MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT

Rotarian Siri Bergh, the daughter of Rotarian parents, spoke at her zone membership seminar about what makes Rotary attractive to young professional women like herself. Some of her remarks are excerpted below.

I joined Rotary eight years ago this month, but Rotary was in my life much sooner than that. I visited clubs with my dad as a child, and my mother's club sponsored my Youth Exchange year. When I became a young professional, working for our family business, I was a perfect candidate to be a Rotarian. So which one of my parents' clubs did I join? Neither. Why not? They didn't ask.

I was asked to join Rotary by a friend of the family. He saw in me what my parents kept missing. Now he was lucky in that I knew what Rotary was, so I was an easy sell. He asked if I was interested, and less than a month later I was a Rotarian. As we all know, recruitment isn't always so easy. But the real lesson is to ask. My parents believed I was a smart, capable person, or I wouldn't have been running the business. What they failed to see was a Rotarian. Thankfully, someone else saw it - not because my parents would never see it, but because I got to become a Rotarian that much sooner.

Rotary has the reputation of being an old man's group. We have to change that to keep Rotary around and to make it stronger. Rotary didn't start with an old man. Paul Harris was 37 years old when Rotary was founded. He created a successful business while laying out the foundation of the Rotary organization. He incorporated Rotary into his life; he didn't add it later.

That is how a young Rotarian does it. It's a part of life. I include it, and as my life gets busier, Rotary is already established. Fellow Rotarians my age see Rotary as a way to round out their community life. They build relationships that will help them and give back to the community that has made them successful.

By recruiting young professionals, clubs grow stronger earlier, and members remain committed longer. If someone is a good Rotarian at 40, imagine what they would have been if they had joined at 25. Good Rotarians do not have a race, gender, or age. They have a commitment to community, both local and global. So taking a look at a potential candidate means considering whether they meet the qualifications of Rotary.

And that means it could even be your daughter!

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MEMBERSHIP RETENTION

Retention Model

Retention of Rotary club members is as critical to long-term growth and success as the induction of new members. It is more productive and cost effective to retain current members while building your membership through recruiting than to continually replace members lost to attrition.

Retention is an important issue for all clubs. If a club cannot retain its current members, as well as induct and retain new, qualified members, it will not remain viable. In order to practice good retention a club must understand it and have a tool by which to measure it. The Retention Model is a tool that clubs and districts can use to identify their current retention strengths and weaknesses.

Please download the Retention Model Workbook at right.

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Sharing the Magic of Rotary!

If you missed this event or the one in Vancouver Canada, you missed a fantastic opportunity to regenerate the enthusiasm for membership we all have within us. Please take a few minutes to read this assessment from one of the organizers of this great event.

By Brenda Cressey, DG 2001-02
Rotary International President (2007-08) Wilf Wilkinson gives the “Charge to Action” at the Presidential Membership Conference held in San Jose on Friday, August 17 and Saturday, August 18, 2007, with over 615 Rotarians in attendance from California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii and Nevada. The conference was co-chaired by Past RI Director, Sam Greene, RC of Westlake Village and Past Regional RI Membership Coordinator, Brenda Cressey, RC of Paso Robles Sunrise, both from RI District 5240.

The speakers presented new and innovative approaches to membership including volunteering trends and demographics. Effective membership tools are now available on the RI Website. Clubs were challenged over and over to really think about what they are doing and how they might begin to change. In a speech entitled “Friendly Fire”, given by Past RI President Cliff Dochterman, in his usual humorous way, clubs were asked to think about why it is they are losing so many potentially great Rotarians each year. Membership loss each year continues at a rate of 12 to15% or higher and if we can find ways to reduce that percentage we won’t have a membership problem and can then concentrate on serving others.

The conference also featured many interactive roundtable discussion opportunities to exchange ideas and best practices having an overall theme that clubs must establish strong membership committees and long term membership strategies that will ensure strong effective Clubs by reducing membership loss and increasing membership by truly representing the diversity and cultures in our communities.

In taking a program theme from The Rotary Foundation, it’s time that “Every Rotarian, Every Year” become involved in membership. It is a responsibility of our own membership and we must identify and induct quality new members on a consistent basic.

Rotary membership continues to spiral down in the US over the last 5 years and in the words of one of our attendees about the conference, “It’s time to throw out the old ways of doing things and ask the difficult questions. I only hope that we can keep this type of self assessment going into the future.”

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10 Easy Ways to Attract and Retain Rotary Members

1. Promote — via the media — club and district activities which address important community issues

• Each time Rotary is mentioned in the news, hundreds, thousands, and sometimes millions of people are reached. More than just enhancing Rotary's image, public relations can help gain support for projects, attract members, and improve the quality of service that Rotarians provide. In order to take full advantage of the media, Rotary news must be presented properly. The following are some tips on how to effectively promote Rotary in the media:
• Appoint club and district PR chairpersons — Attracting media attention requires hard work and research. A significant advantage is gained by appointing club and district PR chairpersons who work in the communications field and understand the media in your area.
• Know the media in your area — Approach the media strategically. Link your story to a larger trend or current news events. When presenting a story idea to the media, make sure it is brief and to the point. Think of how to best present Rotary in a 30-second sound "bite." Tailor your idea to a specific journalist, publication or broadcast program. Health segments require stories with a health angle, international news programs require an international angle.
• Offer knowledgeable rotary spokespeople — When suggesting a story to the media, make sure you can offer articulate local spokespeople. A spokesperson should be someone who is actively involved and can inform others.
• Identify Newsworthy Story Angles — Every Rotary story must have significant news value. The best public relations for Rotary is effective service. How Rotary addresses real needs in the community is the kind of newsworthy story that interests journalists. It helps to support your story idea with background materials, such as fact sheets or brochures, which are available from the service center in your area. For more information about promoting local club activities, consult Rotary publications including, "Effective Public Relations: A Guide for Rotary Clubs."

