Comparison · 19 material differences
Council on Foreign Relations vs Financial Executives International
This comparison was generated on request from the records. It carries no editorial verdict and is not indexed. The published comparisons are listed on the compare page.
Read down each column for one organization, across a row for the difference. A bronze mark at the left of a cell means the organizations differ on that row. A dash or “not published” means the organization does not disclose the fact — it is not a zero.
Verified September 2026
Invitation-only community
Verified September 2026 Council on Foreign Relations
Senior figures in foreign policy and adjacent fields: government officials, scholars, business executives, journalists, lawyers and nonprofit leaders
Professional association
Financial Executives International
Senior corporate finance executives - CFOs, chief accounting officers, controllers, treasurers, tax executives and audit committee members
What the records say
- Maximum age at joining — Council on Foreign Relations: Term membership: aged thirty to thirty-six on 1 January 2027; Financial Executives International: No published maximum age at joining.
- Minimum age — Council on Foreign Relations: Term membership: aged thirty to thirty-six on 1 January 2027; Financial Executives International: No published minimum age.
- Role or title — Council on Foreign Relations: No published role or title; Financial Executives International: Qualifying title: CFO, chief accounting officer, controller, treasurer, VP of finance, tax, risk management or planning and analysis, a director in those functions, or audit committee member.
- Minimum company revenue — Council on Foreign Relations: No published minimum company revenue; Financial Executives International: Company must have at least $10 million in annual revenues (or meet an alternative size test).
- Annual dues — Council on Foreign Relations: $3,520–5,810 a year; Financial Executives International: $399–499 a year.
Side by side
| Council on Foreign Relations | Financial Executives International | |
|---|---|---|
| Profile | ||
| Type | Invitation-only community | Professional association |
| Founded | 1921 ("Since its founding in 1921, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has grown a membership of more than five thousand of the most prominent leaders in the foreign policy arena.") | 1931 (Founded as the Controllers Institute of America in 1931; renamed Financial Executives Institute in 1962 and Financial Executives International in 2000.) |
| Headquarters | New York, United States | Morristown, United States |
| Geographic footprint | United States, concentrated around its New York headquarters at 58 East 68th Street and its Washington office at 1777 F Street NW, with members elsewhere in the US and abroad; dues are banded by proximity to those two cities | United States: 56 local chapters listed on FEI's own chapter index, from Hawaii to Long Island |
| Members | 5,000as of September 2026 | 10,000as of September 2026 |
| Chapters | No chapters. CFR operates from New York and Washington, D.C. and convenes nearly a thousand events a year. | 56 |
| Primary audience | Senior figures in foreign policy and adjacent fields: government officials, scholars, business executives, journalists, lawyers and nonprofit leaders | Senior corporate finance executives - CFOs, chief accounting officers, controllers, treasurers, tax executives and audit committee members |
| Typical member | Members include top government officials, scholars, business executives, journalists, lawyers and nonprofit professionals. Life members are elected on intellectual attainment, involvement in international affairs and standing among peers; term members are elected each year from candidates aged thirty to thirty-six and serve a fixed five-year term. | Members hold policy-making finance roles at companies across every major industry, from Fortune 500 businesses to mid-sized enterprises. Eligibility requires both a qualifying title and a company that clears a size test. |
| Qualification | ||
| Maximum age at joining | Term membership: aged thirty to thirty-six on 1 January 2027Graduate students are generally advised to wait until after completing their degree before applying.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | No published maximum age at joining |
| Minimum age | Term membership: aged thirty to thirty-six on 1 January 2027Applies only to the Stephen M. Kellen Term Member Program; life membership has no published age band.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | No published minimum age |
| Role or title | No published role or title | Qualifying title: CFO, chief accounting officer, controller, treasurer, VP of finance, tax, risk management or planning and analysis, a director in those functions, or audit committee memberFEI describes membership as "exclusive to senior-level financial executives".verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Minimum company revenue | No published minimum company revenue | Company must have at least $10 million in annual revenues (or meet an alternative size test)Alternative tests are $2 million in net worth or $6 million in capital (combined net worth and long-term debt).verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Minimum net worth | No published minimum net worth | Alternative company test: $2 million in net worthThis is a company balance-sheet test, not a personal net-worth test.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Accredited-investor status | Restricted to US citizens (native born or naturalized) and permanent residents who have formally applied to become citizensPermanent residents must email CFR a statement of their current citizenship and the date of their formal US citizenship application.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | No published accredited-investor status |
