First-Hand:Who are More Important - Members or Volunteers?

Submitted by John Vig

In early 2025 there was a posting on LinkedIn: "IEEE membership in 2024 reached new height of 486,616 members; with 5.6% growth over last year." A few celebratory messages followed. The posting also asked for comments.

It reminded me of an observation I'd made years earlier about the importance of members vs. volunteers. So, I posted the following. "The number of members we have is interesting, but the significance of that number depends on where one sits. In MGA, that number is significant because the more members, the higher MGA's revenues. (MGA agendas are frequently focused on "member" or "membership," while TAB agendas rarely are.)

Membership dues contribute only a tiny amount to TAB's revenues. To TAB, "volunteers" are far more important than members. It is volunteers, not necessarily members, who create the publications, conferences and standards, i.e., the products, which make IEEE valuable to the world. In a thought experiment, if one eliminated all members and kept all the volunteers, IEEE could continue to thrive. Without the volunteers, there could be no IEEE. BTW, a volunteer is defined as "a person who performs a service willingly and without pay." So, our authors, reviewers, editors, conference volunteers, standards volunteers, geo unit volunteers, educational volunteers... number a million or more; that is, 'IEEE has more volunteers than members.' (Many volunteers are not members!)