Your Voice, Your Solution for mentoring a new club

At 1:26PM on 9 August 2010, PDG Aswini Kar wrote: Retaining new members is very crucial and important. Normally it is seen new members are not welcomed properly, they seat at the back, and are not involved. Club should ensure the new members feel at home. Every club should have a mentoring program in place. Like every club has a Club Trainer; they also should have a Club Mentor, whose duty & responsibility should be to mentor all new members. A senior and knowledgeable Rotarian should be appointed as Club Mentor. Building relationship with new members is essential. Mentoring is essential for better retention and development. The role of a mentor should be: 1. Know the member and his/her family well. 2. Greet the member at the meeting 3. Make the new member feel at home and comfortable at the meeting 4. Explain member’s obligation and responsibilities 5. Inform and educate member about Rotary Program and Policies 6. Understand member’s expectation 7. Understand member’s need 8. Discuss club and district goal 9. Answer member’s queries This will help in bonding the members together and they will not leave the club. Mentoring will help to create more knowledgeable Rotarians.

At 8:36AM on 21 April 2010, Miguel Villarreal wrote: Good morning. We are looking for the procedure to create a new Club in our neighborhood and we need to know what do we have to have plus our intense desire to serve, we are more than 20 and here in our city, the main office has no clue to receive us as a group, they say that we have to be invited from one member and then, after some meetings, be part of the club, but as individual not a as a group. We need to know what to do so we can be a group Club ROTARY. PLEASE LET US KNOW THE PROCEDURE. THANK YOU

At 9:34AM on 20 April 2010, Rtn. P. O. Thomas wrote: We see, every now and then, new clubs are being formed. Apparently, it is growth and development. But is it always really so? Do all these mushrooming branches represent new members and real growth? At least some of them are mere buddings, often-artificial subsidiaries created to support personal or group interest. The expansion and extension of the Rotary International is definitely some thing we all should strive for. But is it desirable to have too many clubs in a limited area? I feel there should be some reasonable restriction regarding the number of clubs in a given area. A club, a unit, should not be allowed to bifurcate or sponsor a new club in the near by area till the number of members has exceeded a prescribed limit – that is the sponsoring club should have attained an optimum number. In other words, no new club should be allowed to sprout in a given area, in the proximity of a club, say within two or three kilometers, unless the existing club has become obese and flabby. There must be some effective restriction for the formation of new clubs. Some kind of supervision and control regarding the number of clubs and the area of operation is definitely desirable. Admission of new members should be screened effectively. Any body with money and clout should not by itself become a member. Mere numerical growth or a simple redistribution of members is not as good as true growth and development. Rtn.PHF. P. O. THOMAS Rotary club of Alleppey District 3211.

At 3:37PM on 19 April 2010, Spencer Jordan wrote: First, a new club cannot be formed without an existing club, so the original premise is flawed. However, our club is in the process of starting a new club and I would encourage others to jump at the chance! In the process of recruiting members for the new club, you will find new recruits for your own club. In the process of teaching the new Rotarians about Rotary, you will learn, yourselves, you will gain a new place to "make up", and you will add new resources for fund-raising, and projects. Our new club not only is in the same geographical area, but meets on the same day, but at a different time of day. We are all working to get them chartered.

At 10:07AM on 16 April 2010, Gerard R.Rikken wrote: It is good practice to familiarize a new club with good weekly meeting practices. A team of not less than 5 Rotarians from the sponsoring club should be present at a series meetings of the new club to demonstrate how a weekly meeting is managed. Of particular importance is the rotation of functions.during the meeting..

At 11:07AM on 7 April 2010, Shyamashree Sen wrote: A new club needs support from the sponsoring club and the Governor's Special Representative. Together they can teach them the way a Rotary club's meetings are conducted and all the rules and conventions of this organization. A good sponsoring club will inform the members forming the club about Rotary's history and other important issues and encourage the new members to attend RLI New Membership classes, encourage the new club to exchange ideas with other clubs, attend district programs like Inter City Meets and Seminars and guide them towards meaningful projects to engage the members.

At 11:09AM on 7 April 2010, Rtn.Sanjay Salvi wrote: The sponsoring club member should frequently talk to the members of the new club not only about Rotary but also about personal things which will creat better assimilation. Invite them along with their spouses at functions. After u feel they are now inducted into Rotary than gradually induct Rotary into them.

At 2:35PM on 5 April 2010, Irene Merrill wrote: During my tenure as Assistant Governor 2008-2009 (D5230 California U.S.A.), the 4 existing clubs in our community JOINTLY acted as the extending clubs. The club was chartered June 23rd, 2009, but began meeting in March 2009. An advisory committee was formed consisting of one member from each extending club, and weekly at least one or two Advisory Committee members attend the club meetings. The new club got off to an extremely strong start, which continues!

At 2:34PM on 5 April 2010, Doug Brown wrote: Our club helped sponsor a new club and in addition to the financial start-up support we took a number of steps to assist them that have been highly successful: 1. We have held a number of joint meetings 2. We have invited them to participate in our hands-on community service projects 3. We have attended their functions and projects 4. The 2 presidents have had very frequent phone and in-person chats All of this has made them feel supported, has made them be very aware that they are a part of something much larger than themselves, and the support has helped them feel more secure as they chart their way through the first year of functioning as Rotarians. The bod is now tight and great for both clubs. BTW we are an older club and they are younger, but it has not been a barrier.

At 11:03AM on 5 April 2010, Paul Jackson UK 1090 wrote: I am launching a new club for younger business proffessionals in Oxford England. Nearly all the adjacent clubs have older members and therefore are not attractive. However I am hoping that each of the new club's Council Members will each have a mentor with the relevent experience to develop the club, which will no doubt be different, so that it can be integrated into the often strange ways of Rotary .I hope!

At 11:00AM on 5 April 2010, PDG Kishabhau Godbole D 3030 wrote: If the club is formed after taking due care and after following the prescribed procedure, the new club stands quickly on its feet. If the new club has a good community need and wants a small financial matching , sponsoring club may request the Governor for a DSG grant.

At 5:59PM on 2 April 2010, Bill Pollard, PDG D7600 (VA, USA) wrote: Our approach in D7600 in forming new clubs is having between 3 to 5 sponsor clubs some of which are in neighboring communities. We have formed 5 clubs with this approach and it really helps the new clubs with a strong support group. Each sponsoring club also makes a financial contribution to assist the new club with their start-up costs. It helps to build enthusiasm in the sponsoring clubs as they work to grow our Rotary family. In most cases the sponsoring clubs also increase their membership based on their focus in seeking new members.

At 11:07AM on 2 April 2010, Prakash Saraswat wrote: Like any baby, a new Club needs nurturing. They have fresh ideas.. only need to be moulded into the Rotary proceedures. The sharing of Rotary Information with all new members is the key to success. It could start with one day workshops of RLI and ensuring that one Rotarian from the sponsor club visits that Club every week.. to guide them of Rotary protocol too..