Wise Choice: New Survey from MemberWise Puts Umbraco CMS on Top for Membership Organizations

If you don’t have a membership card in your wallet or purse, you probably have a letter in your mailbox from an organization or association you belong to.  

Example: I've supported the Sierra Club for years. I'm still fighting off the AARP, but I sense it coming. I’ve heard they offer some pretty great discounts.

There are thousands of these bodies across the globe, composed of millions of people from all walks of life. This includes trade and professional associations, labor organizations, social enterprises – the list goes on.

As such, these communities of interest are big. So big, in fact, that there’s an organization dedicated to supporting, connecting, and providing the category “glue” for membership-based entities. It’s called MemberWise, an independent network for international membership and association professionals. 

It’s free to become a member of MemberWise (making the whole thing a little meta), and it currently represents over 8,000 individuals working from more than 2,500 UK membership organizations and associations. This includes the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing, and the IET. 

From a mission perspective, MemberWise enriches its community with access to best-practice guidance, expert knowledge, resources (like webinars), and networking events designed to help professionals improve member engagement, retention, and growth. It also features a Recognized Supplier Directory with over 170 technology and service providers.

Every few years, the MemberWise Network conducts its Digital Excellence Research Project, a survey-based initiative that offers relevant perspectives on the digital tools, activities, and strategies being employed within the membership and association sector. 

The research, which is independently written by the network and contains statistically significant findings, is published in its Digital Excellence Report – delivering a clear view of new and emerging trends that can help drive organizational goals. The facts and figures are often used to bolster business cases and increase internal support when facilitating operational or strategic changes.

Source: MemberWise website

The 2026 edition was just released, and it reveals some interesting data points about content management systems for membership bodies and associations. For robust entities, having a secure, scalable, and reliable CMS is vital to powering communication and engagement through various channels – specifically an association’s website.

For the fifth consecutive year, Umbraco was cited as the number one web content management system platform cited by medium and large membership organizations for developing websites and digital experiences, specifically to support their efforts in retaining and attracting new members and growing revenue. 

That last piece is critical, and the 2026 report doubles down on the compelling need for the sector to engage, retain, and grow memberships. It also highlights the challenge of rising costs and the mandate to counter it, so membership bodies can continue delivering services both online and offline.

Jacob Howell. Source: LinkedIn

“We’re delighted to see that the majority of medium and large membership organizations continue to choose the Umbraco CMS platform to support their member acquisition, engagement, and revenue growth,” said Jacob Howell, Umbraco’s UK Partner Manager.

According to the report’s author and MemberWise Network Founder and Chair Richard Gott, growth is now a requirement for all membership bodies – and it’s increasingly dependent on delivering engaging and value-driven digital journeys and experiences.

Richard Gott. Source: LinkedIn

“This is why the report focuses on the performance of websites, digital publications, apps, and the technologies that membership organizations and their digital agencies are selecting to create those experiences,” he said. “Over the past five years, we have observed membership organizations and associations adopting more sophisticated content management systems to optimize – and increasingly personalize – online member journeys, engagement, experiences, and purchases.”

Key findings

The 2026 MemberWise Digital Excellence Report was based on survey responses from 480 individuals across the UK membership and association sector. Segments were defined around subscription revenue, from small to medium to large. The figures are available in the report.

There were some notable findings in this year’s research. For example, new member acquisition, engagement, and growth continue to be key priorities for membership organizations, along with increasing revenue from non-subscription activities such as conferences and continuous professional development.

Additionally, the largest 100 membership bodies in the UK are now spending almost $340 million (£250 million) per year on digital technologies and web-based solutions – a massive investment that gives this market vertical real buying power. 

As stated, Umbraco is the CMS most commonly used by medium and large membership bodies. But here’s the kicker: more organizations than ever stated that they are satisfied with their CMS (+18%) and are now spending between 2% and 5% of total annual budgets on related technologies.

