Membership Categories & Institutional Affiliation Framework

1Purpose

This document sets out every type of affiliation a person or entity can hold with BRACCA (Brazilian College Counseling Association) and the principles behind each definition. It serves as a governance reference, as the blueprint for the membership and registration experience, and as an ethical framework in which every boundary BRACCA draws is structural rather than personal — no entity is excluded by judgment; each is placed by rule.

2Legal foundation

BRACCA's registered Estatuto Social (Articles 8–11) establishes three legal classes:

Under Article 8, Paragraph 1, the Board of Directors may further detail the rights and duties of members. Every operational category in this document is a sub-classification created under existing bylaw authority; no amendment to the Estatuto is required. Individual professional categories map to Associados (voting); entity Supporter affiliations map to Mantenedores (non-voting); sponsorships are commercial agreements that sit outside the member structure.

3Core principles

Principle 1 — Membership belongs to individuals, never to entities.

BRACCA members are always natural persons. Schools, universities, organizations, and companies are never listed as "members." Institutions may pay for memberships, but the member is always the individual professional. A member's institutional affiliation appears in their directory entry, but BRACCA maintains no secondary-school logo wall and no "member schools" page. For universities, a "represented institutions" listing is available as an institutional benefit.

Principle 2 — The conference-room test.

When BRACCA convenes its community, universities are in the room — they are counselors' core professional counterpart — while educational service providers are in the exhibitor area: welcome, valuable, and commercial. This tests the boundary between institutional participation and Supporter affiliation.

Principle 3 — Three lanes for participation, each with its own rules.

Supporter affiliation confers no sponsorship rights, and sponsorship confers no membership rights.

Principle 4 — Recognition follows relationship type, never money.

An entity may hold multiple relationships with BRACCA simultaneously and is recognized separately under each — but no relationship confers the recognition of another. No amount of money moves an entity from one form of recognition to another.

Principle 5 — Flat parity among student-facing professionals.

All professionals whose work is direct counseling/advising of students on their post-secondary journey — regardless of employer type — pay the same individual rate and hold identical membership rights. Differentiation is handled through entity-level affiliation and verification, not through the individual's price.

4Individual membership categories (Associados)

All categories below are full members with voting rights (except 4.4), an identical annual rate (Section 9), listed individually in the member directory with affiliation shown.

4.1 School-Based Counselor

A professional employed by a secondary school (Brazilian, bilingual, or international curriculum) whose work includes counseling students on post-secondary options, including counseling coordinators and directors, regardless of job title. Evidence of affiliation: institutional email, school profile page, or confirmation from a school leader.

4.2 Independent Educational Consultant (IEC)

A professional providing direct college/career counseling to students and families outside of school employment. Two sub-profiles, identical rights and rate:

• IEC — solo practice: works independently or in a practice of up to 3 professionals (3 or fewer).
• IEC — agency-affiliated: employed by or contracted to an agency or consultancy. The individual is the member; the agency is not. An organization with more than 3 professionals (>3) is treated as an agency in the Supporter lane.

Evidence of affiliation: professional website/LinkedIn, practice registration, or employer confirmation.

4.3 Non-School-Based Advisor

A professional advising students within an NGO, community-based organization, access or scholarship program, or government initiative. Their counseling relationship to students is equivalent to a school counselor's; their employer is simply not a school. This category holds full voting rights, identical to all other Associados. Evidence of affiliation: organizational email or program confirmation.

4.4 Educator / School Admin (associate-level tier)

Teachers, coordinators, and school administrators (including a Diretor/Diretora who sits above the counseling team) who do not act as college counselors but wish to engage with part of BRACCA's activities. This category is necessarily school-affiliated. It carries a lower fee, limited access, and is non-voting — reflecting that these members are not counselors or advisors.

4.5 University / HEI Representative

An admissions or recruitment professional whose membership is provided through their institution's HEI package (Section 4.6). Individually listed, individually a member, with the same rights as all Associados.

