Private club · Members' clubs · Philanthropy
The Battery
The club says it exists "to play host to bright minds with big ideas"; its own copy describes a clubhouse for the curious rather than a professional or income band
A profile page holds what the organization publishes and what named sources report: who it admits, what it costs, how it is structured, where it operates, and how it has changed. Every figure carries the date it was checked. A dash means the organization does not publish that fact.
Founding — Founded by Michael and Xochi Birch, the founders of the social network Bebo, in a converted building at 717 Battery Street in San Francisco.
The Battery is a private members' club at 717 Battery Street in San Francisco, opened in 2013 by Michael and Xochi Birch. The building runs from a lower-level workspace and wine cellar up through a restaurant, living room, garden and several bars to a library, study, guest suites and a penthouse with terrace, and includes a fourteen-suite hotel whose guests stay as Resident Members with access to club amenities. The club's published Charter sets out its membership classes: Full Members, Lifetime Members, a Hosting Privileges subclass that lets named guests visit in the member's absence, Couples Lifetime memberships issued as two independent memberships, Resident Members, Reciprocal Members and Artists or Creatives in Residence. On the application side the club advertises four types: Member, Partner for a member's spouse or partner, Out of Town for those without a home within a hundred-mile drive, and Under 30. An optional upgrade, The Battery Alliance, adds access to more than seventy private clubs in twenty-three countries. Battery Powered, the club's collective giving programme, pools member funding behind a seasonal social or environmental theme.
How it works
The club describes admission in four steps: an online application, a nomination, an open house at the club where the applicant meets members and staff, and approval. Members use the clubhouse daily, may bring up to three guests at a time, and are asked to keep phones away in public areas and not to photograph or tag people. Members and their guests can stay in the hotel suites as Resident Members. Battery Powered runs in seasons, each spotlighting a social or environmental challenge, with members hearing from experts and then funding selected organisations collectively.
Typical member
The club publishes no occupational or wealth criteria. Its own materials emphasise conversation, cultural programming and collective giving through Battery Powered rather than industry or seniority.
Membership requirements
Requirements in detail, with history →Requirements are the tests the organization itself publishes — an age ceiling, a company-revenue floor, a net-worth minimum, a role. Where a figure straddles a range, the organization's own assessment decides. Local chapters can apply stricter tests than the published standard.
| Criterion | Published requirement | Provenance |
|---|---|---|
| Sponsorship | "Membership is by introduction"; the published route to admission includes "A Nomination" after the online application | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ |
| Maximum age at joining | Under 30 membership is "available to applicants under 30 years old" | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ |
| Geographic restriction | Out of Town membership is "available to members who don't have a home within a 100 mile drive of the club" | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ |
| Other criterion | Partner membership is "available to a Member's spouse or partner" | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ |
Published criteria as verified on the dates shown. Final eligibility and admission decisions belong entirely to The Battery. See how you compare against these criteria →
Initiation fees are paid once on joining; dues recur. Chapter dues, retreats, travel and events are usually additional and are listed separately when the organization discloses them. Figures are as published or reported on the date shown — not quotations.
| Cost | First year | Three years | Provenance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual dues | Not publicly disclosed. Separate rates exist for Member, Partner, Out of Town and Under 30, and the Battery Alliance upgrade is charged in addition, but no amounts are published. | Source ↗ | |
| Initiation fee | Not publicly disclosed. The club's apply page lists membership types without prices and no figure appears in its Charter. | Source ↗ | |
| Other cost | Lifetime Membership and Couples Lifetime Membership are named in the club's Charter, the latter at "a combined package price". No price is published. | Source ↗ | |
Structure and programming
Where it operates
1 cities with a page on this site| Chapter or location | City |
|---|---|
| The Battery clubhouse | San Francisco |
Independent context
The Battery is the most explicitly civic of the clubs in this group: Battery Powered turns membership into a pooled giving vehicle with a published theme each season, which is a materially different proposition from a club that simply sells access to rooms. It is also the most process-transparent on admission and the least transparent on money. The club publishes a full Charter with membership classes, guest rules and room-by-room access rights, but no initiation fee or dues figure appears anywhere on its site, and no reliable published figure was found. The Lifetime and Couples Lifetime classes imply a large one-off payment that is never quantified publicly. Prospective members should also note that a nomination is part of the published route in, so the club is not open to cold application in practice.
Editorial analysis by Peer Group Guide editors. It is separated from the record above and follows the editorial policy.
Similar organizations
Alternatives, grouped by need →History and changes
Site-wide change log →- milestoneMichael and Xochi Birch, founders of Bebo, open The Battery in San Francisco ↗
- milestoneAllThingsD reports the opening of the club by the Bebo founders ↗
- milestoneThe club's published Charter sets out membership classes including Full, Lifetime, Lifetime with Hosting Privileges, Couples Lifetime, Resident, Reciprocal and Artists or… ↗
Milestones as published by the organization or reported by a named source. “Record” entries are changes to this site’s own record of the organization, kept in the public change log rather than overwritten.
Take the next step
Check how you compare
Run the published criteria against a profile given in ranges. Nothing is stored.
Open the qualification toolRequest membership information
We pass on only what you agree to share, and only where the organization participates. You see exactly what is sent before you send it.
Request information Apply on their site ↗Follow this organization
One email when its requirements or fees change.
Sources
- The Battery, The Battery. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
- Hotel - The Battery, The Battery. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
- Spaces - The Battery, The Battery. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
- Apply - The Battery, The Battery. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 2
- Charter - The Battery, The Battery. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 3
- Bebo Founders Go Analog With Exclusive Battery Club in San Francisco, AllThingsD, May 2013. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 6
- Michael Birch (businessman), Wikipedia. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 8
Source tiers follow the published hierarchy: 1 official site · 2 official membership materials · 3 application documents · 4 annual reports · 5 government filings · 6 reliable business publications · 7 credible interviews · 8 other reputable secondary sources. Sources and data policy.
Is something wrong or out of date?
Represent The Battery? Verified representatives can submit corrections to fees, criteria, chapters and contact details, and add approved material. Submissions are reviewed by an editor and shown as organization-supplied; they never overwrite independent research.