Are professional bodies best understood as membership organisations? Aren’t they much the same as trade associations, the AA, or the Ramblers, as implied by other organisations? Professional body foundation documents challenge this view. Instead, you may comprehend professional bodies are best understood as much the same as learned societies or education organisations from my last blog. Compared with 14% for the knowledge base and 26% for education and research, members were identified as the target for only 5% of foundation document objects. Another subject was also more frequently targeted. Standards accounted for 10% of targets and ethics also accounted for 5%.
Members are clearly very important for professional bodies. Councils and Boards are still largely drawn from them. Subscription fees and other services members pay for are critical for finances and member volunteer effort provides very substantial human resource. Multiple roles generate continual pressure from members to be serviced by the paid staff. However, we find that members’ direct material interests do not dominate foundation document objects. Rather member long term interests are served by supporting the status and quality of their profession based on its distinctive knowledge base, qualifications, CPD and professional standards. It is notable that beyond the membership the public or society and public confidence or trust account for 6% of targets. The profession is targeted by 10% and practitioners (rather than members) 5% of targets.
This accords with research carried out on member recruitment and retention by PARN. We have found the prime reasons for joining professional bodies to be the status and credibility of the profession and their professional body. Retention is more associated with access to developments in the knowledge base and practice as well as member networks. (Williams et al. 2011).
So professional bodies are unlike other membership organisations in that the primary goal is not the tangible material interests of members, though value for money is a consideration for some.
Reference:
Williams T., Hannington A. and Hanson W. (2011) Raising the Value of Professional Body Membership. PARN: Bristol