natural or man-made disasters

and/or:- Are recovering from conflicts.

2. Non-discriminatory

That is your organisation should not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, creed or depart in any other way from the humanitarian ethic of supplying universal, unconditional help solely on the basis of need.

3. Non-profit-making

Many of the benefits of membership derive from valuable Reuters content and this is made available to AlertNet on the basis that it will only be used by registered charities.

4. Non-governmental

This excludes supra-national bodies like the United Nations and its associated organisations.

5. Where applicable;

Your organisation should be part of your home country's national NGO network (or be the network itself) where there is an NGO network in your organisation's home country, we expect your organisation to be part of it. Smaller NGOs who are not registered with their national networks should not apply for membership - we only recognise those who are big enough to register and take on the responsibilities that such networks demand.

6. Into at least their third year of existence.

7. Committed to sharing information with other relief NGOs, journalists and the wider public

AlertNet aims to get information flowing across relief organisations to promote more effective humanitarian relief. Critical to the success of this is the need for members to be willing to share information about their operations with others in the community, journalists and the wider public. Membership terms require that NGOs commit to:-

• i. Updating the site with press releases, contact information, photos, blogs and video material
• ii. Providing a link to the AlertNet site (preferably from their homepage)
• iii. Authorising AlertNet to automatically scan their website and to either import its content into AlertNet or make links to it on various parts of the AlertNet site

8. Adhering to international relief standards (Sphere and Red Cross)

9. Worked with at least two existing AlertNet members (please our member directory for a full list)

Our membership is a validated one - we take some care in making sure that all our members are good citizens and we will ask for the name of at least two existing member organisations who will vouch for the professionalism of the candidate members' work.