My dear fellow Rotarians, Friends, and all in our Rotary Family,
In a previous newsletter I talked about MEMBERSHIP, so I thought I would continue the same vein but talk more about what you are asking people to join when inviting them into your Rotary Club. I know that after reading this article there will be many members who will say ‘how dare he say these things to us, we love our club just the way it is’ … but that is just the point. Do others, share your passion for your club???
Why am I writing this article you might ask? At the end of June 2019 we had 1,326 Rotary clubs in zone 8 (Australia & New Zealand/Pacific) and 34,359 club members now, as of the end of August 2020 that number has dropped to 1,309 clubs, so 17 clubs have handed in their charter and 32,878 club members, which is 1,481 less members. Since the 30th June 2020, the zone has only inducted 33 new members and lost 136. Do you see a trend????
We all think OUR club is the best club in the District, but I am asking you to look at it through the eyes of someone who has just been asked to join, knows nothing about Rotary, is time poor but wants to do something to help the community - whether local or further afield? Are you confident of impressing them when you invite them to come to one of your meetings?
We all agree that we need to grow Rotary, but sometimes we get caught up in the numbers game and lose sight of the bigger picture. After all, an increase in membership is meaningless if next year, those new members or other members in your club leave and never return. This article is to get you thinking about growing Rotary sustainably. Rotary’s flexible options for participation will engage members and show the community how we are different from other clubs. Let us celebrate that we (Rotary) is now less about rules and more about joining together in a variety of ways besides traditional meetings.
It really does not matter if the person is male or female, old or young - the following article still applies as most people today do not want to waste their time with commitments that doesn’t interest them! The big market area that successful, growing clubs tap into is women, young businesspeople and millennials.
To attract them, clubs need to get rid of their twentieth century baggage of the seven deadly sins:
1. Too much bling
If your President wears his/her collar at meetings, if your club has a dated picture of HM the Queen and displays the Australian flag; these are all signs your club is still living in the 20th century and will not appeal to most people under 60 - especially millennials - as potential members. Your club will die with your current members. One concession is to bring out the collar out for the changeovers and I am glad to see that this tradition is less prevalent than it used to be.
2. The National Anthem
While your members may be loyal citizens and feel such observances are a measure of respect. You may have noticed that not all people now stand for the national anthem at some public functions and sporting events. Again, millennials see such practice as a tradition that should be assigned to the past. Australia as a culture, thinks Australia Day should be celebrated with family and friends at the beach, on the river or by the lake or a pool. Today’s Australians are not into salutes and military parades but enjoy citizenship ceremonies reinforcing our multiculturalism around the barbie.
3. The invocation/Grace or whatever you want to call it.
Rotary International states it is not a religious organisation and across the world it has hundreds of different religions and sects amongst its membership. Inserting a Christian grace into a meeting no longer reflects the views of many Australians and forms an immediate barrier to non-Christian potential members. And I ask you how many of you say grace before you eat a meal at home these days?
4. The Toast
While many clubs have modified the toast to the Queen and Australia or just Australia, most people and especially Millennials still find this a quaint custom. If you are of aboriginal decent you might find this practice disrespectful. One concession is to have a toast to Rotary International or to a sister club in another country where you could promote information on the work of Rotary at the same time.
5. The top table
Again, if your club maintains a top table you are showing deference to your leadership that is no longer necessary in today’s Australian egalitarian society. Effective Rotary leaders demonstrate they are part of the club by sitting with the members and then getting up to speak on the stage or the front of the gathering as required
6. The Sergeant
This is probably the most controversial sin, but it is a real turn-off to most women and Millennials. The number of women who have told me that they find the Sergeant humiliating and a complete waste of time, is countless. Some clubs may have good Sergeants who bring a sense of fun to the club but most, unfortunately do not, and the inside jokes on members (even if it is funny) is missed on most visitors. It can be easily replaced by Happy Dollars when individual Rotarians stand up and announce why they are happy this week to donate a dollar to the Foundation or whatever you decide. Only an exceedingly small number of clubs do the Sergeants session well.
7. Meetings, bloody meetings
If you are still meeting weekly, you are likely to be meeting too often. Most people and especially Millennials who join Rotary don’t want to attend meetings just for fellowship and networking, They don’t want to waste 2 to 3 hours a week having a (not always) good meal, and listening to a (not always) good guest speaker. They want to do good in the world and only want to meet as necessary to assist them implement their projects. You don’t have to attend meetings to be a Rotarian – you are only required to work 12 hours in every six months on projects. Meetings are expensive – four times the cost of District and RI Fees, (if clubs meet every week).
Young people struggling to gain full-time work find Rotary awfully expensive. It is not just District and RI dues, it is meal costs, raffle tickets, fines and other associated hidden costs. If you can eliminate cost from meetings you can be a Rotarian for $20 a month. This is the way Rotary membership should be sold. In this time of COVID-19 and zoom meetings many have told me that they enjoy the mix of zoom and in-person meeting more now than ever before.
When these young people were asked (despite their enthusiasm for Rotary), why they don’t join a Rotary club. It was a familiar litany: high costs, inconvenient meeting times, unreasonable demands, and expectations on young professionals with new careers and young families, so this clearly shows there are issues that have to be addressed.
So, I know there are many of you out there who will say but I like all the Bling, toasts, singing grace, the National Anthem and so on. If that is the case, good for you. But I am asking you to look and see just how many members you have brought into your club and retained over the last five years. If you have not increased your membership by 10 to 20%, you are probably not going to be around in the next five to ten years. Most of our members in our District are over 65 years of age and many clubs continue to lose more members than they bring in each year.
Please know that I am not saying you have to do anything, but if you don’t want to change your club, start thinking about creating a new (satellite or standard) club, made up of members (younger, female, or just different demographic) who are different and can’t, or don’t want to, join your Club! Standard rules and by- laws have changed in recent years and members can build the club that suits them.
At no time in our Rotary existence is it more important to accept the opportunities that are opening up for us in this COVID-19 times. Let us build on this new momentum and seize the opportunity to embrace change so that rotary keeps thriving.
Why growing membership is so important
PLEASE watch this video about the importance of providing a variety of formats for potential members.
SHARE ROTARY—INVITE A FRIEND TO JOIN
And Remember, If it stops being fun stop doing it.
David Clark JP
Rotary 9685 District Governor 2020/21
