N400 Part 12 Q9

[Tindsay 3]

I'm in the process of filing out my n400 and I'm a little unsure as to what should be included for part 12 question 9, the question seems pretty broad. Should answers to this question include organizations I've donated money to, e.g. charities or political campaigns and if so how would you define the dates of 'membership'?

 

Seems like a lot of things fall under the umbrella of this question given the way it is worded things like membership of AAA, what sorts of things did you include?

[GreatDane 366]

3 hours ago, Tindsay said:

I'm in the process of filing out my n400 and I'm a little unsure as to what should be included for part 12 question 9, the question seems pretty broad. Should answers to this question include organizations I've donated money to, e.g. charities or political campaigns and if so how would you define the dates of 'membership'?

 

Seems like a lot of things fall under the umbrella of this question given the way it is worded things like membership of AAA, what sorts of things did you include?

We didn't include AAA. I interpreted it as a member of a political organization or something else. Not someone who would pick me up on the side of a road for a fee. Since we haven't donated any real amount to political organizations, we left it blank. We've donated to homeless shelters, thrift shops, and the like, but nothing else. We did, however, include volunteering at the Red Cross and other charities - just not financial donations. 

[broppy 204]

6 hours ago, GreatDane said:

We didn't include AAA. I interpreted it as a member of a political organization or something else. Not someone who would pick me up on the side of a road for a fee. Since we haven't donated any real amount to political organizations, we left it blank. We've donated to homeless shelters, thrift shops, and the like, but nothing else. We did, however, include volunteering at the Red Cross and other charities - just not financial donations. 

There's nothing to interpret - the question doesn't ask about political organisations - it's deliberately broad - "any organization, association, fund, foundation, party, club, society, or similar group". Do they care that you're a member of AAA? Of course not! But they're not asking you to make that determination - they want to see everything and decide for themselves if it's relevant or not.

[GreatDane 366]

51 minutes ago, broppy said:

There's nothing to interpret - the question doesn't ask about political organisations - it's deliberately broad - "any organization, association, fund, foundation, party, club, society, or similar group". Do they care that you're a member of AAA? Of course not! But they're not asking you to make that determination - they want to see everything and decide for themselves if it's relevant or not.

I just reviewed my application - you're right! We did include AAA! I'm really surprised. I guess it's been a few months so it slipped away. Also included Red Cross. Do you also include charities you contributed to? (Like $20 to the human society) 

[broppy 204]

37 minutes ago, GreatDane said:

Do you also include charities you contributed to? (Like $20 to the human society) 

It doesn't ask about financial contributions - I'd skip donations and only mention charities if I'd actively joined or participated in some way as a volunteer. 

[GreatDane 366]

45 minutes ago, broppy said:

It doesn't ask about financial contributions - I'd skip donations and only mention charities if I'd actively joined or participated in some way as a volunteer. 

Good to know I did it right Thanks! I still think it's funny how since AAA differentiates their customers as 'members', it's included. I bet somewhere someone has done the even more accurate thing and listed their grocery store loyalty card.