For youth, seniors on fixed incomes, newcomers, low-income families, and cultural food practitioners. Barrier-free access is a principle, not a compromise.

Free membership is not charity. It is how we practice what we say we believe — that nourishment is sovereignty, that food equity is a principle, and that no one should be excluded from this community because of financial capacity.

Receives:

• Member communications
• Invitations to community gatherings and seasonal events
• Early notice of workshops and programs

For those who want to stay connected and contribute to accessible, culturally rooted food programming.

Receives:

• Member communications
• Invitations to community gatherings and seasonal events
• Early notice of workshops and programs
• Iye Field Notes — monthly cultural food letter (one crop, one story, one recipe)

For those who want to go deeper and help subsidize access for families facing financial barriers.

This is the most impactful individual membership tier. Sustaining Members make it possible to keep the Open Member tier genuinely open by funding the gap between what free members don't pay and what the programs cost to run.

Receives everything in Community Membership, plus:

• Annual impact summary from the Executive Director
• Invitation to Member Strategy Circles — community conversations (not board meetings) where sustaining members hear directly about program direction, challenges, and decisions
• Early access to pilot programs and new tools
• Acknowledgment that their contribution directly funds subsidized seats for community members who cannot pay

For businesses, food hubs, farms, institutions, and mission-aligned organizations who believe cultural food systems are infrastructure. There is wealth in our communities. Organizational membership is how that wealth flows back into the ecosystem, and building revenue while protecting community access.

This membership is values-aligned, not transactional. Organizational members are invited into a relationship with Iye, not just a recognition slot.

Receives:

• Optional recognition on iyecreative.com
• Invitation to partner roundtables and advisory convenings
• Annual impact summary
• Acknowledgment in the Cultural Food Archive as a founding organizational ally