Member Benefits

The Benefits of Membership

Becoming a member of the American Institute of Architects gives you the valuable career advancement, professional education and advocacy services of the largest association (100K members) that serves the architectural profession—an essential investment in your own future at every stage of your career. Explore the Benefits of AIA Membership.

AIA provides opportunities to connect with like-minded professionals through local chapters, awards programs, and volunteer opportunities to get inspired by experts and creatives in your field. Level up with educational tools to grow your career and achieve your professional goals. Take advantage of resources to steadily scale your practice and streamline your work. Advocate for yourself, your community, and the world on a whole new platform.

AIA members have access to:

• Leadership opportunities to build leadership skills, understand how the institute works, and interact with leaders in the architecture profession, AIA, and universities.
  
  
• Practice Management Tool and Resources provide reliable, up-to-date, and consistent information related to architectural best practice and research, business practice and ownership, and more.
  
  
• Professional Development through various channels and on multiple topics to meet your specific continuing education needs.
   
• AIA Advocacy is the voice of architecture to legislators at the federal, state, and local level. You can engage your legislators and use AIA tools and resources to develop skills as an advocate to build power for architects in areas such as building communities, the economy, sustainability, and racial equality.
  
  
• The AIA Community helps you connect with over 97,000 architects and design professionals on the local, state, and national level.
  
  
• Career resources help you build your dream career.
  
  
• The AIA Trust develops and offers insurance and benefit programs and serves as a risk management resource for members.
  
  
• AIA benefits & discounts can be accessed by a code and redeemed while logged into aia.org as a member.
  
  
• Free salary calculator tool accessible at https://salarycalculator.aia.org/, this easy-to-use tool allows members, especially emerging professionals, to see how their salary stacks up instantly with median salary and upper and lower quartile data for 19 key architectural staff positions, sortable by region.
  
  
• AIA Designation helps you to stand out in the competitive architectural profession.
  
  

Our local chapter, AIA Potomac Valley, serves roughly 700 members in Montgomery, Prince George's, Charles, Frederick, Garrett, Washington and Allegany Counties across Maryland. Here are just some of the benefits you’ll receive as an AIAPV member:

• Access to high-quality CES events on topics of most importance to architects each year
  
  
• On-demand access to your transcript through AIA CES Discovery, which allows you to track your continuing education
  
  
• Member discounts on event registrations
  
  
• Eligibility to enter projects in the annual AIA Potomac Valley Design Awards competition
  
  

• Member discount on AIA Contract Documents™ software, the most widely accepted standard form documents in the industry
  
  

• Listing in the AIAPV’s searchable Find a Local Architect Directory
  
  
• Ability to submit events to the AIAPV calendar at no charge
  
  
• Opportunity to submit material for Member News and Guest Posts blogs
  
  
• Postings to AIAPV's Job Board at 50% off
  
  
• Opportunity to participate on chapter committees
  
  
• Valuable networking opportunities at every stage of your career

Additionally, our chapter operates the Potomac Valley Architecture Foundation for the support of architecture student scholarships and the maintenance of LEAFHouse as a public showcase for sustainable design. LEAFHouse was the University of Maryland's 2007 award-winning Solar Decathlon entry, is owned by the Potomac Valley Architecture Foundation and serves as the chapter house for AIA Potomac Valley.