About the Membership Management Forum

The MMF has evolved out of a working group of paid membership managers whose member organisations are part of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA). The group proved an extremely valuable networking and learning mechanism for participants who felt that it would be beneficial if it opened up to other paid membership managers who were not part of ALVA.

MMF was launched in September 2004 at an inaugural meeting at the Natural History Museum with paid membership managers from more than 20 organisations. The aim was to develop a professional networking group that will expand over time to become the UK wide body for people employed to develop Friends and membership groups in British museums, galleries, heritage attractions and performing arts venues.

The group will also:

• Instigate and take part in research.
• Promote the concept and value of Friends/members' groups, both within the cultural sector and to the general public.
• Share the findings with each other and other organisations such as the British Association for the Friends of Museums. In this way, the group hopes to both learn from and inform the wider sector, with the aim of developing expertise and raising standards across the industry.
• Research will be co-ordinated by Alix Slater, a Principal Lecturer whose research focus is friends and members.
• Anyone who has a paid membership role in such an organisation is invited to become part of the group for FREE, as are academics researching in this area.