| Geographic restriction | No published geographic restriction | United States; members within 75 miles of a chapter must join that chapterverified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Invitation required | Yes | No |
| Sponsor required | Yes | No |
| Application process | Candidates request an application, then submit it online with contact information, a CV, and nominator and seconder details. Life membership requires a written nomination from a current member plus three to four seconding letters; term membership requires a nomination plus two to three seconding letters. Letter writers receive submission instructions automatically once entered into the portal. Life membership deadlines are 1 March and 1 November, with decisions in late June and early March respectively; the term membership deadline is 10 January, with decisions in late June. The Board of Directors elects new members twice a year. | Candidates complete an online membership application on the FEI site, which checks the qualifying title and company size test and presents chapter options and rates. Chapter membership is required for those within 75 miles of a chapter. No sponsor or nomination is needed. |
| Selectivity | Not publicly disclosed. CFR publishes its criteria, deadlines and letter requirements but no acceptance rate or applicant volume. | No acceptance rate is published. Selectivity operates through the published title and company-size tests and the exclusion of service providers and start-ups. |
| Cost | ||
| Annual dues | $3,520–5,810 a yearBusiness-category life membership, effective 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026: $5,810 for New York area members (residence or principal place of business within fifty miles of Manhattan City Hall), $5,310 for Washington, D.C. area members (within fifty miles of the Capitol) and $3,520 nationally.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | $399–499 a year"FEI membership dues are $399 for first year and $499 for subsequent years for all categories of membership" per the FEI Kansas City chapter. Other FEI chapter sites quote $309 a year for national dues, so the published figure varies by page.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Initiation fee | Not publicly disclosed; the published dues schedule names no initiation fee.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | Not publicly disclosed; no joining fee separate from first-year dues is published.verified September 2026 |
| Local chapter dues | Dues are billed in July, the first month of CFR's fiscal year, and may be paid annually or in two equal instalments. They cover goods and services including a year's subscription to Foreign Affairs and are stated not to be tax-deductible as a charitable contribution. The by-laws provide for suspension of privileges if a member is more than sixty days in default. | $75–468 a yearChapter dues are additional and vary by location: FEI Boston publishes $75 a year, FEI Northeast Ohio waives local dues in the first year, and FEI Sacramento lists $468 a year for executive, academic, in-transition and government/military categories, $399 for entrepreneur and $349 for retired. The Sacramento figures may be all-in rather than chapter-only.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Membership term | Life membership for elected members; term membership runs for a fixed five-year term | Annual |
| Structure | ||
| Meeting frequency | Nearly one thousand events a year, including panel discussions, symposia, town halls, livestreams and members-only CEO forums; term members also have an annual conference and study trips | Local chapter meetings through the year plus national conferences, webinars and CPE-bearing courses |
| Peer forums | Events, roundtables and workshops rather than standing small-group forums; term member breakout sessions are held not-for-attribution | No standing facilitated peer forum. FEI operates chapters, technical committees and special-interest programming rather than closed advisory groups |
| Confidentiality | Term Member Conference breakout sessions are described as not-for-attribution; CFR publishes transcripts of many of its main events | No published forum confidentiality rule; FEI is a professional association with open programming and a member code of conduct |
| Time commitment | Not documented | Not documented |
| Organized as | Event-focused, Virtual | Chapter-based, Event-focused |
| Confidential peer forums | Partial | Partial |
| Local chapters | No | Yes |
| Virtual membership | Partial | Partial |
| Online community | Yes | Partial |
| Member directory | Yes | Yes |
| Events | Yes | Yes |
| Programming | ||
| Educational programming | Yes | Yes |
| Leadership development | Partial | Yes |
| Retreats | Partial | No |
| Travel | Yes | No |
| Family programming | No | No |
| Spouse and partner programming | No | No |
| Next-generation programming | Yes | No |
| Investment discussions | Partial | No |
| Investment opportunities | No | No |
| Philanthropic component | No | Partial |
| Networking emphasis | High | High |
| Social emphasis | Low | Low |
Next
Last verified: not yet reviewed
Report an error on this page
Sources
Drawn from the sources listed on each page: Council on Foreign Relations · Financial Executives International