A year-long project investigating the future of membership in civil society has revealed that many charities place too much emphasis on providing tangible benefits, and should instead stress the sense of belonging and identity that membership provides.

The project was led by the NCVO and the RSA (Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) and 12 charities took part, including the National Trust, the RNLI, the Scout Association and Amnesty International.

The main finding was that the idea of membership remained popular to people but the structures and mechanisms provided by the organisations were not always suited to modern lifestyles.  The popularity of internet sites such as Facebook and Twitter posed both opportunities and threats, in the form of greater potential to reach new audiences but also greater competition for attention.

The research suggested that charities may need to review their membership schemes to ensure they are relevant for modern audiences.

People value membership but are increasingly confused about what it means, particularly as more commercial organisations use the term.

The researchers concluded that generally, people “join an organisation for what they can get but stay for what they can give”.

The project consortium plans to work together for a further year to continue discussions on membership and share strategies and examples of best practice.