[1] SVP has about 2,300 members internationally and holds annual scientific conferences in North America and elsewhere.

[needs update] SVP considers that "vertebrate Fossils are significant nonrenewable paleontological resources that are afforded protection by federal, state and local environmental laws and guidelines", and that scientifically important fossils, especially those found on public land, should be held in the public trust, preferably in a museum or research institution, where they can benefit the scientific community as a whole.

[11] The ethics by-law of SVP states "The barter, sale, or purchase of scientifically significant vertebrate fossils is not condoned, unless it brings them into or keeps them within a public trust.

"[12] Because of this, SVP has advocated that scientifically important fossils, such as the theropod skeleton auctioned in Paris in 2018, be placed in public trust repositories like those at major museums and universities.

[13] The position of the SVP is that "The fossil record of vertebrates unequivocally supports the hypothesis that vertebrates have evolved through time" and that evolution is "the central organizing principle of biology, understood as descent with modification" and is important to geology as well.