Mutual Value MX research project to strengthen member experience

06 July 2026

The Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM) is launching a new national research project focused on member experience, designed to help co-operatives and mutuals better understand what members value, how members experience their relationship with member-owned organisations and how that experience can be strengthened over time. Delivered in collaboration with the Mutual Value Lab at Monash Business School, the Mutual Value MX research project will explore how organisations can build deeper participation, stronger trust and longer-term engagement across their membership base.

The project responds to a growing challenge across the sector. Awareness of the mutual model is declining, especially among younger members, while competitors are increasingly adopting similar language and features in ways that can blur the distinction between member-owned and investor-owned organisations. If organisations cannot clearly understand and communicate what members value, engagement can stagnate, putting loyalty, legitimacy and long-term sustainability at risk.

For co-operatives and mutuals, member experience goes well beyond customer service. It is closely tied to participation, trust, governance and the strength of the member-owned model itself. This project is intended to help organisations better measure, communicate and enhance member experience so they can deepen engagement now while also strengthening relevance for future members.

A project shaped by the sector

The research has been co-developed with the sector over the past 12 months through a series of consultations with co-operative and mutual leaders. That process has included a BCCM CEO Roundtable workshop in June 2025, an online focus group in August 2025, a deeper discussion at the October 2025 Leaders’ Summit and a further presentation to the BCCM CEO Roundtable in June 2026. Those conversations have helped shape the priorities for the project and ensure it speaks directly to the practical challenges member-owned organisations are facing today.

This co-development process matters because the project is not intended as abstract research. It is designed to generate practical insights that participating organisations can use to strengthen member relationships, improve communication and support long-term engagement. At the same time, it will contribute to a broader sector conversation about how co-operatives and mutuals can better articulate the distinct value of member ownership in a changing environment.

The research will focus on a set of core questions that are highly relevant across the sector, including:

• what members value most
• how the member journey is experienced over time
• which moments matter most in building or weakening trust
• what barriers are limiting engagement and participation
• how organisations can better support intergenerational engagement across their membership base

Building on the Mutual Value work

The project also builds on the existing collaboration between BCCM and Monash Business School on mutual value measurement. The Mutual Value Measurement framework was developed by BCCM in partnership with Monash Business School to help co-operative and mutual enterprises measure and communicate the value they create for members, customers, communities and the broader economy. The framework is designed for organisations of different sizes, across different industries and with different capabilities.

That background is important because it places the new project within a broader body of work focused on how member-owned businesses identify, measure and communicate value. The Mutual Value Measurement framework identifies member relationships as one of the core dimensions of mutual value and highlights the importance of open communication, tailored member benefit and involvement in decision-making. The Mutual Value MX project takes that work further by looking more closely at how members experience their relationship with their organisation and what that means for trust, participation and advocacy.

What participating organisations will receive

A key strength of the project is that it is intended to deliver practical outputs for participating organisations as well as broader insights for the sector. Expected outcomes include:

• member experience mapping that identifies key trust-building and trust-breaking moments across the member journey
• engagement, trust and loyalty metrics that can be tracked over time
• member segmentation and risk profiling to identify advocates, at-risk members and lower-engagement groups
• analysis of the factors that most influence engagement, trust and advocacy
• actionable recommendations across communications, service and governance
• dashboards and board-ready scorecards to support reporting, strategy and decision-making
• ongoing tools and tracking capability to measure member experience and trust over time
• sector benchmarking and a national engagement index to support comparison across the co-operative and mutual sector

The broader research design also includes a strategic insights stream and an annual executive snapshot, creating the potential for both deeper organisational insight and a clearer picture of emerging sector priorities over time. Together, these elements are intended to help organisations move from anecdotal understanding of member engagement to a more consistent and evidence-based approach.

This makes the project relevant not only for organisations looking to strengthen day-to-day engagement with members, but also for boards and executive teams thinking about long-term sustainability, differentiation and the future of member ownership. At a sector level, the project has the potential to support a stronger and more confident articulation of the mutual difference at a time when that clarity is increasingly important.

The BCCM Board has endorsed the project and BCCM will organise a workshop with interested organisations and the Mutual Value Lab research team to discuss the project and participation in more detail.

To express interest, email [email protected] by 15 July 2026.