Association for Christians in Student Development

What Association for Christians in Student Development does

The Association for Christians in Student Development (ACSD) is a US-based nonprofit professional membership association that serves student affairs practitioners working in Christian higher education. Founded in 1958 (as the Association of Christian Deans and Advisors of Men) and reorganized under its current name in 1980 through the merger of CASA and CADW, ACSD operates from Siloam Springs with 11-50 staff and reaches approximately 500 members and guests at its annual conference. Its primary vertical is student affairs professionals at Christian colleges and universities who seek to integrate faith with student development practice; secondary personas span new professionals, emerging leaders, mid-level supervisors, senior VPs/deans, and multicultural affairs practitioners.

ACSD's product portfolio centers on a tiered professional development stack: a $100 annual individual membership providing access to the job board, webinars, conference discounts, and resources; the Elevate Certificate, a year-long $300 multicultural-affairs certification with six workshops and a cohort model; five annual retreats priced $200-$220 (New Professionals, Emerging Professionals, Mid-Level, Senior Level, Student Government Summit); the annual summer conference hosted at rotating member institutions; the Christian Student Leadership Collective virtual conference; and an annual peer-reviewed Growth Journal distributed via the Pillars repository at Taylor University, a Monograph Series sold through ACU Press, the ACSD Ideas article digest, the "A Higher Education" podcast, and a webinar archive. There is no proprietary technology platform; distribution is via acsd.org, a Mailchimp newsletter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and podcast directories.

Revenue is generated almost entirely from individual member-paid streams — recurring membership dues, retreat and event registration fees, the Elevate certification, and modest journal/monograph sales — with no disclosed funding rounds, parent organization, or institutional sponsorship of material size. Go-to-market is community-led: acquisition occurs through the annual conference, retreat cycle, webinars, the podcast, collaboratives (Residence Life & Housing, Student Conduct, Spiritual Formation, Diversity, Women in Leadership Development), and word-of-mouth among a stable base of CCCU-affiliated institutions.

Name

Association for Christians in Student Development

Legal name

Association for Christians in Student Development

Website

https://acsd.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1958

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Association for Christians in Student Development (ACSD) is a US nonprofit professional membership association that supports student affairs practitioners in Christian higher education through annual conferences, tiered retreats, multicultural certification, a peer-reviewed journal, and a podcast.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Montreat

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership fee of $100 for 365 days providing access to job board, resources, webinars, conference discounts, and professional development opportunities.
2. Elevate Certification Program: Year-long professional development certification costing $300, which includes retreat fees at the ACSD Conference and full-year certification program.
3. Retreat and Event Registration: Fees for professional retreats including New Professionals Retreat ($200), Emerging Professionals Retreat ($200), Mid-Level Professionals Retreat ($220), and Student Government Summit ($200) for ACSD members, covering meals and lodging.
4. Growth Journal and Monograph Sales: Peer-reviewed scholarly journal published in spring and monograph series available for purchase from ACU Press.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

ACSD is a nonprofit professional membership organization serving student affairs professionals in Christian higher education. It provides annual membership, an annual conference and tiered professional retreats (new, emerging, mid-level, senior), a year-long Elevate multicultural certification, peer-reviewed Growth Journal, ACSD Ideas article digest, monograph series, webinars, podcast, and a member job board.

Product overview

ACSD operates as a membership-based professional organization offering a portfolio of professional development products and services for Christian higher education professionals. The core offerings include the ACSD Ideas online article digest, Growth Journal (peer-reviewed scholarly journal), Monograph Series, A Higher Education Podcast, and Webinars. ACSD also runs multiple annual conferences and retreats including the main Annual Conference (approximately 500 attendees), Emerging Professionals Retreat, New Professionals Retreat, Mid-Level Professionals Retreat, Senior Level Retreat, Student Government Summit, and the Christian Student Leadership Collective (virtual). The Elevate Certificate is a year-long professional development certification program. Job Board services are provided as a membership benefit. These products work together to support the professional development and networking needs of Christian student affairs professionals.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Growth Journal: A peer-reviewed scholarly journal published during spring each year containing articles and book reviews related to foundations, leadership, student culture, spiritual formation, diversity and global engagement.
• ACSD Ideas
• Monograph Series
• Elevate Certificate
• A Higher Education Podcast

Products and services

• Annual Individual Membership
• Annual Conference

Named customers13 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• The Rodney Sisco Symposium for Transformational Leadership, Diversity and Equity PracticescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEstablished by Hasana Sisco in memory of Rodney Sisco to support a national or internationally recognized thought leader in diversity and equity practices to invest two impact-filled days on a Christian college or university campus. ACSD's Executive Committee serves as a partner in these endeavors. Activities include chapel speaking, classroom lectures, leadership engagement with faculty and staff, and community reception for church and local leaders.
• Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCCCU has curated an outstanding resource list on Racial and Ethnic Diversity that aligns with the work many ACSD members do on their campuses. ACSD's Diversity Leadership Team provides this resource as a service to members. ACSD also partners with CCCU institutions for benchmarking studies including the 2020-2021 Housing Benchmark Study covering 135 schools.
• ACU PressminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorACU Press serves as the publisher and distributor for ACSD Monograph Series, making special edition manuscripts on issues facing Christian higher education available for purchase.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Market position

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks2 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/association-for-christians-in-student-development
• Instagraminstagram.com/acsd_org
• Facebookfacebook.com/ACSDhome

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Association for Christians in Student Development