We all have different approaches to our club membership. Here is a letter from Bob Wallace, our Rotary Coordinator for Zone 24 East to tell us about 2 clubs and how they handled potential members. He says that increases in membership and retention/engagement do not just happen. It takes a lot of work to attract and engage Rotarians. To find out what happened, please Read More.......
My fellow Rotarians,
We all have different approaches to our club membership, but I can assure you that increases in membership and retention/engagement do not just happen. It takes a lot of work to attract and engage Rotarians.
Let me start by telling you about two Rotary clubs whose names will remain secret. In this particular district, the membership committee has been very active handling and processing membership leads and in the case of these two clubs they were each assigned two potential member leads from the district. First the district had called and talked to all four of the leads and described Rotary in the district, what clubs were available and where they were located. All four leads were sent to the two suggested clubs. Two leads to each club. Here is where things differ greatly and the work either starts or not.
Club A contacted their two leads and told them about the club activities where and when they met and invited them to their meeting. After the lead attended the meeting they were thanked for attending, invited to return the following week, quizzed about their thoughts about Rotary and the club in particular. Long story short, they both joined the club and are now active members. One attended the Toronto convention and one is now on the district conference planning committee. A lot of effort was put into the introduction, cultivation and working on these new members.
Club B on the other hand started at the same point, two leads assigned to them by the district. The only effort the club made was to send an email detailing the time, date and place of the meeting. Both leads attended a club meeting and left never to be seen again. The club made no effort to invite them back or quiz them about their thoughts. Needless to say, we lost two potential members.
As I said earlier Membership take some work and effort. Just like a farmer or gardener who plants some seeds, without a lot of effort on the part of the farmer to water, weed and encourage the seed to grow, the seed with not germinate and grow strong.
This is the same for Rotarians - we constantly need encouragement, weeding and cultivating to grow.
Bob
Bob Wallace
Rotary Coordinator Zone 24 East
President 1998-1997, 2018-19