BNI is a company which claims to be "the world's largest referral organization". The company was founded in 1985 by Dr. Ivan Misner "for the primary purpose of building powerful referral networks".

Chapter Format

The BNI organisation works by creating a group of professionals from various industries and encouraging regular passing of referrals.

• Each chapter allows one person per occupational classification, and prospective members must be approved via an application process.
• BNI's philosophy is "Givers Gain" - members are expected to focus on giving referrals to other members to build relationships and receive referrals in return.
• BNI draws a distinction between a "referral" and a "lead." A lead is contact information for a prospect for a member's business, while a referral occurs only when the prospect has already expressed interest in the business in question, and is ready to be contacted by the referred BNI member.
• Chapters have specific rules regarding required attendance in order to cultivate the relationships needed to create a comfort level in referring business.
• Chapters track the monetary amount of passed business in order to prove the value of the financial and time commitment.

Financial Structure

• Business Network International receives a portion of membership fee for each member joined within each chapter
• Franchisees receives a portion of the membership fee
• Executive Directors receive commissions based on the clubs he/she starts in a sub-region
• Assistant directors are paid a fee out of the membership fee
• Members pay a fee which varies by country, generally of more than USD

Statistics

• Number of Chapters: over 5,400 (as of 2009)
• Number of Members: 120,000 (approximate)
• Total annual value of Referrals: $2.4 billion (U.S.) (2006)
• In 2010, the 145,000 members of BNI worldwide passed over 6.5 million referrals which resulted in more than $2.8 billion in business.