One and Done
Posted by Steve Frazier
Our Program for September 7th was a Club Assembly conducted by President Tom. The topic discussed was Membership. Guest speaker on this topic was Mark Ekstrom from the Edina morning club.
Rotary just celebrated 105 years of existence, and in order to continue to be the force for good that it Rotary is, continued recruitment of new members is essential. Our club is not alone in having issues with growth; all over the world, clubs face difficulties stabilizing their membership numbers. Changes in social dynamics and economic progress result in different patterns of growth. The basic message is that most new members have to be asked by a current Rotarian to join the organization. There still are large numbers of eligible members who aren't aware of what Rotary does, and need to be contacted and educated about Rotary.
To grow as we want to, we need to set goals to retain present members, and to get and train new members. The first step is to get prospects for membership to come to one of our lunches and see us in operation. Our club has a "good feel", and that helps to get prospects to come for a second visit.
In setting plans, we have to remember that 50% of new members leave a club within three years.... transfers, moving, death, and disinterest are the main causes of resigning. To increase by 5 members, we need to have 10 prospects become members; in addition, our current members are subject to attrition.
If each of our members brings one prospect to lunch this year, we will easily meet our goal. The motto that Mark has is "One and Done". (Story by Tad shaw and posting and photo by Steve Frazier)
Rotary just celebrated 105 years of existence, and in order to continue to be the force for good that it Rotary is, continued recruitment of new members is essential. Our club is not alone in having issues with growth; all over the world, clubs face difficulties stabilizing their membership numbers. Changes in social dynamics and economic progress result in different patterns of growth. The basic message is that most new members have to be asked by a current Rotarian to join the organization. There still are large numbers of eligible members who aren't aware of what Rotary does, and need to be contacted and educated about Rotary.
To grow as we want to, we need to set goals to retain present members, and to get and train new members. The first step is to get prospects for membership to come to one of our lunches and see us in operation. Our club has a "good feel", and that helps to get prospects to come for a second visit.
In setting plans, we have to remember that 50% of new members leave a club within three years.... transfers, moving, death, and disinterest are the main causes of resigning. To increase by 5 members, we need to have 10 prospects become members; in addition, our current members are subject to attrition.
If each of our members brings one prospect to lunch this year, we will easily meet our goal. The motto that Mark has is "One and Done". (Story by Tad shaw and posting and photo by Steve Frazier)