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Charitable giving
The National Amateur Radio Alliance is a five oh one c three nonprofit organization, supported by its members, donors, sponsors and volunteers. We are a volunteer run organization. Our officers, directors, committee members, representatives and other volunteers are not paid salaries for their service. Financial support allows us to operate the organization, and to put resources behind the programs and services that support amateur radio.
Dues, and going beyond them
Membership dues provide an important foundation for the organization. But charitable giving allows members and supporters to go beyond their membership, and directly support the areas of our work that matter most to them.
Where a gift can go
Donors can choose from several funds. The General Fund supports the day-to-day operation of a national organization: insurance, required filings, administrative expenses, technology, communications and other operating costs. The Outreach and Education Fund supports license classes, club presentations, school and Scouting programs, educational materials, and other efforts that introduce people to amateur radio and help operators continue learning. The Spectrum Defense Fund supports our work to protect amateur radio spectrum: regulatory filings, comments, research, technical analysis and other advocacy involving amateur radio allocations. The Online Services Fund supports our growing collection of online resources, including the amateur radio wiki, What Is Ham Radio dot com, U S N A R A dot org, the member portal, and the technology and cloud services required to operate them. And the Scholarship Fund supports educational opportunities for young amateur radio operators, including scholarships and programs that can help with examination and equipment costs. A donor may make a one-time contribution, or choose recurring monthly giving.
The Beacon Club
Whichever fund they support, qualifying charitable gifts are tracked in two ways. The Beacon Club recognizes annual giving, using familiar amateur radio signal strength levels. It begins at S5, for one hundred dollars or more given within a calendar year. S7, for two hundred and fifty dollars or more in the year. S9, for five hundred dollars or more in the year. S9 plus 10, for one thousand dollars or more in the year. S9 plus 20, for two thousand five hundred dollars or more in the year. And S9 plus 30, the top of the scale, for five thousand dollars or more in the year. Beacon Club totals reset at the beginning of each calendar year.
The Founders Society
The Founders Society recognizes lifetime charitable giving. Recognition begins at Pioneer, when a donor reaches five thousand dollars in cumulative qualifying gifts. Partner, at ten thousand dollars lifetime. Patron, at twenty five thousand dollars. Benefactor, at fifty thousand. Legacy, at one hundred thousand. And Visionary, at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars or more, given over a lifetime. Unlike the Beacon Club, this total never resets.
What counts, and what does not
Every qualifying charitable gift counts toward both systems at the same time. A five hundred dollar contribution, for example, counts toward that year's Beacon Club total, and also adds five hundred dollars to that donor's lifetime Founders Society total. Membership dues, merchandise and other purchases are separate from charitable giving, and do not count toward these donor recognition milestones.
How we recognize a donor
Members can follow their annual and lifetime giving progress through the member portal. As donors reach milestones, we also provide recognition such as progression badges, milestone certificates and donor cards. Founders Society members may choose to be recognized publicly, but we do not publish a donor's name without permission, and we do not publish individual giving amounts. These programs are about more than recognizing a dollar amount. They let us recognize the people who make this work possible, while giving donors a clear way to support the part of our mission they care about most.
You do not have to be a donor
For volunteers, there is one particularly important thing to remember. You do not have to be a donor to make a difference here. Financial contributions fund the work. Volunteer service makes the work happen. Both are important to building an organization capable of serving amateur radio nationally.
501(c)(3) public charity · Charity ID 39-2868923
The National Amateur Radio Alliance was chartered as a Tennessee nonprofit corporation on July 4, 2025, and is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt charitable organization under section 501(c)(3). Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. Our determination letter, charter, bylaws and filings are published on the public documents page.
Some things to know
- Nobody here draws a salary. Officers, directors, committee members and representatives are all volunteers, so a gift pays for programs and the cost of running a national organization, not payroll.
- Membership dues are not a gift. Dues buy a membership and the benefits that come with it; only charitable gifts count toward donor recognition and appear on a year-end giving statement.
- Donors choose a fund: the General Fund, Outreach and Education, Spectrum Defense, Online Services, or the Scholarship Fund. Every fund is spent on what it says.
- A gift can be one-time or monthly. Monthly giving is the most useful kind we receive, because it is the only income we can plan against.
- Every qualifying gift counts toward both recognition programs at once — a $500 gift adds $500 to this year's Beacon Club total and $500 to a lifetime Founders Society total.
- Members follow their own two needles in the member portal, and recognition is opt-in: we never publish a donor's name without permission, and never publish amounts.
How we recognize donors
None of the work runs without funding, and NARA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that funds its work across all four key focus areas through donations. Two permanent programs recognize that giving, both detailed on the Ways of Giving page: the Beacon Club recognizes giving within a single calendar year, resetting every January 1st, with six levels running from $100 to $5,000 and above; the Founders Society recognizes lifetime giving instead and never resets, starting at Pioneer at $5,000 lifetime and climbing to Visionary at $250,000. Corporate members like Diamond Antenna, QRZ and Spec 5 support this work at the corporate membership level.
The Beacon Club reads like a signal report, because that is the point: S5 at $100 in a calendar year, S7 at $250, S9 at $500, S9 +10 at $1,000, S9 +20 at $2,500 and S9 +30 at $5,000 or more. It resets every January 1. The Founders Society never resets: Pioneer at $5,000 lifetime, Partner at $10,000, Patron at $25,000, Benefactor at $50,000, Legacy at $100,000 and Visionary at $250,000.
Financial contributions fund the work. Volunteer service makes the work happen.
For volunteers there is one thing worth remembering above the rest: you do not have to be a donor to make a difference here. Both kinds of support build an organization capable of serving amateur radio nationally, and you only need to be able to explain the difference when somebody at a table asks you where their money goes.