According to the SBL Constitution, Article IX, “it shall be within the jurisdiction of Council to affiliate with organizations whose aims are deemed consonant with the Society.” In its 2011 fall meeting, the SBL Council approved new guidelines for reviewing Affiliate status. Affiliates benefit from SBL-negotiated contracts involving meeting space, hotel rates, etc. For this principle reason, when an organization affiliates with SBL in order to benefit from such contracts, the Affiliate Organization must agree to certain stipulations, which are listed here:
Affiliate Organization Agreement.
Submission of an application for affiliation implies agreement to these stipulations.

Organizations may apply to become an Affiliate of the Society by completing and submitting this application form  to the Executive Director at SBLExec@sbl-site.org.

Eligibility
To be eligible, an organization should have the following characteristics.

• Support scholarly analysis and open discussion
  
• Act in a manner consistent with SBL’s vision statement and core values (listed here)
  
• Profess a mission consonant with the Society’s mission to “foster biblical scholarship”
  
• Be independent, not-for-profit, formally organized, and at least three years old
  
• Have a national or international constituency
  
• Have a majority of members who are professional scholars or teachers

Benefits
Benefits of affiliation with SBL extend to both Affiliate organizations themselves and the members of those organizations. They include the following.

• Prime meeting locations, meeting space, and reduced sleeping room rates
  
• Special registration rates for the meeting
  
• Free meeting space for first two sessions/events, then reduced space rates for additional sessions/events
  
• Access to the Exhibit Hall, the world's largest exhibit of books and digital resources for biblical studies
  
• Participation in a “big tent” of scholarly exchange with scholars of many fields from across the world
  
• Publication of Affiliate sessions and Affiliate member involvement in printed and online meeting programs
  
• Publicity of Affiliate organization via the high-traffic SBL website
  
• Complimentary SBL membership for the program coordinator for the duration of his or her term as such, including consideration as a VIP, which offers the person priority housing options in the headquarters hotel(s). Affiliate Organizations may designate one person as a program coordinator.

Calendar
Such organizations may apply to the SBL Executive Director for formal recognition as Affiliate Organizations by September 1 of the year prior to the meeting in which the organization intends to participate. Proposals for affiliation are reviewed by the Affiliate Review Panel, and notice concerning the acceptance or non-acceptance of the proposal is sent to the proposers by November 1.

In cases of accepted proposals, confirmation of acceptance is required from the proposers to the Executive Director is required by November 15. The Affiliate Organization’s call for papers for the upcoming meeting is due by January 1.

Affiliate status is reviewed on a triennial basis. Affiliate Organizations will be notified by June 1 of the final year of their current term that a new proposal for affiliation is required by September 1 if the organization intends to continue affiliation with the Society.

SBL Statement on Participation
While the Society’s Affiliates maintain and pursue their unique missions, participation of any party in the Society’s meetings is held to the same expectations as SBL program sessions. By affiliating with the SBL Annual, International, or Regional Meetings you agree to participate in an open academic discussion guided by a common standard of scholarly discourse that engages your subject through critical inquiry and investigation.

Current Affiliate Organizations
Academy of Homiletics
Adventist Society for Religious Studies
African Association for the Study of Religion
Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars
Bethsaida Excavations Project
Christian Theological Research Fellowship
Ethnic Chinese Biblical Colloquium
Evangelical Philosophical Society
GOCN Forum on Missional Hermeneutics
Institute for Biblical Research
Institute for Religion and Civic Values
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies
International Syriac Language Project
Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion
Karl Barth Society of North America
Korean Biblical Colloquium
Masoretic Studies (Affiliated with IOMS)
National Association of Professors of Hebrew
Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship at the American Bible Society
North American Association for the Study of Religion
Novum Testamentum Graecum: Editio Critica Maior
Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions
Society for Pentecostal Studies
Society for the Arts in Religious and Theological Studies
Society of Christian Ethics
Søren Kierkegaard Society
Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies
Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion