| Club Name | Hillcrest | | Country | United States | District | 7170 | | Region | USA:Eastern:New England | | Membership Element(s) | organizing new clubs, recruitment | | Issues | The district governor and PDG and President of the Hillcrest club recognized the need for a Rotary Club in the Conklin area. They met with the town supervisor, whom they invited to several Rotary meetings, and explained what Rotary could do for the community of Conklin. | | Strategies | Recruitment materials were ordered, and with the help of the town supervisor, letters were sent to all the businessmen in the area inviting them to a meeting. The regional membership chair and DG explained what Rotary was about at the meeting and each person who attended was asked to bring in new members. Various members of the Hillcrest club attended each meeting telling them how a meeting was run and different aspects fo Rotary. Hillcrest members helped the new club with a pancake breakfast and encouraged them to attend an Intercity meeting. They guided them along with paperwork and programs. | | Results | More membership and a grateful community. | | Contact | Lana Rouff | Email | lanarouff@stny.rr.com | | Phone | | Fax | | | Website | |
| Club Name | Modesto | | Country | United States | District | 5220 | | Region | USA:Western:Southwest | | Membership Element(s) | recruitment | | Issues | We wanted to find a fun and unique way to get our club excited to bring in new members that will not only join but be active and contributing members. | | Strategies | The club's Membership Committee detailed a recruitment plan around a football theme with the Membership Committee Chair acting as the General Manager and the rest of the club broken up into 8 different teams under the leadership of their respective captains. Contest rules were distributed to the club members and team captains were selected. Aided by $500 (obtained through a District Membership grant), small prizes were purchased as recognition throughout the contest. These prizes consisted of anything from cookies and gift cards to free meals at meetings for a month. One of the club's younger and newer members was asked to be the head coach to add fun and enthusiasm among members. The purpose of the strategy was to get all members to identify potential new members in the community and to look for quality members of good work ethics and character. By making it competitive and having weekly focus and recognition, the strategy was fun for everyone. | | Results | By 1 April 2009, Modesto Rotary had 30 new membership proposals, reaching their 3 year goal. The club membership is now 252. This is a net increase of 28 members. The Modesto success story has been showcased at the District Assembly and District Conference. | | Contact | Janine McClanahan | Email | morotary@modestorotary.org | | Phone | | Fax | | | Website | |
| Club Name | St. Joseph, St. Joseph East, & St. Joseph Southside | | Country | United States | District | 6040 | | Region | USA:Western:Mountain | | Membership Element(s) | recruitment | | Issues | St. Joseph is a city of approximately 75,000 members and it's 3 Rotary clubs were all facing declines and their membership was aging. | | Strategies | As the 3 clubs began to recruit younger members, and the younger members began taking on leadership positions, these young leaders organized to form a networking and fellowship group called "The Kid's Table." The Kid's Table meets once a month for lunch and includes all members under 40 years of age in each of the 3 clubs--currently about 15 members. Each time they meet, they discuss an area of Rotary knowledge, club issue or leadership issue. When the clubs are recruiting prospective members under 40, invitation to The Kid's Table is a first step to providing the prospect with young Rotarians' perspectives. | | Results | The Kid's Table has resulted in solid younger member retention in the St. Joseph clubs. Furthermore, The Kid's Table was presented as part of a D6040 Conference session called "Faces of the Future," and as a result of the presentation, other cities with multiple Rotary clubs are beginning to form their own multi-club fellowships. | | Contact | Elizabeth Usovicz | Email | eusovicz@kc.rr.com | | Phone | | Fax | | | Website | |
| Club Name | Hamburg | | Country | United States | District | 6170 | | Region | USA:Central:Central Southern | | Membership Element(s) | recruitment | | Issues | Our club faced the possibility of disbanding. | | Strategies | Our strategy was "Every Member Bring A New Member." As new members came in, they were issued the same challenged. Furthermore, we relocated our meeting place to a more centrally-located restaurant and had meals as a separate bill from dues, reducing what members pay. We increased visibility in the community by participating in local activities and invited non-Rotarians to speak and then actively recruited them into membership. Responsibility of recruitment is placed on every member equally rather than the shoulders of a selected committee. We ran articles in the paper telling interested community members to join us as guests, so they sought us out. | | Results | It brought our club from a dying club of 3 members to our current membership of 20 (as of 22 April, 2009). An almost-dead club is now viable. It is on its way to becoming the organization to which one should belong. We anticipate a minimum of 10% membership increase each year as long as membership feels its responsiblity and continues to respond to it. | | Contact | Jimmie Davis | Email | cjdavis@magnolia-net.com | | Phone | | Fax | | | Website | |
| Club Name | Witney | | Country | England | District | 1090 | | Region | Great Britain and Ireland | | Membership Element(s) | recruitment | | Issues | Goal: Increase quantity of qualified new members. | | Strategies | Held a club meeting at which the question of membership was discussed. A questionnaire was circulated to the members and aimed to identify their reasons for joining Rotary and what keeps them in Rotary. The results from the questionnaire showed the members that (a) they had joined Rotary because someone ASKED them, and (b) they enjoy both fellowship and service. The club then organized 3 "get-to-know Rotary" evenings at approximately 7 month intervals to which existing Rotarians could invite potential members. These evenings were aimed to be friendly, hospitable, non-threatening and to give a brief overview of Rotary without excessive detail. It was simple, easy to organize, enjoyable and effective. | | Results | The RC of Witney welcomed 15 new members in the period Feb 2008-Jan 2009, an increase in membership of 45%. | | Contact | Malcolm Boddington | Email | malcolm.boddington2@nltworld.com | | Phone | | Fax | | | Website | |
| Club Name | San Ramon | | Country | United States | District | 5160 | | Region | USA:Western:Southwest | | Membership Element(s) | public relations, recruitment | | Issues | Goal: Recruit members and promote an overall positive image of Rotary to the community. | | Strategies | The presidents of the five clubs of the San Roman Valley agreed to undertake a joint public outreach, on an ongoing basis, promtoing Rotary first. Visitors expressing interest in Rotary are offered the opportunity to visit any and all clubs. The rising tide floats all the boats. Working from a business plan approved by the 5 presidents, the 5 clubs invested ina full trade show display: test, promo banners, video player, a joint promotional trifold, and other supplies. Every club put together a promo book. The plan is to participate in non-Rotary community activities throughout the year with the booth staffed with representatives of all clubs. | | Results | At the San Ramon Business Expo alone, the booth attracted crowds of visitors and 28 people requested follow up. Not only do the clubs reach more potential members as a team than they would on their own, the public awareness can only be positive when the clubs promote their individual fundraisers. | | Contact | Jim Campbell | Email | jrc@morasoft.com | | Phone | | Fax | | | Website | |
| Club Name | Liverpool Garston | | Country | England | District | 1180 | | Region | Great Britain and Ireland | | Membership Element(s) | diversity, recruitment, public relations | | Issues | A questionnaire was given to each of the club members to gauge their knowledge of the club and membership development. The results showed that club members could not put across the message of Rotary due to a lack of knowledge, and as such, they could not recruit new members. The club needed to recruit new members with particular emphasis on bringing in younger and female members. | | Strategies | A 3 Year Club Business Plan was brought into use and 4 business meetings were scheduled for the year to educate members in Rotary affairs and monitor the Business Plan. The Club Membership Committee updated their goals and plans and began reporting more directly to the club, thereby providing more emphasis on club membership recruitment and retention. A survey was created to find out what hte perception of the club's Rotarians and the public at large thought about Rotary. Furthermore, a Public Relations sub-committee was formed to improve awareness of Rotary within the local media and publish a Liverpool Garston Club pamphlet to promote the club locally. Finally, the club implemented casual dress for use at normal meetings to help remove the image of stuffy old men and promote an awareness of how the younger age group dress today, even in a modern business environment. | | Results | The programmes were a "whole club" initiative, led by Council, with full participation of all club members wherever possible to ensure that all members felt they had "ownership" of the club's programmes. As a result of these initiatives, the club experienced: a net increase of 4 new members, 3 of which are female (bringing the represenation fo females from 0 to 7%); a reduction in the age profile of the club; an increase in the members' knowledge of Rotary and membership development; increased public awareness of Rotary through local press. | | Contact | Vernon Schwarz | Email | schwarz@waitrose.com | | Phone | | Fax | | | Website | |
