The Conference for Advanced Life Underwriting (CALU) says a task force has recently been established to review — for the second time in recent years — the requirement that CALU members also be members of Advocis.
“This initiative supports a recommendation to periodically review the requirement,” CALU said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.
CALU, which focuses on advanced financial and tax planning, was created as part of Advocis three decades ago and requires its members (except for associate members) to also be members of Advocis.
In response to a member motion, CALU created a task force in 2021 that reviewed the requirement of dual membership and called for submissions. That task force ultimately upheld the requirement, saying that, among other things, speaking on behalf of both Advocis and CALU strengthens CALU’s advocacy.
CALU has 600-plus members, and Advocis has more than 7,500 members, according to its website. However, that’s down from more than 13,000 members in 2018, according to Advocis’ annual report that year.
Falling membership and higher costs post-pandemic have contributed to Advocis’ struggle with liquidity in recent years. During its annual general meeting in July, interim CEO Harris Jones said “full-paying” membership stood at about 4,300.
CALU’s 2021 task force had recommended that the dual membership requirement be reviewed every three to five years.
In its email on Wednesday, CALU said the work of its new task force “recently” got underway, and “in the coming months” the task force will recommend to the board whether to maintain the Advocis membership requirement.
“The entire membership will have an opportunity to share their views on this issue through a formal survey early in the new year,” CALU said in its email. “The survey results will be one of the considerations informing the recommendation of the task force to the board of directors. The board of directors will report back to the membership.”