About us

Membership advantages

Why join the ACRPQ?

The Alliance offers significant benefits to public relations firms that become members.

  • In a continually and rapidly evolving world, an association of public relations firms is an effective way to:
    • assert the firms’ positions more forcefully with respect to issues facing the profession;
    • speak with one voice to the various levels of governments in instances where legislative or regulatory measures affecting the communications industry are adopted or amended.
    • present a united front when the industry or its practices are called into question.
  • Membership in the ACRPQ provides access to various studies and analyses carried out by the UQÀM chair of public relations and marketing communications.
  • When they join the ACRPQ, public relations firms become ex officio members of the Conseil de l’industrie et des communications du Québec, an association of various professionals in various areas of communications, including advertising, marketing, film, television and graphic design.

Membership and A+ Accreditation

To become an ACRPQ member, a firm’s primary activity must be public relations. The Alliance has two membership categories: “members” and “associate members.”
To be admitted as a member, the firm must meet the following four criteria:

  • have been in business for at least 24 months
  • have annual professional fees exceeding $250,000
  • employ at least three public relations professionals
  • provide audited financial statements so that the ACRPQ can situate the firm in official industry rankings; the annual volume of professional fees may be made public.

The ACRPQ will clearly indicate that the firm is a member.
To be admitted as an associate member, the firm must meet the following three criteria:

  • have been in business for at least 24 months
  • have annual professional fees exceeding $250,000
  • employ at least three public relations professionals.

If it is not possible to provide the audited financial statements (business rules), the ACRPQ will place the firm outside official industry rankings, indicating that it is an associate member.

In the year after it joins the ACRPQ, the new member or associate member must obtain A+ accreditation based on the professional quality and service standards established by the Alliance in order to better serve the needs of its members. These standards are based on those of the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) in the United Kingdom. The accreditation is administered by the Public Relations Chair at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

For more information, particularly in regards to the A+ evaluation criteria and accreditation procedures, please consult the following document.