Since it’s founding in 1920, the ACLU has held steadfast to the singularly important goal of holding America and American lawmakers accountable to the values set forth in our US Constitution. 
The mission of the ACLU of Illinois and its chapters is to protect the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the civil liberties inherent to those principles. We invite you to join us on this important mission! Join Now! Renew Your Membership! or Give a Gift Membership!
About Your Membership
- You belong to both the ACLU of Illinois and the national ACLU. ACLU of Illinois is the Illinois state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union. Your membership renewal dues are shared between ACLU of Illinois and the national ACLU to support both local and national civil liberties programs.
- As a member, you receive subscriptions to both the national ACLU and the ACLU of Illinois newsletters, Civil Liberties and The Brief. You are entitled to vote in the ACLU of Illinois annual election of its Board of Directors. From time to time, you may be asked to participate in legislative lobbying efforts. There are five active local chapters in Illinois. Members are encouraged to participate in chapter activities.
- Your membership year begins with the date your dues are received. Three months before the expiration date you will receive the first renewal notice for the coming year. If you renew at that time, 99.9% of your renewal dues will go for civil liberties work. With each reminder, more and more of the money goes for postage and printing costs of the renewal notices.
- Even if you are receiving newsletters, your membership may not be current. As desperately as we need your dues, we also need to count you as a member of that embattled group which cares about the survival of the Bill of Rights – our strength is in numbers, as well as financial resources. For that reason, you are given a short grace period to renew after your membership expires.
- If you receive duplicate copies of The Brief at home and another at your office, please tear off the address labels and send them to the Membership Office so that we may consolidate our records.
- If you move, we’d like to continue mailing to you without interruption. Let us know of your new address as soon as possible.
- Other mailings you may receive: Even though you are already a member, you may occasionally receive solicitations to join ACLU. Although we try to purge member names from our solicitation lists, a few names invariably slip by. Please help by passing the mailing along to a like-minded friend.
- The ACLU mailing list is sometimes exchanged or rented to other organizations. As part of our recruitment program, we may arrange to send our members a mailing piece from another organization in exchange for mailing a solicitation piece to their members.We always guard the anonymity of our members very carefully—no one but ACLU staff ever sees the membership list. It is possible to have your name eliminated from any exchanged list by notifying the Membership Office.
- Special Fund Appeals are occasionally sent to the entire membership when there is an urgent need that requires funds above and beyond our normal renewal income. These donations do not extend your membership expiration date.
- The Roger Baldwin Foundation of ACLU and the ACLU Foundation are the separate, special funds that help the ACLU of Illinois and the national ACLU support litigation and educational programs. Contributions and bequests to these funds are tax-deductible. These contributions cannot be credited toward membership renewal, as the Internal Revenue Service prohibits it. Learn more.
- Special Events. Benefits are held to raise funds over and above membership revenues and therefore are not credited to your membership. The major benefit, the Bill of Rights Celebration, is held under the auspices of the Roger Baldwin Foundation of ACLU in the Fall.
