What can you do to increase club membership?

Rotary International News -- 2 December 2009

Have a supply of Start with Rotary postcards to hand out to potential members.

When it comes to recruiting club members, there are almost as many ideas as there are Rotarians, which is not surprising considering Rotary's diversity.

There are some universal themes that come up again and again. Others capitalize on new technologies and communication methods, or are targeted at expanding Rotary’s demographic reach. Below are 10 tips from Rotarians for increasing membership:

Invite friends, colleagues, or neighbors to participate in one of your club's projects.
Keep a supply of the Start with Rotary postcards and wallet cards, and give them to potential members.
Encourage prospective members who live outside your geographic area to visit the RI Web site, view membership videos, and complete a prospective member form.
Ask your district membership chair to contact qualified candidates who have come to the district's attention through an online referral.
Talk with potential members about Rotary's humanitarian work, including programs like PolioPlus. Mention the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's involvement in the polio eradication effort through Rotary's US$200 Million Challenge.
Invite professional women in your community to one of your club meetings. Initiate projects that focus on women's issues, and invite prominent women in the community to participate, speak, or lead.
Maintain contact with all local alumni of Rotary's educational and service programs, and organize events for them. Work with qualified candidates to help them join your club.
Advertise special programs or projects on social networking sites such as Craigslist, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Orkut, and invite visitors to your club meetings and events. Learn about RI's official social networking pages.
Sponsor an open house (or an open meeting with a special guest) that caters to a demographic group or classification that isn't represented in the club.
Maintain a Web site for your club so that interested individuals can easily find out who you are, what you do, and what inspires you.

27 Comments:

At 10:27AM on 12 December 2011, Jan Mowbray wrote: These are a couple of ideas I thought would really work for Rotary (not my original ideas but ones I culled from the internet) Make everything you do a "media event" Now that digital cameras are so easy to use, take a picture at all your events - your keynote speaker at the monthly meeting, your new member inductions, when you meet with your politician - and send it to your local newspapers. Newspapers, especially weeklies, are always looking for items of local interest. Another idea: Want to get the media more interested in what you're doing? Invite a local journalist to speak at your meeting. When the club invited the assistant managing editor of the local newspaper, she not only spoke about her life in the media but also gave us tips for ways to get better media coverage. She also took the business cards of everyone there, and wrote profiles of several business owning members.

At 9:42AM on 22 September 2011, Rtn. CA Rajesh Sahu wrote: Impressed, I m Past President of Rotary Club of Chhindwara.We,the members are going to try these ideas. Retention is also must as recruitment.

At 9:31AM on 9 September 2011, OZCAN ALBAK wrote: Good tips and to chooese the ones which serves the best to your Club's needs is the most important point. In practice inviting nominees to Projects (to field) and let them serve to Public without a member of Rotary is giving better results.

At 12:51PM on 3 August 2011, David Alex Tabaro wrote: I find the tips very helpful. As the Director Membership of R.C of Kla South 2011/12, i plan to share with the committee and hopfuly things will work out for us to achieve our target for the year.

At 10:33AM on 15 November 2010, Assistant Governor. Malik Iqbal (bali) D 3272 wrote: the tips described are very good and helpful to promote membership,

At 10:08AM on 22 October 2010, Al H Fedoriak PDG wrote: The ten tips are nice however what lacks emphasis is "qualified". The opportunity for Membership in Rotary is either sought or declined based on first impressions. When we invite a qualified person to a Rotary meeting , the first impression will determine whether she/he will ever seek or decline the opportunity become members. If our organization is to be attractive to qualified people we must continue be an organization composed of business and professional leaders with discretionary responsibilities or retired therefrom as per our constitution. If we continue to focus on quantity rather than quality we will soon fall into a downward spiral. So my advice is let's maintain our standards grow clubs composed of persons who are capable of providing both the fiscal and leadership support that our organization demands. We may grow slower but we will grow stronger.

At 11:54AM on 30 August 2010, violet africa wrote: These 10 tips are very useful for membership increase but I think they can be used only as guide for the committee chair. I am the secretary and president-elect of the Rotary Club of Los Banos Makiling and in my experience I think the best way to get new members is to involve them in the club's good projects, give them a feel of what it is like to do service to a community. I am sure the next time you invite them for another activity, you don't have to ask twice. I salute 87-year old Rtn Jesse Green who has 32 years of perfect attendance and continues to get new members until NOW!

At 12:03PM on 16 August 2010, Gayatri Bhatacharyya, PP RC Gauhati South, RID 3240 wrote: maybe if older Rotarians were more friendly with the new entrants, sat with them, invited them to their homes, and showed interest in their familiesetc. retaining members would be easier.

At 1:14PM on 12 August 2010, Atin Lohia, Secretary, R.C.GTR Raniganj,D-3240 wrote: Ten tips for increasing membership are good in black and white but implementation of these tips are not producing fruitful results. My experience says, good projects and personal contacts produces good results.

