Keys to Recruiting and Retaining Members

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Keys to Recruiting and Retaining Members
Adapted from a presentation by Robert W. Nelson,
RIMC 2002-2004
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What excuses do we hear about Membership?

• Recruiting has been difficult
• Younger people dont seem to have the time
  available for Rotary
• Changing economy
• Membership attrition

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Recruitment and Retention

• In business we spend a significant effort in
  recruiting and inducting new staff members
• We also invest a lot of time and effort in
  recruiting new customers.

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Lets meet our membership goalswith
provenformulas...
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membership

• E3R
• Extend
• Recruit
• Retain
• Revitalize

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Extend Form New Clubs

• Opportunity for more people to participate in
  Rotary by offering more options in your
  community
• Time of day
• Day of Week
• Location
• Club Size
• Open Classifications

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Recruit New Members

• Set a challenging goal for your club
• How do you feel when you see a low or no growth
  goal?
• Do you feel energized and really challenged?
• How about a goal of 3? 6? 9? 12 15 more??

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Recruit New Members

• Recognize the urgency of Rotary Membership
• Utilize pre-induction orientation gatherings to
  brief entire family before induction

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Retain Your Current Members

• Members are the life blood of a Rotary Club
• Your clubs most valued asset is its members
• Nurture and grow your membership!

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Orient the new member properly

• Member and spouse if possible
• Evening of Rotary orientation
• Club History and Projects
• Four Avenues of Service
• Rotary International
• The Rotary Foundation

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Induct new members properly

• Significant ceremony with spouse
• Provide (options)
• Four Way Test
• Object of Rotary
• Rotary Basic Library
• Certificate of Membership
• Pin, Badge, Banner
• Publications

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Educate the New Member

• Most members who leave were never really
  Rotarians in the first place
• Up to 80 of a typical club members know very
  little about Rotary

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Educate the New Member

• Rotary program once a month
• Good Rotary speakers
• Slides and videos about Rotary
• Ambassadorial Scholars, youth exchanges, RYLA
  participants, GSE, Rotaract, Interact

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Involve the Rotarian in

• Club Committees
• Fund Raisers
• Board Meetings
• Club Meetings
• Club Social Activities

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Assign the new club member

• As a delegate to the district conference and have
  them report to the club

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Ask the new member

• To find two or three other new members from among
  his/her peer group

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What can be done for small clubs?

• Continue with current recruiting/retention
  approach?
• Merge with another club?
• Give up charter and disband?
• Answer Revitalize!

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Revitalize a small club

• Evaluate current logistics
• Draw up a demographic profile
• Compile a classification survey listing business
  and professional activities in your community
• Are you making full use of all types of
  membership?

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Revitalize a small club

• Invigorate programs and activities
• focus on service projects that make a vital
  contribution to the community
• establish good working relationships with the
  local media
• What are your clubs best assets?
• Use methods similar to new club extension where
  existing nucleus is weak

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membership

• E3R
• Extend
• Recruit
• Retain
• Revitalize

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Why Join Rotary?

• The Opportunity to Serve
• Professional Networking
• Personal Growth and Development
• Friendship
• Cultural Diversity

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Why Join Rotary?

• Good Citizenship
• World Understanding
• Entertainment.
• Family Foundations
• Ethical Environment

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When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he
tried over 2000 experiments before he got it to
work...
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I never failed once.It just happened to be a
2000-step process. - Thomas Edison
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An example of leadershipEdison NJ USA Rotary
Club

• July 1997
• 18 members
• November 1998
• 58 members
• Sponsored a Rotaract Club
• Sponsored Seven Interact Clubs

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Light up your club with new members!
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Additional resources are available at
www.rotary.org