| Club Name | Olympia | | Country | United States | District | 5020 | | Region | USA:Western:Pacific Northwest | | Membership Element(s) | retention, retention, recruitment | | Issues | Goal: Retain current club membership at 85% or better and build a strong new member base for future years. | | Strategies | The club used a tree as the campaign theme and coordinated with the landscape designer for Rotary Point (a park area run by the area's Rotary clubs). A 13-member Classification and Membership Committee was formed to flesh out the club's new campaign and form actionable strategies. As a result, an updated, online new member application and voting system were created. This allowed the club to find QUALITY new members. In addition, the club meetings feature "Membership Moments" in which members are requested to write down prospective names of individuals who could fill in the missing classifications (ex- clergy, pest control mangement, etc.). The committee then divided up the 73 prospective candidates provided by the club members for personal follow-up. Interested candidates were invited to attend a club meetings with a member. To speed the formerly sluggish new member recruitment/orientation process, a new candidate is given a personal Orientation Session by an enthusiastic past club president. The Orientation Session must be attended by the new candidate and sponsor. If the candidate decides to join the club, s/he is given a New Member Packet and a new, 1-page, easy checklist of "Red-to-Blue Badge in under 90 days." The sponsor is given a packet to explain teh steps that need to be taken for the Red-to-Blue Badge wihin 90 days. A new Red Badge Member electronic newsleter became an excellent monthly resource for helping new members to progress toward personal and club success. Furthermore, the Membership Committee held Red Badge socials wehre sponsors, new members and club officers socialed and learned about the club. Finally, the club used Arbor Day to really drive the tree campaign theme home. For the price of $10, each "family" bought a tree to plan in Rotary Point park. The tree symbolized the "family" with the newest member the leaf, her sponsor th branch, his sponsor the truck, and her sponsor the roots. The committee recognized the club sponsors for their importance in building strong Rotary Family Trees. | | Results | RC Olympia has recruited 26 new members in 9 months, retained almost 90% membership and had 6% net growth. Only $37 dollars was spent on the campaign. In addition to bringing in new members, the campaign brought much-needed recognition to long-term members who felt overlooked in club appreciation (by utilizing them for the 90-day mentor/sponsor program). | | Contact | Brian Beagle | Email | twobees2@earthlink.net | | Phone | | Fax | | | Website | |
| Club Name | Rocky Mount | | Country | United States | District | 7720 | | Region | USA:Eastern:Mid Atlantic | | Membership Element(s) | recruitment | | Issues | Longtime members remember when Rocky Mount had over 100 members. Desire: Find people and grow to original size. Goal: Involve members in recruitment. | | Strategies | A former club president (from the 70s) accepted chair for Membership. He studied RI site, created membership package, enlisted members, spoke weekly to Membership and pursued goals. | | Results | After seeing how dedicated the new Membership Chair was, club members became excited and interested in helping. Despite loosing a few members through death, relocations, and business problems; the club has recovered all the members that were lost and brought the club back up to 61 members. The club has a good spark to its attitude and a very positive feelling. | | Contact | Vivian Mott | Email | mottv@ecu.edu | | Phone | | Fax | | | Website | |
| Club Name | Mufulira | | Country | Zambia | District | 9210 | | Region | Sub-Saharan Africa | | Membership Element(s) | recruitment | | Issues | The average annual club membership had stood still at 18 between 2002 and 2008, a period of 6 years. This poised a serious concern to the club. | | Strategies | The club elected its most experienced and longest serving member to be Club President and revamp the membership, retention, recruitment and growth of the club in terms of numbers and quality. The new president approached the situation by forming a Special Advisory Committee consisting of 3 past presidents and 1 general Rotarian to act as the club's "think tank." These members were a retired HR Consultant, a Chief Executive Officer, an engineer and a banker. All of these individuals were members in good-standing with the Mufulira town community. This team immediately set long and short term goals for the club to achieve and then set strategies for achieving them. These strategies were as follows: 1) 25-Minute survey used to identify people in the community, connected to Rotarians, that would be worth pursuing; 2) A list of former Rotarians was studied and 3 were approached concerning rejoining; 3) the club organizes social and fellowship functions to which prospective members and their families are invited; 4) the club has stepped up efforts to get Rotary activities publicized through the National Televison and other news media; 5) Rotary-Anns of the club have helped by organizing talks and inviting Mufulira women; 6) Rotarians were asked to cast their nets wider and more effectively so as to identify potential recruits in their professional areas. As motivation, certificates were awarded to Rotarians who introduced the most members over the course of the year. | | Results | Through these strategies and working through a galvanized membership, the club has managed to recruit more new members than targeted for during the 08/09 year. The target was to increase membership by 26% but o far the increase has reached 34% and is expected to hit 39% by the close of the Rotary year. | | Contact | Joshua Chimhanda | Email | jchimhanda@africaonline.co.zw | | Phone | | Fax | | | Website | |
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