Club Recruitment Ideas

Knowing that being a new Rotarian can be overwhelming, Burnsville Rotary created a more thorough way to introduce new members to their club.  A committee wrote and designed a 13-page handbook titled “Welcome to Burnsville Rotary!”  The handbook addresses more than 15 common questions such as, “How is our club budget created?” and, “How are meeting speakers chosen?” There are also chapters on the club’s history and the basics of Rotary.

To complete new member orientation, Burnsville Rotary organized a happy hour dedicated specifically to new members and their spouses. New members were personally invited, while other members were asked to attend to introduce themselves. Burnsville Rotary invited several neighboring Rotary clubs to the happy hour in order to strengthen relationships with fellow clubs and demonstrate Rotary’s emphasis on fellowship.
 

Minneapolis

Minneapolis Rotary implemented a club-wide visioning activity to gain input on its Membership Services Area. A total of 73 club members responded to 12 questions in an online survey format. The input gained from the survey responses has served as a catalyst for making several changes in the club’s Membership Services. One important change was to expand the role of its “Guides for Nine” to include a monthly new member orientation and mentoring program. The expanded Guides for Nine initiative uses a monthly rotation of volunteers in which two Rotarians pair up to complete various tasks. To date, the club’s 20 Guides for Nine have completed a new member orientation for all but one of the newest club members and have mentored 12 new Rotarians. 

Eden Prairie AM

The Rotary Club of Eden Prairie A.M.’s PR Committee Committee improved the club’s website and added a Facebook presence this past year. The group also developed a PR kit that is brought to all fundraisers and events. The kit includes the club’s brochure, three large posters with information about the club, and a business card with an invitation to free breakfast at the regular meeting. Members are also encouraged to give this card to prospective members.

Plymouth

The Rotary Club of Plymouth has approached public relations with a multi-pronged strategy. For prospective members, they utilize the Dow Jones Million Dollar Data Base to identify business leaders within the club’s region and engaged in a direct mail, email, phone and visit campaign to invite these leaders to attend a Rotary meeting.  Download the flier by clicking here. 
 

City of Lakes

We encourage all of our members to bring guests frequently and let the club 'sell itself', with the inviting member doing active follow-up AND the President and Membership chair also reaching out to do follow-up on weekly guests. Our 'conversion rate' on new prospective members coming out of the guest pool has been very high of late. 

Having the President and Membership chair/VP follow-up directly with guests after each week's meeting is a great active touch.  Also, our club's leadership structure combines the role of VP & Membership Chair into one office, so that the incoming president 2 years hence actually has a personal 'investment' in growing the club!

Lake Minnetonka-Excelsior

A member of this club (a marketing executive by profession) developed a carefully crafted a plan for finding members, an information packet given to all visitors, and a follow-up plan for all visitors. He also implemented a silly and fun rewards system comprised of gold stars for club members every time they brought a visitor to a meeting. The first year of implementation resulted in over a 20% growth in membership. He has tweaked the plan for the upcoming year.  

Highlights include:

1. “One and Done”: every member brings at least one visitor to the club a year. No one has ever been insulted by an invitation. Tell a guest: You might enjoy what we’re trying to do in Rotary.
2.  Every Rotarian earned a gold sticky star on their name badge when they brought a visitor.
3. Weekly announcement highlighted the name of the visitor and who brought them.
4. Verbally “kept score” at weekly meetings: “We now have 2 new members and we need another 10.”
5. All visitors receive an official Rotary 2-pocket folder filled with materials from www.rotary.org, as well as materials developed by the club, including: a Thank You note for visiting, letter that describes the club and it’s projects, “Rotary Basics” brochure, “What’s Rotary” pamphlet, list of local clubs and where to make up, Individual Member Application and optional Corporate Application. Click here to see some of these materials. 
6. All new members are invited to a sit-down orientation. Two Rotarians review a power point presentation that describes the local club.  All new members are assigned to a committee immediately.

Maple Grove

(Contact:Tony Kieffer, Tony.Kieffer@edwardjones.com)

Encourage Rotarians to bring friends to a meeting and ask the Greeter to find a Rotarian who will escort visitors throughout the meeting. The “escort” introduces the visitor to the club. After the initial meeting, a member of the Membership Committee  gives the visitor a phone call to see if they’d like to come to another meeting or learn more about becoming a member. A database of visitors is kept; they are sent notices of interesting speakers and events. 

Once a visitor has expressed an interest in Rotary, I invite them our for coffee or lunch. I take this time to get to know them, what they are looking to get out of Rotary and explain what Rotary is and who we are as a club.

At a new member's first meeting, we hold a short induction ceremony, during which we present them with a Rotary pin, button, Four-Way Test plaque and framed membership certificate. We give the new member a few minutes to introduce themselves. At this time, we assign the new member a mentor for the next couple months. We encourage the new member to attend as many committee meetings as possible over the next three months, and then commit to joining one. We feature members on our club’s website so other members can get to know them.

Make your meetings as inviting and friendly as possible. Look at the meeting from the guests  perspective. If you were to walk in for the first time, are you welcomed? Would you know what is going on throughout the meeting and is there someone thanking you for coming and following up afterward?

Rogers

(Contact: Floyd Ingersoll, hayesins@aol.com)

We host a variety of events designed to bring new members "into the fold," such as:

• A New Member Orientation is held at a member’s house. Hosting at a home has better attendance than a restaurant or coffee shop.
• “Chat and Chug” is an annual potluck at one of our members' barn. Rotarians are encouraged to invite friends simply to mingle and have fun. No presentation or scheduled speeches. Hopefully visitors enjoy the Rotarians and want to join.
• “Thirsty Thursday” or “Thirsty Tuesday” is held at a bar. Rotarians invite friends just to mingle. No presentation.

Bloomington

We have two avenues which new members have come into the club.

• Our website – the President or Membership Chair calls to follow-up on any Internet inquiry
• Current members

Set realistic expectations from the onset. We try to make sure the new member understands what we (Rotary) are trying to do and what we expect (reasonably expect) from them with regard to time and money

It is important to be up-front with members as to what you expect of them, especially when it comes to the financial commitment. What we are trying to avoid is embarrassing anyone and not have a revolving door with regard to membership.
 

Minnetonka

There are many ways we attract new members:

• Annual open house where we invite prospective members (friends, business associates, neighbors, etc)
• Annual golf/beer tasting fundraiser where again we invite individuals who may be prospective members.
• "One and done" program where all club members are asked to invite one prospective member to a meeting during the year.
• Referrals through the district