An audit of friends' schemes at UK heritage sites

Friends’ schemes, also known as membership schemes, societies and associations share a common purpose, namely that of providing support for a specified host. This paper makes a contribution to heritage management in two areas by drawing together the limited literature on Friends’ and membership schemes and resenting the findings of the first sector-wide study in the UK. A questionnaire was circulated to members of the British Association of Friends of Museums (BAFM) in 2002. It updates past predictions as to the number of memberships held across the sector, reports on trends, and characterises membership schemes by discussing their nature, management, status, purpose and activities.