Comparison · 13 material differences
Council on Foreign Relations vs Summit
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
Invitation-only community
Summit
Founders, entrepreneurs, C-suite executives and investors, alongside artists, musicians, athletes, scientists, chefs and other public figures the organization describes as makers.
What the records say
- Maximum age at joining: Council on Foreign Relations: Term membership: aged thirty to thirty-six on 1 January 2027; Summit: No published maximum age at joining.
- Minimum age: Council on Foreign Relations: Term membership: aged thirty to thirty-six on 1 January 2027; Summit: No published minimum age.
- Accredited-investor status: Council on Foreign Relations: Restricted to US citizens (native born or naturalized) and permanent residents who have formally applied to become citizens; Summit: No published accredited-investor status.
- Annual dues: Council on Foreign Relations: $3,520–5,810 a year; Summit: $2,000 a year.
Side by side
| Council on Foreign Relations | Summit | |
|---|---|---|
| Profile | ||
| Type | Invitation-only community | Invitation-only community |
| 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.") | 2008 (Wikipedia dates the first Summit Series event to April 2008, an invitation-only gathering of 19 young entrepreneurs at a Park City, Utah ski resort, organized by Elliott Bisnow, Brett Leve, Jeff Rosenthal, Jeremy Schwartz and Ryan Begelman. Summit's own membership page says it has "spent 17 years building" the community, consistent with a 2008 or 2009 start; its community page refers instead to "the past fifteen years".) |
| Headquarters | New York, United States | 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 | Monthly member gatherings in five United States cities - Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Austin and New York - with flagship events held in the United States and abroad, including Kenya and Peru in the 2026-27 calendar. |
| Members | 5,000as of September 2026 | Not publicly disclosed. Summit publishes outcome claims for its members - more than US$2.3 billion of capital raised, 150+ co-founder connections, 300+ Series A to C rounds and 68 marriages - but no membership total. |
| Chapters | No chapters. CFR operates from New York and Washington, D.C. and convenes nearly a thousand events a year. | No chapters. Membership includes monthly in-person gatherings in five cities and more than 60 touchpoints a year. |
| Primary audience | Senior figures in foreign policy and adjacent fields: government officials, scholars, business executives, journalists, lawyers and nonprofit leaders | Founders, entrepreneurs, C-suite executives and investors, alongside artists, musicians, athletes, scientists, chefs and other public figures the organization describes as makers. |
| 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. | Summit describes its community as entrepreneurs, academics, athletes, artists, astronauts, authors, chefs, engineers, explorers, philanthropists, spiritual leaders and scientists. The application asks only for name, contact details, company, role and city, so admission turns on the interview rather than a financial test. Past presenters listed on the site include Jeff Bezos, Bill Clinton, Kendrick Lamar, Brene Brown, Malcolm Gladwell and Eric Schmidt. |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Invitation required | Yes | Yes |
| Sponsor required | Yes | Sometimes |
| 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. | Applicants complete an online form giving name, mobile number, email, company, role and city. Candidates are then interviewed against two criteria: leadership in their field, and warmth and fit with Summit's eight principles. Separately, anyone can nominate an attendee or a speaker for a Summit event, and members register for flagship events through a signed-in account. |
| Selectivity | Not publicly disclosed. CFR publishes its criteria, deadlines and letter requirements but no acceptance rate or applicant volume. | Not publicly disclosed. Summit describes its events as invitation-only and its process as curation, but publishes no acceptance rate or application volume. |
| 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 ↗ | $2,000 a yearSummit Membership: "For $2,000 a year", covering all monthly in-person happenings in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Austin and New York, curated introductions, priority registration for flagship events and the virtual learning series, full PARTICLE marketplace access and unlimited directory search.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Initiation fee | Not publicly disclosed; the published dues schedule names no initiation fee.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | Membership is the only published price. Flagship event registration is separate and requires a sign-in, so the total cost of participating is not visible publicly. |
| Event costs | 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. | Not publicly disclosed. Ticket prices for the flagship events - Summit Napa Valley, Summit Sarara in Kenya, Summit Basecamp at Lake Tahoe and Summit Sacred Valley in Peru - are behind a sign-in; the public event pages carry no pricing.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 | Monthly in-person gatherings in five cities, described as more than 60 touchpoints a year, plus virtual learning sessions and several multi-day flagship events each year |
| Peer forums | Events, roundtables and workshops rather than standing small-group forums; term member breakout sessions are held not-for-attribution | No standing peer forums. The structures are city gatherings, curated one-to-one introductions and large multi-day events built around six programming pillars. |
| Confidentiality | Term Member Conference breakout sessions are described as not-for-attribution; CFR publishes transcripts of many of its main events | Not publicly disclosed |
| Time commitment | Not documented | Not documented |
| Organized as | Event-focused, Virtual | Event-focused, Virtual |
| Confidential peer forums | Partial | No |
| Local chapters | No | Partial |
| Virtual membership | Partial | Partial |
| Online community | Yes | Yes |
| Member directory | Yes | Yes |
| Events | Yes | Yes |
| Programming | ||
| Educational programming | Yes | Yes |
| Leadership development | Partial | Partial |
| Retreats | Partial | Yes |
| Travel | Yes | Yes |
| Family programming | No | No |
| Spouse and partner programming | No | Not documented |
| Next-generation programming | Yes | No |
| Investment discussions | Partial | Partial |
| Investment opportunities | No | Partial |
| Philanthropic component | No | Yes |
| Networking emphasis | High | High |
| Social emphasis | Low | High |
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Sources
Drawn from the sources listed on each page: Council on Foreign Relations · Summit