Comparison · 14 material differences
ICSC 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
Professional association
Verified September 2026 ICSC
Owners, developers, managers, investors, brokers and marketers of shopping centres and other retail and mixed-use property, plus retailers, public officials and academics
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
- Maximum age at joining — ICSC: Next Generation membership: industry professionals under 40; The Real Estate Roundtable: No published maximum age at joining.
- Role or title — ICSC: No published role or title; 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.
- Geographic restriction — ICSC: No published geographic restriction; The Real Estate Roundtable: United States.
- Industry restriction — ICSC: Standard membership: companies and individuals who own, develop, manage or support marketplaces and spaces (excludes retailers and tenants); The Real Estate Roundtable: No published industry restriction.
- Annual dues — ICSC: $300 a year; The Real Estate Roundtable: Not publicly disclosed.
Side by side
| ICSC | The Real Estate Roundtable | |
|---|---|---|
| Profile | ||
| Type | Professional association | Invitation-only community |
| Founded | 1957 (ICSC's own account: "With a $500 payment and a handshake, seven enterprising professionals established ICSC in a downtown Chicago hotel in 1957.") | 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 | New York, United States | Washington, United States |
| Geographic footprint | Global; ICSC runs regional divisions and works with national and regional shopping centre councils worldwide, and holds a Washington DC office alongside its New York headquarters | United States; a single Washington DC-based national body with no chapters |
| Members | 70,000as of May 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 | Not publicly disclosed as a single figure. ICSC organises by region and division rather than by named chapters, and Wikipedia reports relationships with more than 25 national and regional shopping centre councils. | No chapters; the Roundtable operates as a single national organisation meeting in Washington DC. |
| Primary audience | Owners, developers, managers, investors, brokers and marketers of shopping centres and other retail and mixed-use property, plus retailers, public officials and academics | 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 | Membership spans the retail property chain: shopping centre owners, developers, managers, marketing specialists, investors, retailers and brokers, together with academics and public officials. ICSC's own pricing distinguishes companies and individuals who own, develop, manage or support marketplaces from retailers and tenants, who pay a lower rate. | 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 | ||
| Maximum age at joining | Next Generation membership: industry professionals under 40A discounted category, not a barrier to joining.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | No published maximum age at joining |
| Role or title | No published role or title | 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 ↗ |
| Geographic restriction | No published geographic restriction | United StatesThe organisation is the public policy advocate for the US commercial real estate industry and meets in Washington DC.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Industry restriction | Standard membership: companies and individuals who own, develop, manage or support marketplaces and spaces (excludes retailers and tenants)Retailers and tenants have their own lower-priced category.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | No published industry restriction |
| Invitation required | No | Yes |
| Sponsor required | No | Not documented |
| Application process | Applicants join online through the ICSC membership pages, choosing a member type. Categories with reduced rates require documentary proof — government letterhead for public sector applicants, a university ID for academics, and a transcript, course list or registrar's letter for students. There is no sponsor, interview or committee stage in the published process. | 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 | Not publicly disclosed; the published route is open enrolment with eligibility set by the type of business the applicant is in. | Not publicly disclosed. No acceptance rate is published and the member roster is restricted to members. |
| Cost | ||
| Annual dues | $300 a yearStandard membershipverified September 2026 · source ↗ | Not publicly disclosedverified September 2026 |
| Initiation fee | Not publicly disclosed; no joining fee is listed alongside the published dues.verified September 2026 | Not publicly disclosedverified September 2026 |
| Event costs | Not recorded here. ICSC's conferences are separately ticketed and are the main cost of participation, but rates vary by event and were not read for this record.verified September 2026 | 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. |
| Membership term | Annual | Not documented |
| Structure | ||
| Meeting frequency | A year-round conference programme including ICSC Las Vegas and ICSC New York, plus regional and state conferences | Four Washington DC meetings a year for Roundtable members; two a year for President's Council members |
| Peer forums | No confidential peer forum structure is published; participation is through events, divisions and committees | Policy committees (tax, capital and credit, energy, homeland security, sustainability) rather than peer forums |
| Confidentiality | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed; committee rosters and the member roster are restricted to logged-in members |
| Time commitment | Not documented | Not documented |
| Organized as | Event-focused, Chapter-based | Event-focused |
| Confidential peer forums | No | No |
| Local chapters | Partial | No |
| Virtual membership | Partial | No |
| Online community | Partial | Partial |
| Member directory | Yes | Yes |
| Events | Yes | Yes |
| Programming | ||
| Educational programming | Yes | Partial |
| Leadership development | Partial | No |
| Retreats | No | No |
| Travel | No | No |
| Family programming | No | No |
| Spouse and partner programming | Not documented | Not documented |
| Next-generation programming | Yes | No |
| Investment discussions | Yes | Partial |
| Investment opportunities | Partial | No |
| Philanthropic component | No | No |
| Networking emphasis | High | High |
| Social emphasis | Medium | Low |
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Sources
Drawn from the sources listed on each page: ICSC · The Real Estate Roundtable