A report by Bloomberg highlights Select, Magnises, and Founders Card, rising club programs that have found popularity among diverse millennials. The clubs, which operate primarily in America’s biggest cities and offer perks similar to those of rewards credit cards, eschew the clubhouse and rely on relationships with local businesses to host events.
Along with Select and Founders Card, Magnises, a members-only benefits card program that caters to millennials, is one of several rising club programs that promise exclusive experiences at nightlife hot spots, unique networking events, and perks akin to those offered by credit cards. They’ve found popularity among millennials in particular, who value experiences over material possessions, Bloomberg reported.
The clubs, which operate primarily in America’s biggest cities, say they aim to recruit diverse members at the top of their respective fields. Magnises has about 30,000 members, Select more than 10,000 and Founders Card around 20,000; those who want in can find themselves on a lengthy wait list. The clubs say their ultimate goal is building relationships, and while they have no age restrictions, millennials make up the bulk of their membership—spurred by their values and their habit of moving frequently to new cities, Bloomberg reported.
Unlike the country clubs and university clubs beloved of older generations, these new clubs eschew the brick-and-mortar clubhouse completely, relying instead on relationships with local businesses to host events, Bloomberg reported.
They’re also far less expensive. Magnises’ annual dues are $250 and Select’s $300, but both occasionally offer free memberships to people they think would benefit their communities; Founders Card is the priciest of the bunch, at $795 a year plus a one-time $95 fee, Bloomberg reported.
Along with networking events, the new clubs also offer perks similar to those of rewards credit cards—replete with a cool-looking card. Founders Card offers more than 500 benefits, many travel-related, Select offers bar and restaurant discounts plus travel and wellness-center perks and Magnises offers similar perks, plus up-charged packages geared toward members’ specific interests, offering discounts on sports events, co-working space, hotels and more, Bloomberg reported.
Asked who he sees as Magnises’ rivals, CEO Billy McFarland named rewards credit cards; Select CEO Carlo Cisco also sees the cards as stiff, if indirect, competition. And like those competitors, the clubs each offer a sleek membership card. Employees and members of all three described theirs as “sexy.” But beyond the parties, deals and alluring cards, millennials say they’re joining the clubs for the sense of community, Bloomberg reported.
The dues and the vibe might differ, but these new clubs handle membership similarly to their more traditional brethren. There’s an application, which for Founders Card is two pages including multiple questions. All three clubs are secretive about their application process, Bloomberg reported.
Magnises doesn’t outright reject applicants but will keep some in limbo indefinitely. And it worries about accepting too many applicants from similar backgrounds. “We can’t let in 2,000 people from the same company tomorrow, because it would sway the group and the group-think,” its CEO McFarland said.
The premium his club places on diversity was evident at its recent event at the Manhattan hotel, where investment bankers mingled with designers and a computer programmer was wrangled into a discussion of Eastern European history, Bloomberg reported.
“There’s really no disqualifying factor, necessarily,” said Cisco, the Select CEO, of his club. “Employment and income are a factor, obviously, but we feel we’re building a community here. We want to make sure anyone who joins would be someone we see connecting with the community at large.”
Select’s membership base has an average income of $280,000 a year—considerably more than the average American earns, and especially impressive for the notoriously debt-ridden millennial demographic. Someone with that kind of salary could certainly afford to join a country club or university club with high dues. But such a club would offer a different sort of community, and a young member might not be able to take advantage of its perks if they moved, say, from Los Angeles to New York for a job, Bloomberg reported.
The new millennial-centric clubs pride themselves on offering a way for new transplants to meet friends and find hot spots—a de facto best friend for anybody with a new career in a new town, Bloomberg reported.
Neeharika Sinha, a 32-year-old tech entrepreneur, said she joined Magnises after it approached her on Instagram, where she has close to 1,000 followers (The club said it occasionally reaches out to people it considers community influencers if it thinks they would add to its community, and said such outreach is important to its plans for 1 million members within the next three years.), Bloomberg reported.
“I moved from New York to San Francisco two years back. I kind of felt uprooted, and I felt like I needed to know more events,” Sinha said. She has yet to attend an event, but she added: “I felt this was a good way to connect with the city. I’m ready to pay a premium if the events are more curated and one-of-a-kind.”
Magnises has no outpost in Nashville, where Hardaway lives. But he joined anyway, because he travels to New York regularly on business and couldn’t find anything comparable in his hometown, Bloomberg reported.
“Country clubs aren’t catering to millennials,” he said. “I tried golf; I hated golfing. I can’t see myself spending the rest of my days building relationships while walking with a stick, hitting a ball.”
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