Comparison · 21 material differences
Helm vs The Real Estate Roundtable
This comparison was generated on request from the records. It carries no editorial verdict and is not indexed. The published comparisons are listed on the compare page.
Read down each column for one organization, across a row for the difference. A bronze mark at the left of a cell means the organizations differ on that row. A dash or “not published” means the organization does not disclose the fact; it is not a zero.
Verified September 2026
Invitation-only community
Verified September 2026 Helm
Founders and CEOs of UK scale-up businesses past about £3 million in revenue
Invitation-only community
The Real Estate Roundtable
Chairs, presidents and chief executives of the largest US real estate ownership, development, lending and management firms, plus the elected heads of national real estate trade…
What the records say
- Role or title: Helm: Founder or CEO of the business; The Real Estate Roundtable: Roundtable membership: chairman, CEO, president or managing director (or functional equivalent) of a national, market-leading real estate entity, or the elected head of a major real estate trade association.
- Minimum company revenue: Helm: £3m+ revenue, or more than £3m raised; The Real Estate Roundtable: No published minimum company revenue.
- Minimum employees: Helm: Team size around 20 full-time equivalents; The Real Estate Roundtable: No published minimum employees.
- Geographic restriction: Helm: United Kingdom scale-up businesses; The Real Estate Roundtable: United States.
- Annual dues: Helm: £1,450 a year; The Real Estate Roundtable: Not publicly disclosed.
Side by side
| Helm | The Real Estate Roundtable | |
|---|---|---|
| Profile | ||
| Type | Invitation-only community | Invitation-only community |
| Founded | 2003 (Founded as The Supper Club in 2003 by Duncan Cheatle; rebranded to Helm. Helm's own site states the 2003 founding on every page footer line and in its FAQ.) | 1999 (Formed in 1999, when the National Realty Committee became The Real Estate Roundtable, per Wikipedia. The underlying legal entity, Real Estate Roundtable Inc, carries an IRS ruling date of October 1978.) |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom | Washington, United States |
| Geographic footprint | United Kingdom: events across London and regional UK hubs, plus a digital community; Helm does not publish a full list of hubs | United States; a single Washington DC-based national body with no chapters |
| Members | 400as of September 2026 | Not publicly disclosed. The Roundtable's member roster is behind a member login. Wikipedia states each of the two membership tiers is capped at 100 members, which would imply an upper bound of about 200, but the Roundtable itself publishes no figure. It does say its 18 national trade association partners represent more than one million people. |
| Chapters | Helm has no chapters. It runs Forum groups and events in London and regional UK hubs but does not publish a hub list or a Forum count. | No chapters; the Roundtable operates as a single national organisation meeting in Washington DC. |
| Primary audience | Founders and CEOs of UK scale-up businesses past about £3 million in revenue | Chairs, presidents and chief executives of the largest US real estate ownership, development, lending and management firms, plus the elected heads of national real estate trade associations |
| Typical member | Members are founders and CEOs of UK scale-ups, with average member turnover of about £21 million according to Helm's own comparison page. Businesses span SaaS, deep tech, biotech, property, manufacturing and retail. Non-founder executives, advisers and service providers are explicitly not admitted. | The Roundtable publishes a breakdown of its membership as 67 percent owners, 20 percent financial services, 3 percent asset managers and 10 percent real estate trade organisations. It states that members collectively manage more than 12 billion square feet of commercial space and more than four million apartments. |
| Qualification | ||
| Role or title | Founder or CEO of the business"non-founder executives, advisers and service providers are not admitted as members".verified September 2026 · source ↗ | Roundtable membership: chairman, CEO, president or managing director (or functional equivalent) of a national, market-leading real estate entity, or the elected head of a major real estate trade associationRoundtable members attend four Washington meetings a year.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Minimum company revenue | £3m+ revenue, or more than £3m raisedHelm's published qualification panel: "Revenue £3m+ (or, raised >£3m)".verified September 2026 · source ↗ | No published minimum company revenue |