2. Develop a Rotary web site and encourage community organizations to link to it — In this technological age, it’s important to keep pace with the times. The Internet is a powerful tool for sharing club and district activities.

• Consider developing your own club or district web page. Rotary sites help attract and retain members, improve club communications across the globe, and make club project information available to your local media.
• The number of people reached with Rotary’s message can be substantially increased by encouraging community groups to send their visitors to your club’s site for additional information on certain local issues and programs.

3. Solicit third party endorsements of Rotary projects — It’s important for Rotarians to share the good work of Rotary. But it is more credible, more believable and more impressive to have others talk about our good deeds. An organization with which Rotary partners is an excellent source for a third party endorsement. Ask executive directors of organizations and community leaders to talk up Rotary at events, in organizational publications and through the media.

4. Ask the beneficiaries of Rotary service to speak on behalf of the club or district — No comment is more powerful than one made by a person or a family that has benefited from Rotary's work. For example, at a press conference to announce housing units built or supported by Rotary, have the head of household or a child speak instead of a Rotary official. People watching the report on television or reading about it in the newspaper will be much more moved by their testimony.

5. Publicize member participation in club and district activities in business and trade periodicals — Rotary members spend a lot of time volunteering in their communities. Have their work recognized among their professional peers by sending a press release to various industry publications. For example, publicize a member’s work on an anti-violence initiative in a local, regional or national banking journal.

6. Arrange for Rotary displays in local libraries, banks, city halls, etc. Many organizations will permit community groups to put up displays in their buildings. Order materials from the RI catalog and set up an educational display in heavily trafficked places.

7. Produce a video of club and district activity — Many Rotary clubs have members who have the equipment and knowledge necessary to produce a video, and editing can often be donated. A compelling video depicting hands-on activities is a good way of telling the Rotary story. The video could be used as part of a display and it could be sent to interested members of the media and organizations. A shorter version could be submitted for consideration as a public service announcement. The tape could also be used for district conferences and other Rotary events.

8. Promote Rotary’s work with and for young people — The media is often interested in programs relating to young people. They are particularly interested in projects being carried out by young people such as Rotaract and Interact activities and the Ambassadorial Scholarship program. Promoting the work of young people to the media is also a good way of updating the image of Rotary.

9. Seek opportunities for Rotarians to speak at community events and in schools — Visibility is an important prerequisite to membership recruitment. Be aggressive in identifying opportunities for members of Rotary to speak at community events. Rotarians are capable of providing valuable commentary on any number of community issues. Be proactive! Don’t wait to be invited. Organizers will be glad that you called!

10. Speak to the local press club — Every major city has a local press organization. Learn about yours and call them to see if it might be possible to come and speak at an upcoming meeting. Tell them you’d like to talk about Rotary’s role in important community issues such as drug abuse prevention, tutoring, antiviolence initiatives, and preventive recreational programs designed to provide structured activities in which children can be productive and have fun.

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MEMBERSHIP REGENERATION

 

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MEMBERSHIP REJUVENATION

Retaining Younger Members 

Induct several young members at once, instead of recruiting them one at a time. If your club has no younger members, inducting several at the same time gives these new members an immediate peer group in the club.

Conduct service projects that are likely to appeal to younger members. The Australian Bureau of Statistics found that volunteers in two age groups, 25-35 and 55-65, do the same amount of service work. But the younger volunteers were more likely to focus on areas such as education, sports, and family matters.

Recruit Rotaractors, GSE team members, and other Rotary program alumni. Their participation in RI and Foundation programs shows that they already know about Rotary's ideals and are interested in pursuing its mission.

Consider lowering the total cost of membership in your club. Some younger members have trouble meeting the financial obligations of club membership. To combat this problem, some clubs have lowered their fees or have a meal only once or twice a month instead of every week.

Consider waiving certain fees or expenses for the first year or two. Younger members who aren't yet fully invested in Rotary may be more apprehensive about committing to all of the financial obligations of club membership. Once they become involved in your club and dedicated to Rotary's mission, they may be more willing and able to pay the full amount.

Make sure meetings are efficient and productive. Younger members, who often have competing priorities, are more interested in attending meetings that are conducted efficiently. Also, make sure your club has an appropriate balance of meetings and hands-on projects and activities.

Recruit "up-and-comers." Managers who are on their way to becoming important business and professional leaders are often interested in the networking and professional development benefits of Rotary. Getting them invested in Rotary while young can help ensure their dedication to Rotary when they reach top-level management, executive status, or ownership positions.

Be open to the new ideas of younger members. Maintaining the status quo in your club may bore and discourage them. Younger members will be more likely to stay in your club if their opinions are valued and appreciated - and if they aren't treated like junior members.