The Largest 100 UK Membership Bodies (#Influence100) List - Q3 Update
The MemberWise Network represents over 5,000 professionals employed by leading membership organisations and associations in the UK, European Union (EU) and beyond. In this article we publish the latest version of the list (Q3)
Q3 List Amends/Additions: The National Trust is now officially the 2nd largest UK membership body (up from 3rd). New list entries include Union of Shop Distributive and Allied Workers (#21), Oddfellows (#30), Civil Service Sports Council(#44), Spotlight (#78) & Historic Houses (#85).
The organisations on the list represent a wide range of trades and professions, special interests and hobbies, governmental/regulation, political parties, charitable membership organisations, sports bodies, trade unions, commercial and consumer focused bodies, coalitions/federations, activist groups and cooperative groups.
Before we dig into the main list lets address some key questions I regularly get asked:
- How big is the UK/EU Membership and Association Sector?
- How many people or organisations belong to it or in it?
- Which membership organisations are the biggest?
- What is the real value of these organisations to society and the economy?
- How many membership organisations does the average person belong to?
- Can a financial figure be attributed to the work/outputs the membership sector?
How many membership organisations and associations are there in the UK?
I estimate there are over 8,000 membership organisations and associations based in the United Kingdom (with memberships of over 1,000 individuals/organisations). The figure for smaller organisations (including local sports clubs and societies) is likely to be far higher at approximately 50,000 individuals.
Over 80% of membership organisations based in the UK are located in Central or Greater London and it is assumed that many (particularly those representing professions/trades and/or responsible for lobbying activity) are based there due to a traditional requirement to be close to central government.
The UK has an estimated population of 66.5 million citizens and it is estimated that at least 53.2m belong to some kind of membership organisation/association either:
- Retail (e.g. loyalty card)
- National (e.g. The National Trust
- Local (e.g. local church/library)
My calculations indicate that some 14 million British citizens belong to over 450 professional membership organisations (of which 145 are Chartered Bodies) and there are 160 trade unions representing an estimated 8 million individuals (5.6 million are members of unions affiliated to the Trade Union Congress).
How many membership organisations and associations are there in the European Union?
I estimate there to be over 50,000 membership organisations and associations based in the European Union. Over 1,500 are based in Brussels alone. The figure for smaller organisations is likely to be far higher at approximately 250,000.
How many membership organisations do people belong to these days?
Back in 1996 the average Briton belong to six membership organisations and according to a YouGov poll in 2006 this number increased to an average of 17. The poll also indicated that the fastest expanding membership organisations are online communities (with growth from 2.8 million to 72 million in just one year) and that the average adult belonged to 8.
The YouGov poll also indicated that the average adult belonged to two community organisations (e.g. local public library and a faith group) and three retail organisations (e.g. Nectar, Tesco Clubcard, the AA and Boots Advantage Card). The biggest of these entities being the AA and the Boots Advantage Card scheme which have memberships of approximately 14.6 million members.
What are the biggest membership organisations in the UK?
This is the big question everyone asks the network, so we have co-curated the following list of 100 membership organisations and associations to highlight the largest based in the UK.
The latest version of our list is published on the MemberWise Network website....
Have all of these organisations seen growth during the past decade?
Based on the diversity of the organisations that feature on our list most have seen increases, however some have seen decline.
On average our list shows a 10% increase (averaging 1.25% growth per annum), however there are some that have seen significant decline.
For example in 1979 UK trade union membership topped 13.2 million members, however this number has declined to 6.23 million members over the past 4 decades. The knock-on effect of this drop has seen membership of the Trade Unions Congress (3rd largest membership organisation on our list) decline by over 50% (from 12.2 million members to 5.7 million members).
Membership of the main political parties (most featuring in our list) have seen a 25% decline since 1964.
What is the role and purpose of the MemberWise Network?
As the leading free professional network for membership and association professionals we support 5,000+ professionals working in over 2,500 medium/large membership organisations and associations. 2/3rds of our members work within medium/large professional bodies (individual membership) and 1/3 represent leading trade associations (corporate membership).
The network enables membership and association professionals to:
- Increase new member acquisition
- Improve existing member retention
- Optimise and develop member engagement
- Enhance member value
- Facilitate greater member participation
- Enable sustainable long-term growth
This is achieved via practical tools and resources including our comprehensive website (www.memberwise.org.uk), our growing programme of conferences and seminars, our thriving online community (MemberWise Connect), the MemberWise Video Channel, MemberWise Recognised Supplier Directory, membership sector research reports & publications, monthly newsletter and Jobs Board.
These resources are supplemented by a range of advisory, consultancy and membership focused training services (view membership body case studies/clients).
Join our free professional network today!
Here is our list of the largest 100 membership bodies (including their respective memberships). It is published on the MemberWise Blog...
Our list was generated by network members and was correct in March 2019.
It is expected this list will be updated and the list does not yet feature commercial subscription organisations and/or social media hosted groups (e.g. Facebook/LinkedIn).
Your Call to action: Can you see a membership organisation or association that is missing on our evolving list? Submit your suggestion(s) below before the end of March 2019
Author: Richard Gott, Founder and Chair, MemberWise Network
Quality Assurance Partners: Sue Froggatt (Trainer and Consultant) / Steve Grieve (MD, Membership Plus) Kerrie Fuller (Associate Director of Engagement, MemberWise Network) / Adam Freeman-Pask (Head of Partner Support, Sport England).