Experiences here in North America are different than those in the U.K. The term "club" on this side of the Atlantic has two distinct meanings. The first meaning is a society, such as the Folklore Society of Greater Washington or the Philadelphia Folk Song Society. These are large organizations that sponsor many kinds of events, from intimate house concerts to multiday festivals. They are typically governed by a board of directors elected by the dues paying members, and they depend upon scores of volunteers who see to it that events happen. Some of the directors and volunteers are musicians, but many are not. What they all have in common is enough love for the music that they are willing to give their time (and often money) to see that the society functions.

The other meaning of "club" is a specific venue. This could be a non-for-profit coffee house run out of a church, or it could be a commercial enterprise such as the nightclub Satallia in New York, or it could be something in-between, such as a local pub which has live music on weekends. Clubs in this sense of the word very often run by non-musicians, because it usually doesn't matter if the people running them are musicians or not.