Frank Frances
- Ned's Club in DC relies on a membership committee to select who walks through its exclusive doors.The club carefully curates a balance in everything from gender to industry to politics to age.The committee goes to lengths that include combing social media to learn about potential members.
A new, exclusive club has "eyes and ears" throughout DC, laser-focused on the city's most successful and interesting people.
Ned's Club in DC bills itself as a modern alternative to what some see as a stuffy club scene, and it's careful about who it lets through the doors. It relies on a selective committee — its "eyes and ears" — to vet potential members who span industries, ages, and political stripes, Gareth Banner, the managing director, told Business Insider.
"It's about curation. It's not just, 'I can afford it, therefore I get in.' We do our homework and we look at what we have," he said. "It's a bit like being a cocktail barman — enough citrus and enough liquor."
Standard members pay a $5,000 one-time fee to join and $5,000 annually. As of July, the cost for invite-only founding members is $125,000 to join and $25,000 each year. Membership also get access to Ned's Clubs' other locations in London, New York, and Doha, according to its website.
The steep fees haven't stopped hordes from applying. Ned's Club doesn't share specific membership numbers, but Banner said that it opened in January with around 1,000 members, and that the number has since "grown quite significantly." Several thousand, he said, have applied, and interest continues to increase.
Recruiting from 'mini silos'
A committee of between 20 and 25 members guides much of the club's curation, Banner said. Like members themselves, they span industries and demographics, and help to "spread the word in those mini silos and represent different parts of the fabric of DC."
Teresa Carlson and Keenan Austin Reed, the president of tech policy think tank General Catalyst Institute and the CEO of bipartisan lobbying firm Alpine Group, respectively, were both approached about joining the committee months before Ned's Club opened. Both Carlson and Reed knew members of the committee beforehand since DC is, as Carlson put it, "a big small town."
Carlson described the committee as a "customer advisory group." Club leaders guide the quarterly meetings, which often take place over dinner. In the months since opening, the meetings have focused more on programming than recruiting members, Carlson said.
Reed told BI that committee members aren't paid but get a free standard membership to the club.
Frank Frances
What Ned's Club is — and isn't — looking for
Banner described member curation as an "art," saying the committee goes beyond pure demographics. It tries, he said, to get a sense of people's hobbies, of where they live, and how much time they'd spend at the club.
There's an online application that includes questions about job history, referrals, and the club community. Anyone can apply, but it's harder and slower to get in if you don't know anyone, Banner said. The club wants to feel it has a "connection" to each member.
"We do that through everything from looking at their online profiles" to relying "heavily on the committee," he told BI.
Nobody got specific with BI about what qualities they most value in applicants — Banner said "good human beings" who want to have fun, Carlson said business and tech leaders, and Reed said those who will "contribute meaningfully." Overall, Ned's Club prides itself on attracting top performers, which Banner estimated means people in the top 5% of their fields.
There aren't any set red flags that will get an application thrown into the trash, but the club doesn't seem keen on people with a lot of baggage. Banner said they'd be careful "if someone had a reputation" or had been "canceled," though he said his isn't the only club that thinks that way.
"I don't want any drama," Reed said. "So my red flag would be if you are known to have some significant, dramatic scenario that doesn't reflect camaraderie and a strong moral compass."
Members are generally expected to follow the club's rules, both written and unwritten. One of those unwritten rules is not to talk politics, despite being steps from the White House.
"If you're coming in, you're coming in," said Reed, who spent years working on the Hill. "You're leaving your jersey at the door."
Being 'Switzerland'
Partisan balance is key to the club, said Banner and the committee members. He described the space as "Switzerland," even as DC buzzes with political tension and politicians from both sides are members.
"It's not like we say, 'Hey, we have to have X amount of each,' but we do say we're non-partisan," Carlson said.
Balance goes beyond politics — Banner said the club works hard to try to have an even number of women and men, and that the committee is actively recruiting more women to balance out membership. When it comes to industries, he said that tech is the most well-represented.
Although the membership committee might only meet quarterly, Reed and Carlson said they're both constantly looking for potential good fits.
"It's like building a culture," Reed said — one that's carefully curated, exclusive, and expensive.
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