4.6 Institutional participation vehicles (not membership classes)

The following are payment and packaging methods — the members they produce are always the individuals above:

• School Bundle (4 or 8 seats). A school pays a discounted group rate for named members of its own team. The school is not a member, is not listed, and receives no logo placement; the benefit is the discount and its team's professional development.
• HEI Membership Package. A university, college, or pathway-degree provider pays for one or more named representatives who become individual members (4.5): a base package covering up to 2 named representatives plus a per-representative add-on. Benefits may include the represented-institutions listing, priority event participation, and access to Brazil-context resources.
• Non-School-Based Organization Package. The equivalent vehicle for NGOs, access programs, and government initiatives to cover their advisers (4.3), priced accessibly.

4.7 Membership rights & access matrix

The following matrix states, for every membership type and organization category, the associated voting rights, directory/recognition placement, and access to data and information.

5Supporter affiliation (Mantenedores)

Who: educational service providers — entities whose primary relationship to the field is commercial: test-prep companies, ed-tech platforms, marketing/recruitment firms, camps and experience providers, language-travel operators, and agencies as entities.

What it is: an annual entity-level affiliation under the Mantenedor class. Supporters are recognized in a dedicated Supporters section and receive standing benefits such as exhibitor priority and event discounts, as defined by the Board.

What it is not: membership. Supporters are never called members, never appear in the member directory, hold no vote, and cannot serve on the Board or committees.

People vs. entity: employees of a Supporter who personally qualify under Section 4 may hold individual memberships in their own name. The entity's status and the individual's status never mix.

6Sponsorship

Sponsorship is governed by BRACCA's Sponsorship framework, prospectus tiers, and signed agreements, including any category exclusivity held by existing sponsors. Supporter affiliation confers no sponsorship benefits, and no Supporter may receive logo prominence, event naming, or co-branding that conflicts with sponsorship agreements in force.

7Recognition architecture: the four drawers

Public recognition is organized in four separate sections. Entry into each has its own rule; no section can be entered through payment intended for another.

The governing rule: "An entity may hold multiple relationships with BRACCA simultaneously — partner, sponsor, supporter, access contributor — and is recognized separately under each. No relationship confers the recognition of another, and no recognition can be purchased outside its own rules."

A school may simultaneously have individual members on its team and hold a sponsorship, appearing on the sponsor wall, with no conflict.

8Sponsored Membership Program (Member Access)

Mechanism: an entity or individual funds a defined number of individual memberships, delivered as vouchers/codes to eligible recipients — for example, public-school counselors, schools without counseling structures, or early-career counselors.

Guardrails (all mandatory):

• BRACCA administers allocation. Funders may nominate candidates, but eligibility screening and final approval are BRACCA's alone.
• Recipients are full ordinary members, with voting rights according to their membership category, and with zero obligation to and zero relationship with the funder through BRACCA.
• No data access. Funders receive aggregate reporting only, never recipient contact data.
• No programmatic influence. Funding any number of memberships confers no voice in programming, membership policy, or ethics standards.
• Transparent reporting. All sponsored memberships are disclosed as access initiatives.

9Pricing framework

All charges in BRL, annual billing. The table below reflects the rates currently in effect on the registration form.

Members who enrolled at a prior individual rate are credited or refunded to the corrected rate. Supporter affiliation for entities follows the Sponsorship tier table and is arranged directly with BRACCA.

10Verification & good standing

• Evidence of affiliation at registration. Verification is required of all members, with category-appropriate evidence. Verification is not limited to membership in any particular external association, and multiple forms of evidence are accepted.
• Periodic re-verification. Affiliation is reconfirmed at each annual renewal; members report category changes within 60 days, processed without penalty.
• Validation workflow. Application → internal validation → approval → payment → activation.
• Good standing requires current dues and compliance with the Code of Ethics. All memberships and affiliations are conditional on both.

11Gray areas & resolution rules