Industry partners from the membership project met at Clubs NSW head office, where ACCORD presented some of its project findings

The ACCORD membership project, titled - The Challenge to Member Based Organisations and Their Responses, is in its final stage after presenting findings to industry partners on the 24th May 2004 at Clubs NSW head office.

The project is aimed at trying to better understand what is happening in the relationship between clubs and associations, and their members. The project has examined how the leaders of clubs and associations are responding to the decline in membership, and how the members think about and value their membership. The project specifically examined success stories - clubs or associations that have grown their membership and where members clearly value them.

Helping us in the study are five industry partners: the Australian Friendly Societies Pharmacies Association, Clubs NSW, the National Roads and Motorists' Association (NRMA Motoring and Services), NSW Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources (providing access to Landcare groups) and Sport Industry Australia.

Initial findings suggest that clubs and associations operate in complex and unique environments which affect membership trends and that these trends are not simply the product of a distinct type of recruitment and retention strategy. Findings strongly indicate that the reasons a person may join a club or association, often differ from the reasons they attribute to staying a member. These reasons can be categorised into four orientations - material, self-improvement, relational-mutualism and relational-altruism. A final report will be given to partners in early August 2004.