The value of membership

Before I was 10, I founded my own wildlife club. Its slogan was ‘love nature, save nature, join today,’ and its emblem was a Water Vole. Each member pledged to adhere to the principle of the club – without any guidance on how to do it – and was promised a hand-drawn booklet of every bird and animal in Great Britain. My brother Ian, the only member, is still waiting for his copy. Shortly after, we were both enrolled to the RSPB. It was a relief, to be honest.

I’ve joined several other wildlife and environmental organisations since; this is often the first step you’ll take when you decide to take action for a cause you really care about. From that point on, your lone voice for nature becomes part of a rising, swelling chorus that changes things for the better.

Joining an organisation is also a bond of trust – trust that the organisation will advocate on your behalf, doing the heavy work of researching and campaigning while inviting you to get as involved as you like and are able.

Membership gives you a sense of belonging through a connection with others. I find it connects me, through time, to my grandad, my mum and my children, who have grown up with the RSPB. It connects me with friends, neighbours and others I don’t know, yet have something in common with.

It connects me with people I admire for doing so much for wildlife: the RSPB’s scientists, photographers, fundraisers, volunteers and Youth Council – all people I support and cheer.

Of course, we can’t join everything. But whether you’re supporting your particular passion for bats, butterflies or bryophytes or fighting for climate action, nature-friendly farming or your local park’s rewilding project, it’s all part of the same thing.

More and more, the power of collaboration is making waves. Those same organisations we join also often become ‘members’ of something bigger – for instance, the Wildlife and Countryside Link has 88 member organisations, collectively employing over 11,000 full-time staff with the help of 174,000 volunteers and the support of 8 million members. The State of Nature report, the most comprehensive report on the UK’s current biodiversity, is compiled by over 60 partners and many volunteers. We members are a force to be reckoned with, embodied by the 300 nature organisations that marched side-by-side in London last June as part of the Restore Nature Now protest.

From four women coming together in a Manchester drawing room to found the RSPB to the Red Kite reintroductions in the 1990s, from a 98% reduction in albatross deaths in Namibia to a ban on industrial sandeel fishing in the North Sea and Scottish waters, membership works. And it’s never been so important, or so powerful. Learn more about the RSPB’s founders.

Membership is like choosing to hold hands with strangers who want the same things you do. It’s holding onto what we have in common and holding the line to protect it, in camaraderie, hope, connection and action. So, fellow member of any organisation for nature and the environment, I salute you!