Membership

Find’em, Bring’em In and Keep’em

Find’em, Bring’em In and Keep’em was the theme Saturday morning, August 29, at the District Membership Seminar held in Greenville for your Area Membership Representatives.

District Governor George Fletcher led off the meeting by making note that every area in the district was represented. He reminded us that about every thing you ever need to know about growing your Rotary club is in the book written by Rotarian Mary Chapman titled Growing Rotary. Each representative was given one of the books for each club in their area.

PDG Bruce Baker, Co-Chair of the District Membership Committee, led the participants in an interactive exercise on how to find qualified candidates, how to introduce them to your club and how to keep them by getting them involved. And I had the privilege to share some of my observations while attending some of our clubs’ membership recruitment events. Here are just few strategies we discussed:

• Find’em. And in that regard think of qualifications. Make a list of potential candidates of good character that you think would be good Rotarians. A proprietor, partner, officer, manager of a business, a community leader or one that you think is a rising star. Even a retiree who you know has excellent leadership skills and a passion for a good cause.

• Where to look? Consider new or existing businesses; use your business contacts or even your place of worship. A foundation that you belong to or speakers who have presented to your club or other events.

• Think about creating awareness by preparing brochures that showcase your club and what makes it unique. Target a person who is in a public relations or marketing business. They bring special skills to your membership committee because they know how to make the “ask.” And they will tell you that a well-maintained website is invaluable in recruiting new members. LinkedIn and Facebook are also valuable tools to recruit younger members.

• Bring’em In by planning a special recruiting event. I was impressed with the amount of planning T he Greenville Evening Rotary Club did to have their Membership Recruitment event. They considered every detail from arrival to departure. The attendees were met by the president and given a pre-printed badge with the Rotary theme logo.
About 40 minutes of networking took place giving the prospects time to meet club members. After all, networking is one of the most beneficial aspects of Rotary.

An induction ceremony for two new members was done using a scripted text that made them feel honored to become members of such a prestigious organization as Rotary. Both new members were pinned by their Rotarian husbands, thus making it a “family of Rotary event.”

One existing member was honored by being made a lifetime honorary member. A short video and Power Point about the uniqueness of the club was done, and I had the pleasure to share with them what Rotary means to me in my 41st year as a Rotarian.

The bottom line here is that they went the extra mile to impress these prospective new members. I think their return on investment will be excellent.

• The Greenville Downtown Club took a different approach by having a Discover Rotary breakfast. No formal presentation, but they used an open forum, roundtable discussion with handouts. A few Rotarians, including myself, talked about what Rotary has meant to us and what makes the Greenville Club unique. It was all done in an hour. Over the years their Discover Rotary breakfast has been very successful, landing about 80% of the prospects who attend.

• Develop a written Club Membership Plan. Your club board should have a Director of Membership who is responsible for pulling a committee together and developing the Club Membership Plan. I recall a leadership seminar I attended relative to setting goals. If I recall correctly, it was said that a goal not in written stands less that 30% of being successful. However, a goal written down jumps to about 60% and a goal written and shared with at least 10 of the stakeholders jumps to about 80% plus.

These are just a few suggestions you might find fruitful in recruiting new members to your club. Your area representative will be getting in touch with your club president to assist in developing your club’s “written” Club Membership Plan.

The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands.

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District Governor George Fletcher
Rotary Club of Greenville

205 Rosebay Drive | Greenville, SC 29615
864.380.6392 |DG@rotary7750.org

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