Revisiting membership scheme typologies in museums and galleries

Research suggests that there has been a sustained and incremental growth in Friends’ organisations (also known as membership schemes, societies and associations) in the UK
since 1970. Despite this there is a dearth of published literature on the subject. This paper contributes to the theory in this area by: refining an existing set of characteristics and criteria that can be used by Friends’ managers to identify the position of their own membership scheme in relation to others; mapping the organisational performance of 90 membership schemes affiliated to museums and galleries of varying sizes from across the UK; and using this information to extend and enhance an existing typology of membership schemes developed by Hayes and Slater.