Part
01
of one
Part
01
Membership Committees for SoHo House, Neuehouse, Spring Street Studios, other Private Clubs
Hi! Thanks for asking Wonder to look into the membership committees for SoHo House, Neuehouse, Spring Street Studios and other private clubs.
The short answer is that the average private club membership committee has around 30 members and is composed of those who will ensure the club's reputation and values are upheld. Below you will find a deep dive into my findings.
SOHO HOUSE
SoHo House's membership committee is 30-40 members, pulled from the various creative industries, balanced between male and female and various age groups. Members of the committee come from a variety of experience levels and different parts of the city/region. The committee meets roughly every three months.
NEUEHOUSE
With "hundreds" on the waiting list, it is the membership committee who decide who gets access to this exclusive co-working space.
The club has a reputation of being "nice", no snobbery despite the waiting lists and exclusivity. One tour guide assured a journalist touring Neuehouse that the niceness is "real", not faked for publicity. We can infer that its Neuehouse's membership committee that determines whether applicants have the right personality to keep this atmosphere.
Additionally, the committee deliberately hand-pick members in order to maintain the club's founding principle of diversity. Applicants are not admitted in the order of application, but rather to maintain the balance of men/women, Americans/Europeans, and so on. For example, the club currently enjoys a 50% male/female ratio, and 40% of members are European citizens. The committee also ensures the club maintains an equal balance of industries. "We don’t want to be a tech ghetto. We don’t want to be a fashion ghetto," one of the partners Oberon Sinclair tells Fortune. Members are initially vetted by Membership Manager Jessica Wolf, meeting an average of six applicants per day. We can infer that it is Jessica who screens applicants and those she feels meet the Neuehouse principles are then put forward to the committee for approval. However, an old job posting for Membership Manager is ambiguous, not giving us any clues on what role the committee itself play in approving Neuehouse's members (the listing seems to imply that it's the Membership Director, currently Tim Geary, and Manager that approve members - possibly it's this step and then approved applicants are put forward to the committee).
Another interesting tidbit about Neuehouse's membership is that it is not self-sustaining at the moment. In 2015, Neuehouse made the news for raising $25 million in venture capital funding, making us infer that while it does cater to high net worth individuals, it keeps its membership rates low enough to pull in the 'correct' personalities.
SPRING STREET STUDIOS
Spring Place is a club which pops up a lot in articles talking about SoHo House or Neuehouse. Seen as almost a cross between the two, Spring House is apparently extremely exclusive, favoring 'influence' above all else. It also contains a hefty price tag to match - dues are almost double that of Neuehouse, more if you wish to join its 'premium' tier, Little Malibu House.
W Magazine calls its membership committee "Raya-like". Co-founder Francesco Costa admitted that Spring Place only accepts around 100 members a month (which may sound like a lot, but this is a still a 'new' club), looking to cap at 2,500. Members are vetted by the committee, who are the sole determinant on whether applicants fit "the right profile". The committee contains around 30 members, who are considered “quite influential within the creative industries”. Spring House's membership committee meets every two weeks to “evaluate member criteria.”
Costa has also revealed that members are primarily among the "fashion, art, movies, music and design" industries and aged 25-45 (though they are technically open to any age group). We can therefore infer that most membership committee members would also come from this bloc.
Spring Place's current Membership Director is Kurt Slanaker, who was also, until recently, the Membership Manager. During his role as manager, he liaised between members and "the house" (likely, the committee and executive team). He was charged with "managing expectations and upholding the values of Spring Place."
REQUIREMENTS TO BE ON A MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
A listing for Membership Manager for SoHo House gives us some insights into the requirements of a membership committee member. Membership committee members are in charge of cultivating and growing the club's "carefully chosen" membership base. The committee also take an active role in events and defining members' benefits.
Committees typically meet every three months to discuss, as a group, all pending membership applications (Spring House meets every two weeks!). The committee needs to be able to strike a balance between the club's exclusive membership base and budget, accepting a sufficient number of new members to meet financial requirements.
Committee members are also often charged with recruitment of new members. They need to be able to gather new member applications through socializing, contacts, and remind pending members to maintain regular attendance to keep their submission relevant. Members, along with the membership manager, also play an important role in identifying potential new committee members from among the membership base.
SoHo House specifically also wants its committee members to be in charge of 'behavior', upholding the club's reputation for accepting high-quality clientele. Notably, several Hollywood executives were banned from the club upon rumors they treated their assistants badly. Members are expected to adhere to the ideals and image of the club, with the committee and manager becoming the enforcer. One former committee member describes it as, "there was a great sense of doing the right thing."
OTHER CLUBS
* Montauk: at more than 125 years old, Montauk is an older breed of private club, and seemingly a bit more lax in its membership than the ones above. Back in 2007, its membership dipped to around 120, so it lowered its protocol to "DeVry [University] levels". Because of this, and a slight revitalization of the club by younger members, it now sees new members accepted by the "dozens" monthly.
* Core: not a lot is known about the composition of the membership committee, but new applicants must be sponsored by an existing member, and all must be approved by the committee. Members are selected on their "accomplishment, innovation and transformation. Doing interesting things in any of these areas makes someone interesting to us." Composition of the club is "self-selecting," meaning that the committee is made up of those that comprise the paragon of Core's values.
CONCLUSION
To wrap up, I have looked at membership committees at several private clubs. Generally it seems that committee members are those who are in charge of ensuring the club's reputation and values are upheld by accepting certain applicants. Where there was information available, committees are typically comprised of around 30 members, meeting regularly to discuss applicants.
I hope this is helpful. Please feel free to ask Wonder if you have any more questions!