Everton are the only Premier League club to register in the top 20 of an Index of all 92 Football League clubs measuring fan engagement.
The fan engagement index is currently in its third year and measures a club based on three different areas.
Those areas are a club's dialogue with supporters, how fans are involved in governance, and transparency of decisions.
And Everton are 20th in the table, with Newcastle United the lowest Premier League club at 87th of 92 clubs in the standings.
Manchester United are the only 'big six' team to feature in the top half of the table, sitting in 44th place, despite supporters having previously protested against their owners.
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Manchester City (58th), Tottenham (67th), Liverpool (73rd), Arsenal (79th) and Chelsea (81st) have all dropped places or points in this year’s standings.
Everton have a strong connection with their fanbase through a series of programmes led by their Fan Engagement team, headed up by Christine Prior.
The Everton Shareholders’ Association have regular, quarterly meetings with the club, which are attended by a representative from the club's board of directors.
While the club is currently progressing plans, with the Everton Stakeholder Steering Group, to create a 'Fan Advisory Board'.
This new body – an independent group made up of supporters representing the Everton fanbase - will discuss how supporters will be represented at board meetings.
The body will also become a conduit for direct communication between supporters and the board, to discuss strategic and fan-related matters at the club.
Kevin Rye, the index’s author and consultant, believes this year’s standings show Everton to be one of the better clubs in the top-flight.
He said: "Engaging with your fans can be messy and hard work but it's a basic function of business and the value you get from it is phenomenal.
"The index tells us one thing: there are good clubs in the top flight like Everton and Brighton, and the reason for that is that they are focusing on what their business is and that fans are the primary stakeholder."
Before Rye added: "The dynamics have changed and the government's fan-led review is forcing clubs to think about this more carefully and more quickly to expedite change.
"A little allowance was given for an exceptional season where resources were limited, and lots of clubs made cuts and redundancies including fan engagement staff.
"But lots of clubs still improved and the index shows that long-term culture is still the issue."
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