Other layers of the stack are feeling the lift. For example, association management systems and focused industry CRMs are continuing to see increased website integration (+5%), and the path to integration is accelerating. Additionally, a greater number of membership bodies are measuring engagement via website and member portal activity, suggesting that analytics and insights are becoming a central imperative.

59% of respondents also said that they’re using their CMS to personalize digital experiences for online members. In tandem, more organizations are personalizing content based on qualifying data such as areas of interest or geographic location. 

Finally, AI is becoming a more visible mandate. According to the research, adoption of AI-powered website functionality has increased by 21% over the past two years, suggesting that more associations are trusting AI in their digital workflows and operations – and that trend is likely to grow.

Umbraco’s agency partners activate growth and success

One of the key pillars of Umbraco’s success is its hard-earned, highly-engaged community of more than 250,000 developers and users – buoyed by its well-established global partner network of digital agencies. 

These diverse shops offer both vertical and horizontal specializations, and several have implemented solutions for membership organizations and associations. According to Jacob Howell, Umbraco’s performance in the 2026 Digital Excellence Report is a testament to the company’s digital agency partners, including Cantarus, Wattle, Bluelight, and MSQ DX.

As he said, these teams have turned ambitious digital strategies into exceptional digital experiences, powered by Umbraco. “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 organizations.”

Source: Cantarus website's membership section

Cantarus, Umbraco’s first transatlantic Platinum partner, has been an official part of the MemberWise Network for over a decade. The agency often shares thought leadership, success stories, and best practices for building websites and digital solutions that help organizations to engage and retain members. 

Boasting more than seventy membership organizations as clients, Cantarus is considered a market leader in the sector, having built websites and digital experiences for The Royal College of Physicians, British Computer Society, and The Law Society of England and Wales.

“We’ve been heavily invested in the membership sector for over a decade, and it’s now our most important individual sector,” said Cantarus CEO Lee Adams. “When you’re responsible for the performance, stability, and security of a membership organization’s site, it’s important to have full confidence in the technologies selected to build it.”

Lee Adams. Source: LinkedIn

Adams went on to explain how Umbraco allows digital agencies like Cantarus to build websites and digital experiences that are tailored to the immediate requirements of membership organizations – with the flexibility and scalability to extend the platform as they grow. In essence, it’s future-proofing for a shifting landscape.

“Because Umbraco is a powerful open source platform, we can tap into that creative ecosystem to offer clients a lower-cost implementation with no risk of vendor lock-in,” he continued, “and without limiting their technology options as members’ digital preferences evolve.”

Complementing the report is MemberWise’s signature event, the 2026 Digital Excellence Conference & Exhibition, which exclusively focuses on the membership and association sector.

Why it matters

As “The Friendly CMS,” it’s no surprise that Umbraco is a go-to CMS for organizations that focus on building and engaging with vibrant communities. At a granular level, this is a testament to Umbraco’s flexibility, reliability, and ease of use – as well as its end-to-end features for enabling rich functionality across modern digital experiences. 

Memberships and associations might seem like a niche market, but it’s a much larger segment than you might have realized. Clearly, Umbraco has endeavored to unpack the member journey and elevate the experience in a way that’s endearing to both its partner agencies and end customers – allowing them to build greater retention and loyalty while powering marketing strategies to attract new members.

My recommendation: If you’re a membership or association, take a look at this MemberWise research and use it as a point of validation. While this is a regionally specific study, the data regarding content management and digital experiences is extensible. There are many CMSes that could potentially meet diverse requirements, but Umbraco and its partners have invested deeply in the goals and outcomes for this segment, and continue to push forward in areas like AI and personalization. 

As an open source platform, Umbraco also brings its own community to the table as a resource for innovation and democratized thinking. In this way, it reflects the mission and values of open communities. When you book your demo, ask for adjacent examples of CMS modules and workflows being utilized by similar associations as your own. This also includes transactional features, such as commerce for membership dues, etc. If you’re based in the UK and EU, Umbraco is already meeting data privacy and other compliance requirements, and has a strong sustainability strategy – so it checks many of the big boxes. 

It would be wise to put them on your shortlist.

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