A membership organization is any organization that allows people or entities to subscribe, and often requires them to pay a membership fee or "subscription".
[1] Membership organizations typically have a particular purpose, which involves connecting people together around a particular activity, geographical location, industry, activity, interest, mission, or profession.
[2] This might simply be to encourage or facilitate interaction and collaboration, but it also often involves promoting and enhancing the purpose itself.
[3] They vary in size from very small voluntary associations, which may not be formally established, to very large nationally or internationally renowned organizations,[4] like the aforementioned National Trust, which had 3.7 million members in 2010, each paying about £50 per year.
Some of these membership organizations are referred to as multi-chapters if they have a main parent organization that is made up of chapters, clubs, or regions.