In 1994, the formation of the World Wide Web Consortium was motivated by increasing demands from a wide range of organizations and their markets for Web infrastructure that is based on open, interoperable standards. Today, corporations, research groups, non-profit organizations and governmental agencies are enjoying a return on investments by partnering their capabilities to the collaborative power of nearly 400 Member organizations and the Consortium's technical staff in leading the future development of the World Wide Web.

As a W3C Member, the most important measure of value in joining the Consortium can be found in the adoption of W3C specifications worldwide, and the growing dependence of global commerce and information exchange upon these specifications. W3C Members help pioneer this growth process. Levels of involvement can range from simply associating your organization with W3C endeavors, receiving early access of Member-confidential information, assisting with driving work efforts, generating new ideas, and/or developing future Web technologies.