INTRODUCTION

Alcor has two forms of membership.

A Basic Member pays annual dues and the benefits include the following:

• Alcor Newsletters and special announcements
• A subscription to Cryonics magazine
• Free copy of a model Alcor Revival Trust upon request
• Discounts to conferences
• Locked-in Age-Based Dues basis to save money over the long-term
• Greater discounts when a Member, who is an Independent Cryonics Educator, shares an ICE Code
• The option to sign a cryopreservation agreement and become a Cryopreservation Member
• The opportunity to sign a pet cryopreservation agreement to cryopreserve a companion animal

A Cryopreservation Member has all of the above benefits and has full legal and financial arrangements in effect for cryopreservation with Alcor. To become an Alcor Cryopreservation member is easy and surprisingly affordable, if you are in good health and eligible for life insurance, which will pay for your cryopreservation. (If you are not insurable, other financial arrangements can be made. Please ask us for details.)

Our fees are provided in the Required Costs page of our basic contract. The contract and other sign-up documents are available in the Alcor Membership Information section of the website so you can read them in advance.

STEP BY STEP: HOW TO BECOME AN ALCOR MEMBER

To ask questions or request an information package, contact:

Diane Cremeens, Director of Membership Services

Email:

Phone: 1-877-GO-ALCOR (1-877-462-5267) extension 132

Outside of the United States, dial: +1 480 905 1906

Business hours are M-F 9-5 Mountain Standard Time
(Arizona does not use Daylight Savings Time)

Fax: 1-480-922-9027

When you’re ready to proceed, these are the steps that you will take.

1. Submit an application

Applying for Membership requires creating an account and filling out a simple web form. If you already have funding arrangements (typically life insurance) to pay for your cryopreservation, you can indicate so when applying. If not, you can still complete the basic application, indicating you’re not ready to proceed with cryopreservation agreements at this time. If you don’t have all of the information that the form requires, fill in what you do know and submit it to Alcor. Once your funding is in place and you wish to proceed with the cryopreservation portion of the agreement, what’s most important is that you answer the questions in the section entitled Decisions Concerning Your Cryopreservation, as this information is necessary to generate your membership documents.

If you are not ready to proceed with the cryopreservation portion of the agreements, you will receive a set of documents to complete your basic Membership. Samples of these documents are in the Alcor Membership Information section of the website. Upon signing you will be charged your first year’s dues.

Assuming you are ready to become a Cryopreservation Member, 

2. Obtain Funding

For most people a life insurance policy is the simplest and least expensive option. If you are planning to fund your cryopreservation through other means, please contact us. Alcor also accepts cash prepayment for placement into a bank account or trust. But for most people, life insurance works best.

There are two major requirements with life insurance policies:

First, the death benefit must be no less than our minimum requirement, which is currently $80,000 for neurocryopreservation members and $200,000 for whole body cryopreservation members. (If members residing in the continental U.S. and Canada prefer not to pay the $200 annual CMS fee, then the minimums are $100,000 for neurocryopreservation members and $220,000 for whole body members.) Members who choose the neurocryopreservation option will receive cryopreservation of the head and brain, in expectation that tissue regeneration will replace the body. (An additional $10,000 surcharge is applied for international applicants. There is no surcharge for residents of Canada.)

Second, Alcor must be designated not only as the beneficiary of the life insurance policy, but also as its owner. This guarantees that the beneficiary cannot be changed without our knowledge, and we will be informed if the premium is unpaid. Alcor will provide a written guarantee that it will surrender its ownership status if you choose to abandon your cryonics arrangements or move to a different organization. You may use any insurance agent, but if you have a problem or you would like to deal with a cryonics insurance specialist, please see our list of insurance agents or contact our Director of Membership Services, listed above. Note that Alcor has no business arrangements with these agents and our list does not imply any endorsement by Alcor.

If you are funding your cryopreservation through life insurance, it is important to remember that our minimum requirement can change over time. It can therefore be prudent for the death benefit to be greater than the minimum requirement. Alcor cannot make commitments regarding future changes to the cryopreservation minimums, but below is a chart showing how those minimums have changed over the past 35 years. Note that the $100,000 required for whole body cryopreservation in 1982 dollars would be roughly $261,000 in December 2016 dollars, compared to the current $200,000 price. Over the past 35 years, Alcor has averaged an annualized increase of 2.4% for neurocryopreservation minimums, and 2.0% for whole body. This equates to a doubling time of roughly 29 years for neurocryopreservations and 35 years for whole body.

It is not necessary to have an insurance policy prior to entering the sign-up process. You can complete your basic Membership paperwork and work on completing your Cryopreservation Membership paperwork while simultaneously arranging your funding. These typically take approximately one month each from start to finish, so doing them at the same time works best.

3. Complete your Alcor Cryopreservation Membership Documents

After we receive your application, we will send a set of legal documents that you must sign to confirm your understanding of cryonics, your personal preferences, and your desire for cryopreservation. Samples of these documents are in the Alcor Membership Information section of the website. You will need witnesses for these documents, and one of the documents must be notarized. This is for your protection. We want to be able to defend your decision against any possible legal challenge in the future, when you may not be able to speak for yourself.

Note: If you think you may want cryonics, but haven’t yet signed up, you can help make it possible for others to sign you up for cryonics in an emergency situation by signing a Declaration of Intent to Be Cryopreserved. However, this document will not sign you up for cryopreservation.

We look forward to hearing from you!