David McDonald Talks Membership!
.jpg)
Our speaker for October 11 was David McDonald, President of the Santa Rosa West Club. This is Dave’s second tour of duty as President and he’s been very active for years in District assignments, including four or five years as District Membership Chair. Dave was asked to speak with us about Membership.
Rotary’s current goal is to have clubs focus on becoming vibrant, with exciting, informative meetings and active projects. Dave urged us to consider why we are Rotarians; why we started and why we stay. We have to get our stories out to our friends and acquaintances, so they too can understand why we love being Rotarians so much.
Dave mentioned that when he became president of his club again, after focusing so many years on District membership, he was disappointed in his club’s growth. His club, like most clubs, had not kept the ‘membership culture’ alive. Membership needs constant care. Dave believes that every club needs a membership chairperson; someone who can devote the time to focus on new members and nurture new and old members alive.
Programs are important. Members no longer focus as much on 100% attendance and they often decide whether to come to a meeting based on who the speaker is going to be. Retaining members is just as important as bringing in new members. Every club needs to develop important service and social projects so that members feel they are part of something fantastic.
Developing new members also requires commitment. Prospective members often love projects, so invite some friends or others to attend and participate in a project near and dear to your Club. Dave noted that in the past week a club had put on a “building hands” project that was very well attended. That would have been a fantastic event for prospective members. Inviting people to such an event can be a great way to get them interested in joining. Every club should have a membership goal and work had to achieve it.
Clubs also need to look carefully at their by-laws and other Club processes to make sure they are up-to-date with the club’s actual practices and goals. Dave also strongly believes that a club’s procedures should be set out in a document so that everyone knows what to expect at a meeting, at a debunking, or at any club function.
Penny noted that she would like to see us start up a “Company” membership category. Companies could designate an employee to attend the meetings, and maybe multiple employees could get interested. It would also be a great way to get companies involved in projects; the employee who attends the meeting could get his company involved in a joint club-company project.
Thank you, Dave for your thoughts on how to become a vibrant club. We are working on it and hope to see results as we work together to open up our club culture to a greater focus on these membership issues.
