Velshi is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, the New York Financial Writers Association, The Paley Center for Media, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Chicago History Museum, a member of the Board of Trustees of Seeds of Peace, and a member of the Grand Challenges Advisory Committee of the National Academy of Engineering. He is also on the Board of Trustees of the X Prize Foundation which is a non-profit organization that designs and manages public competitions intended to encourage technological development that could benefit humanity.