Recently MemberWise - which represents 8,000 professionals working for over 2,500 UK membership organisations and associations - shared its Digital Excellence Report 2026, which named Umbraco as the number one choice for medium and large membership organisations in the UK for an impressive fifth year running.
Jacob Howell, Umbraco UK Partner Manager, said:
“We’re delighted to see that the majority of medium and large membership organisations continue to choose the Umbraco CMS platform to support their member acquisition, engagement and revenue growth. This is testament to our digital agency partners who turn membership organisations’ ambitious digital strategies into exceptional digital experiences. We’re proud to provide them with an open-source platform that gives them flexibility to integrate additional technologies, whenever required, while offering an intuitive interface for content editors at membership organisations.”
Umbraco is the preferred platform for myriad membership organisations in the UK including The British Medical Association, The Chartered Institute of Marketing, BCS (The Chartered Institute for IT), The Royal College of Physicians, The Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors and Youth Sport Trust, among others.
Membership organisations are varied but they all share a need to create an excellent membership experience across all channels, including their website. Additionally, there is a need to make every member feel valued and that they ‘belong’. They also serve both their members and the public, who visit the website to find out information, while membership organisations often have regulatory functions to fulfil as well.
Membership organisations face a unique set of digital challenges. Unlike many other types of organisations, they must serve a diverse community of members, deliver exclusive value through content and services, and integrate with complex back-office systems such as CRMs, event platforms and learning management systems. A website for a membership organisation is rarely just a marketing tool; it often acts as a central hub for engagement, services and communication.
Here are some of the reasons membership organisations opt for Umbraco:
Scalability
Most membership organisations begin with a small number of members, with the potential to expand. As growth occurs, it is likely to also want to offer additional services to its members – such as online learning, digital communities and mobile applications. Umbraco’s scalable CMS expands with an organisation and adapts to its evolving needs.
Umbraco’s composable architecture allows organisations to expand their digital ecosystem over time, adding new tools and services, without needing to rebuild their entire platform.
As the organisation grows, Umbraco can support it to make data-driven decisions, using real-time analytics and reporting to gain valuable insights into member behaviour, track engagement trends and measure operational performance. Also, every membership organisation is different and Umbraco offers a ‘blank canvas’, with organisations not tied into rigid templates.
A personalised experience
Members expect digital experiences that reflect their interests, professional roles and engagement history. Umbraco allows organisations to deliver personalised content across their website by segmenting users and presenting relevant information to each group. For example, a member might see events related to their profession, recommended resources based on their interests or updates specific to their region. These personalised experiences help strengthen engagement and reinforce the value of membership.
Members will expect a professional portal, where they can view their profile page, update it as necessary to highlight their expertise, manage courses they might have booked and view when their membership fees are due.
Umbraco also enables a reviews plug-in to be added as required, so members can be verified and share their reviews with prospective customers or enable happy clients to add their positive experience.
Secure member portals
One of the main reasons Umbraco works so well for membership organisations is its ability to support secure member portals and gated content. Many associations provide exclusive resources, such as research reports, industry insights, event recordings or continuing professional development (CPD) materials, that are only available to members.
Umbraco makes it straightforward to create login-protected areas and control access, based on member roles or subscription levels. This allows organisations to offer tailored experiences to different member groups, such as students, professionals or fellows.
Seamless integration
Another advantage is Umbraco’s ability to integrate with the wider digital ecosystem that membership organisations rely on. Websites rarely operate in isolation; they typically need to connect with membership databases, CRM platforms, event management systems, payment gateways and marketing tools.
Typically, membership organisations may also offer the opportunity for visitors to search for a member – such as find a local plumber or appropriate doctor etc – and Umbraco can integrate with platforms to enable that. Any search that is offered must be fast, efficient and tuneable.
Because Umbraco is built on the Microsoft .NET framework and offers a flexible API-driven architecture, it can integrate seamlessly with these systems. This makes it possible to automate processes such as member registrations, renewals, event bookings and communications, reducing administrative overhead and creating a smoother experience for both members and staff.
Ready for AI
Umbraco allows you to leverage AI-powered workflows and intelligent content tools to streamline processes, personalise member experiences and increase member engagement.
Flexibility
Membership organisations often have complex or highly specific requirements that cannot easily be met by off-the-shelf templates or plugins. As an open-source CMS, Umbraco provides developers with the freedom to build custom features, workflows and integrations tailored to the organisation’s needs.
Easy to navigate
While its technical flexibility is powerful, Umbraco also places a strong emphasis on usability for non-technical teams. Marketing and membership staff are typically responsible for publishing news, managing events, updating resources and maintaining the organisation’s online presence.
The Umbraco back-office is designed to be intuitive and easy to navigate, enabling teams to manage content efficiently without needing developer support for everyday updates. Umbraco also offers work flow capabilities, giving tight editorial control and oversight – important when an organisation could have a large pool of editorial contributors.
Security and compliance
In our most recent blog, we looked at security and how Umbraco ensures websites are as secure as possible. Again, membership organisations are likely to be holding myriad member and visitor data and payment details and this needs to be secure. For peace of mind, Umbraco provides regular security patching, while Umbraco forms have GDPR compliance built in.
If you’d like to talk further about how Umbraco can benefit your membership organisation, call us at Lake Solutions on: 020 3397 3222.