At 1:09PM on 12 August 2010, mahesh saptarshi wrote: We should think to add spouses at concessional rates (50 % concession in all the dues, so the rotary membership will increase sizeable) To attract Youngsters, we should offer this concession to them (i.e. Age below 30) so they will also attract to ROTARY. Also those who “Rotractors”, we should give them membership at concessional rates for at least first 2-3 years.

At 2:07PM on 11 August 2010, Rtn Padmakumar wrote: Fantastic Tips. This is the specialty of Rotary where a systematic progress in the membership growth is recorded always . The Given tips are much helpful to the Rotarians and clubs .

At 8:58AM on 20 May 2010, Lou Harrison-Smith wrote: I spent nearly two years developing a database programme that addressed, membership, networking and fund raising. It is a 21st century Internet based concept, which has been sent to decision makers in my district D9970 and all the way up to RI headquarters. Nobody wants to know! Is it the people who are responsible for the advancement of this organisation to conservative, fearful of change, jealous, or all of the above.

At 9:23AM on 4 May 2010, Rtn. M. Waseem bari wrote: Beautifully discribed tips are to be adopted by the chairs of membership development commitees, Rotary Club of Sheikhupura Aarzoo +92300 4305131

At 11:11AM on 12 April 2010, Dr Rajiv Mundada wrote: As a president elect of rc Aurangabad central i would like 2 suggest every member of club should hand over brouscher about RI n club to 1 prospective member along with rotary magazine

At 10:06AM on 1 March 2010, neeraj Khandewale wrote: i am president of rotary club of nagpur fort RID 3030. membership growth and retention are the two main challenges faced by any president. somtimes growth becomes secondary when retion is the lead issue. there has been no uniform formula to achieve both in a span of one year. however from personal experiance i can say that good projects perticularly PR projects help in bringing new members to the club. there has to be a reason for that person to associate himself with the local as well as international issue. rotary club should be able to cater to his social need.

At 8:56AM on 6 January 2010, syed zulqarnain shah wrote: I AM PRESIDENT OF ALL PAKISTAN PRIVATE SCHOOLS WELFARE ASSOCIATION AND WORKING FOR THE WELFARE OF 154000 PRIVATE SCHOOLS WHEREIN 17.5 MILLION STUDENTS GETTING QUALITY EDUCATION .I FEEL GREAT PLEASURE BEING A MEMBER OF ROTARY CLUB I CONVEY THE MESSAGES AND MOTO OF ROTARY INTERNATIONAL CLUB TO ALL THE MEMBERS OF APPSWA AND MOTIVATE TO ALL BECOME THE MEMBER AND PART OF ROTARY CLUB.SYED ZULQARNAIN SHAH PRESIDENT APPSWA LAHORE PAKISTAN MOBILE NO.0092-332-8455211

At 9:09AM on 15 December 2009, Jesse Green wrote: As an 87 year old with 32 years perfect attendance I agree that we should get new members to fill our shoes. I have been trying and will continue to do so.

At 9:08AM on 15 December 2009, Jesse Green wrote: I particularly enjoyed the tips on how to attract new club members. My club has used some of them with good results. Thanks for your help in making up.

At 9:06AM on 15 December 2009, Paul Kattemann wrote: Many times, all you have to do is ask. "Would you be interested in joining Rotary?" Many people do not even know what Rotary is. If you don't ask and get all of the members of your club to ask, you will not be able to get new members. Get new members involved immediately in club positions to help to retain them as members.

At 10:02AM on 14 December 2009, Manan Mehta wrote: Hi.. I am also Rotarian and I find one big problem in making a member-- My club president and secretary r not ready to make new members. If an body have any option then I can refer cases with full donations.

At 8:32AM on 9 December 2009, Rinku Joshi wrote: Other than making new members, the harder task is to retain existing members. Sustainability of these is a big issue.

At 8:32AM on 9 December 2009, Muhammad Maqsood wrote: Wonderful and excellent TIPS to promote membership. As a chair Membership development Committee (Rotary Club of Farooqabad D-3270) I will adopt the TIPS to promote our club’s membership.

At 9:21AM on 8 December 2009, gurcharansingh wrote: elect president of rotary club of green greater noida

At 9:22AM on 8 December 2009, I Rajeshwar Rao wrote: The tips are really useful. As the editor of my club's magazine, I shall certainly print the same and circulate.

At 11:40AM on 7 December 2009, Hans Meerburg wrote: Make clear to Rotarians who are member > 20 yrs that they should find a new member in their classification in their club. If they find more than 1 tell neighbour clubs!

At 11:39AM on 7 December 2009, ajay agarwal wrote: These are ideas which have been tossed around for decades. How many Rotarians have actually implemented them ? I find that most new members come from friends and associates of existing Rotarians. That continues to be the best bet for mem development.

At 11:36AM on 7 December 2009, quazi raquibul islam wrote: Very nice tips. As a President of Rotary Club of Shantinagar Dhaka I will apply this tips.

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