| Minimum employees | Team size around 20 full-time equivalentsHelm's qualification panel gives "Team size 20 FTEs"; its FAQ says "a team of around 20 or more".verified September 2026 · source ↗ | No published minimum employees |
| Geographic restriction | United Kingdom scale-up businessesverified September 2026 · source ↗ | United StatesThe organisation is the public policy advocate for the US commercial real estate industry and meets in Washington DC.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Invitation required | No | Yes |
| Sponsor required | No | Not documented |
| Application process | A short application form (Helm says two to five minutes), then a 30-minute qualifying call with the membership team to check fit and identify a suitable Forum. Helm describes committee approval within about 48 hours, followed by a 45-minute onboarding call. Forum placement follows an introductory conversation with the prospective Forum Chair and happens within one to three months of joining. | There is no open application. The organisation describes itself as invitation-only and directs interested parties to a membership inquiry form; eligibility turns on the applicant's role and the scale of their firm. Nothing is published about who nominates, how candidates are reviewed, or how long the process takes. |
| Selectivity | No acceptance rate is published. Helm states that every application is reviewed for fit and that non-founder executives, advisers and service providers are not admitted. | Not publicly disclosed. No acceptance rate is published and the member roster is restricted to members. |
| Cost | ||
| Annual dues | £1,450 a yearClub membership: "£1,450 /per annum" on Helm's Get Started page. In-person experiences are pay-as-you-go at this tier.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | Not publicly disclosedverified September 2026 |
| Monthly dues | £495 a monthA Helm comparison landing page quotes "£495 Joining Fee + £495 per month" (about £5,940 a year), which conflicts with the annual figures on the Get Started page. Both are Helm's own pages; the discrepancy is unresolved.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | The Roundtable publishes no dues figures. Its 2024 IRS Form 990 reports total revenue of about $8.0m, but the filing summary available does not break that down per member. |
| Initiation fee | £495 one-time"£495 Joining Fee" per Helm's comparison landing page. No joining fee appears on the Get Started page.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | Not publicly disclosedverified September 2026 |
| Membership term | Annual, cancellable at any time under the published membership agreement | Not documented |
| Structure | ||
| Meeting frequency | Forum meets ten times a year (about three hours a month) plus an annual retreat; Helm runs two to three events a week, roughly 160 a year | Four Washington DC meetings a year for Roundtable members; two a year for President's Council members |
| Peer forums | Chaired Forum groups of six to eight founders, capped at eight, matched on business size, experience level, personality mix and Chair expertise; Chairs are experienced or exited founders | Policy committees (tax, capital and credit, energy, homeland security, sustainability) rather than peer forums |
| Confidentiality | Events run under the Chatham House Rule; Forum is described as absolutely confidential ("What's discussed at Helm stays at Helm") | Not publicly disclosed; committee rosters and the member roster are restricted to logged-in members |
| Time commitment | About three hours a month for Forum; Helm states there is no fixed overall commitment and that members typically attend an event every one to two months | Not documented |
| Organized as | Forum-based, Event-focused, Virtual | Event-focused |
| Confidential peer forums | Yes | No |
| Local chapters | Partial | No |
| Virtual membership | Partial | No |
| Online community | Yes | Partial |
| Member directory | Yes | Yes |
| Events | Yes | Yes |
| Programming | ||
| Educational programming | Yes | Partial |
| Leadership development | Yes | No |
| Retreats | Yes | No |
| Travel | Partial | No |
| Family programming | No | No |
| Spouse and partner programming | No | Not documented |
| Next-generation programming | No | No |
| Investment discussions | Yes | Partial |
| Investment opportunities | Partial | No |
| Philanthropic component | Partial | No |
| Networking emphasis | High | High |
| Social emphasis | High | Low |
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Last verified: not yet reviewed
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Sources
Drawn from the sources listed on each page: Helm · The Real Estate Roundtable