# Charity membership remains steady at around a fifth of UK adults

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2023/01/24/charity-membership-remains-steady-at-around-a-fifth-of-uk-adults/
- Published: 2023-01-24T09:15:00+00:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Charity membership has remained relatively steady over time, with around a fifth
of UK adults paying members, according to nfpResearch.**

nfpResearch’s latest [Membership & the Charity Sector](https://nfpresearch.com/blog/membershipreport)
report, written by Sarah Eberhardt and Tim Harrison-Byrne, shows that 23% say they
are currently paying members, with some types of charity more popular than others.
Charities that provide support, advice or outreach services for members, such as
Scope and NCT come top, followed by charities that campaign for causes, such as 
RSPB and Amnesty International.

Of the 232 respondents who reported being a paying member of a charity in April 
2022, 38% identified as being a member of a support/advice charity, 32% a member
of a campaign charity, 28% a member of a cultural / heritage charity and 23% a charity
that offers a special interest group, society or club.

## Advertisement

 [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/)

Men were more likely than women to be members of cultural and heritage charities
and special interest groups, whilst women were more likely to be members of campaigning
charities. However, the research shows that, overall, women are less likely than
men to be members of all the types of organisations, except for the hobby or special
interest group category.

#### Motivation for membership

Examining people’s motivations for being members of charities, the research found
that most did it to support ‘a worthy cause’, selected by 49% of campaign charity
members and 42% of cultural/ heritage charity members) and ‘to make a difference’(
selected by 47% of special interest charity members).

‘Gaining the benefits’ of being a member was also important, particularly for members
of cultural/heritage charities (42%) and special interest charities (38%). Enjoying
feeling part of an organisation and a sense of loyalty was most important to members
of special interest charities (40%), and cultural / heritage charities (34%).

#### Significant proportion of income

nfpResearch also looked in detail at 25 large membership charities and their schemes,
using publicly available information and data taken from charities’ websites, annual
reports and financial statements. It found that the top 10 all have over 300,000
members, ranging from 309,000 for National Trust for Scotland, up to 5,460,000 for
the National Trust at the top. For many, membership accounts for a significant proportion
of income. The charity with the most members, the National Trust, got 53% of its
annual income from membership in 2020/21, while for British Horse Society, it accounted
for 81%. Overall, membership accounts for more than a third of income for half of
the top 25.

nfpResearch’s report includes a number of recommendations for charities, including
considering how schemes can be inclusive and accessible, and benchmarking against
other organisations.

The report is available as a [free download](https://nfpresearch.com/blog/membershipreport)
from the nfpResearch site.

 * **[CIoF announces membership fees increase](https://fundraising.co.uk/2023/05/17/ciof-announces-membership-fees-increase/)**(
   17 May 2023)
 * **[Phonecards for fundraising](https://fundraising.co.uk/1997/04/14/phonecards-fundraising/)**(
   14 April 1997)
 * **[New US grants membership body](https://fundraising.co.uk/1998/02/05/new-us-grants-membership-body/)**(
   5 February 1998)