August is a tremendous month in the Pacific Northwest. We get to enjoy our summer knowing that we will have the benefit of long days and warm weather. In fact, it is one of the many reasons why many of us choose to stay and enjoy many of the blessings we have around us. Let’s be honest, our part of the world happens to be one of the best places around when it is summertime!
Interestingly, this month is also the month that we celebrate membership within Rotary, especially with the benefits that it brings to us personally, as well as to the Rotary family. It ties into our desire to find balance and meaning in our lives, whether this is through the services we provide back to our communities or the fellowship we discover amongst our fellow Rotarians.
Our commitment to service and finding fellowship also happens to be the two primary drivers for engagement, based on the survey results from the Rotary club health check that were published in this month’s Rotary Magazine. The initial reasons for joining were driven by friendships, professional connections, and the opportunity to develop leadership skills. However, we stayed because we found value in the deeper connections that come from service to our community and the friendships we make in Rotary.
Our district strategic plan tries to tackle these trends by being up front on how we expand our reach through public image, engage our communities through service, grow our membership, embrace our vocational legacy and transform by innovating with the goal that we will accelerate our growth across our clubs, expand our reach as a result and continually improve our core capabilities to remain relevant to the communities we serve.
This is why we are focusing on the things that matter in terms of membership retention, because without solid retention programs it makes the task of securing new members somewhat futile. At the district level we will be looking to support goals that help us retain members because they are in clubs that they crave. Ideally these clubs will have projects that deliver significant impact to their communities and are not shy about telling their story to amplify their ability to connect with other clubs and partners to really make the difference. Add to these ample opportunities for your members to have fun, then it will not be long before Rotary’s magic will take a hold across your membership leading to others wanting to belong themselves.
We can then use these wonderful experiences to drive membership growth across the district, because we will be able to tell our story in a way that highlights the strength of our clubs’ work and their members’. To do this we will demonstrate the things that do attract new members with our leadership opportunities, the possibilities of making new connections and having a relevance to the communities we serve via our projects.
In short, we must focus on changing how we look at membership growth. Our tendency is to always focus on growing our clubs through recruiting new members and losing our existing members with the result that we end up with no growth, or more worryingly a decline in membership. How many of you have experienced this already?
At our clubs we must focus on our mission – first and foremost. Get this right, then the rest will take care of itself. At the Celebration Event in June, I outlined a series of thoughts that I think each of us should take to heart in support of our clubs and let me remind you of them:
- When we have an idea … tell someone. It’s all about planting a seed, inviting others to help cultivate it, and watching what grows.
- If we want to try something … ask. Because if the past three years have taught us anything, it’s that solutions and answers often emerge from unexpected people in unexpected places.
- When we want to collaborate … just do it. The fact is, in today’s collaborative world, we always need others. Everyone does.
- When we must measure ourselves … it’s not by what we are against, but rather what we are for. What matters is not the miles or meters—but our meaning.
- If we stand for something … let it be for Hope. Help others Awaken to the Extraordinary Opportunity of Rotary by tapping into their hope for finding value outside of work.
Apply the above to your club’s work and I suspect you will be delightfully surprised by the impact in terms of membership retention, and then growth. Make being a Rotary member something of value and there will be no barrier to your club’s success. It is really that simple.
