From an e-mail by Tim de Swardt, CC’ 08, president of the newly formed Scholars Governing Board, regarding the “non-official” reasons to apply for membership:

NON-OFFICIAL REASONS: Let’s be honest, it’ll look good on your resume. Also, life is about who you know, not what you know. and if you join the SGB, I guarantee you’ll make some pretty amazing connections very soon, e.g. with the Speakers at our events, and
with our Board of Advisors. By and large, these guys are rich, smart are themselves usually pretty connected. Plus, from a purely
realistic and pragmatic perspective, it’s really not all that much work for a whole heap of benefits, if you join.