1. Constantly invite prospective members to hear a speaker, come to a social, help
with a project. If it is club culture to do this, the club grows.
2.
Repeatedly employ the Penny Program: Set date of a Prospective Member Meeting with a GREAT SPEAKER (District
has suggestions). DG Jerry sends prospective members a
letter inviting them to that meeting. Rotarians follow-up the letter with one
on one personal invitations. See DG Jerry's Invitation Letter (below).
3. The
Membership Committee creates a list of “classifications” they would like
to fill. They take that list to a Club
Assembly, and the club brainstorms
together who will accept the responsibility to approach each of the potential
members in those classifications.
Use a classifications list and your local Yellow Pages to come
up with your list.
But here are some other good ideas and suggestions for growth from
clubs throughout the state (in no particular order):
·
Strong leadership exemplified by Past Presidents
and Board members. Membership and guests
are impressed by our leader’s obvious commitment to the Rotary mission. Our leadership has been and remains
energetic, charismatic and visionary and our actions speak louder than
words. A successful growing club must
start with someone who embodies those characteristics.
·
Engaging speakers or presentations. Do not
schedule people out of obligation and avoid repetition. Decline “salespeople” or blatant
commercialism when they ask to make a presentation.
·
Recognize guests and make them feel welcome
without appearing predatory.
·
Keep meetings focused and fast-paced! Don’t put people to sleep.
·
Promote selflessness, make fun a priority and
never take yourselves too seriously.
·
Never fail to trumpet your horn about you
mission or presence in the community.
·
Stop to think about why you wanted to join. Consider repeating that experience for
someone new.
·
Find community involvement in fun events (i.e.
July 4th BBQ fundraiser)
·
Regularly schedule hands-on service in fun
projects and activities in which people want to get involved (such as Northern Wasatch Rotary Club's exceptional garden project pictured here)
·
Develop a membership composed of friendly,
likable people with interesting and diverse backgrounds.
·
Make sure you have fun meetings everyone wants
to attend.
·
Monitor your club image in the community. Is your club well-respected with meaningful
projects and influential membership.
·
We do not stress about attendance, but everyone
wants to come because they want to be a part of what we have going on
·
Social Gatherings: Our club has a social gathering at least once
a quarter. The purpose of these
gatherings is to have fun and get to know our follow members. No speeches, no fund raising, no business
meeting, just fun. Our examples of this
are our Halloween Party, Christmas Cookie Exchange plus we have had St. Pat’s
and Mardi Gras parties. One of our best
parties is our change of command party, (we do have a speech here). We have had these parties catered and also
pot luck and they have both been very successful. Yes, drinking does go on.
·
Play together!
A club that plays together sticks together. Needless to say our ski days, bike rides and
bowling parties are always a great thing. Another very successful program we
have is our annual Moab retreat. Getting
away for a weekend of fun and frolic is tremendous for building
fellowship. Plus we have had rafting
trips to Jackson Hole and The Green River.
·
In our club we have never had a recruitment
plan. It is always suggested that if you
know a person who would fit in is to ask that person to come to a meeting. Usually after one meeting that person wants
to join. No pressure, just interest in
that person. Success breeds success.
Extension
= forming new clubs. Those forming a
new club can choose to have the traditional weekly lunch meeting with a speaker,
but at least some of our clubs need to
appeal to a new generation of Rotarian, people who can’t take 2 hours for
lunch, people who want to be more involved in decision making from the get-go
(versus waiting for a few years to be on a board), people who want to do
service in less time at a lower cost.
Our experience is that “thinking outside the box” can frequently result
in new members becoming passionate Rotarians.
Does your club
have their plan to grow membership?
SAMPLE PENNY LETTER
SAMPLE CLASSIFICATION LIST (right click to download your own copy)
SAMPLE PENNY LETTER
SAMPLE CLASSIFICATION LIST (right click to download your own copy)
