Why Join an Environmental NGO? A Case Study of the Malaysian Nature Society

The political strength of an environmental NCO depends on many factors including funds,leadership, expertise, political support and the size of membership. Membership size caninfluence the success or failure of the group. Usually, large membership means more labour canbe deployed for grass roots activities and also more income through payment of fees. Two mainobjectives of the study were to understand the socio-economic profiles of members of anenvironmental NCO and identity their reasons for membership. A questionnaire was developedand made available on-line to all members of the NCO for a period of one month. In addition,it was circulated during the NCO s Annual General Meeting. In the end, one hundred completedquestionnaires were returned and analysed. The results revealed that membership of the NCOcomprise mainly of young professionals of the middle income group working in the privatesector. They learn about the NCO mainly through friends who are members. The majority ofthem indicated that they joined the NCO because they wanted to support the noble goal ofprotecting nature through voluntary activities. The results suggest that, in its campaign formembership, the NCO should project an image of a group that champions nature protection aswell as a hub for voluntary work. The findings of the study support the theory that commoninterest is one of the prime motivators of voluntary group membership.