1. 1

2. 2

3. William (Bill) Angus,
Membership Chair 5340 / 2013-15
MEMBER ATTRACTION &
RETENTION
3

4. Agenda
 What does your Club stand for?
 How do you attract people?
 What are some ideas for finding new members?
 How do you retain members?
4

5. Club Mission
 What is your club passionate about?
 How would you find out, if you don’t
know?
 Does your club web site or brochure tell
people what you do?
 Do your members know what your club
does?
 Is your club meeting agenda visitor/guest
friendly & focus on the guest experience? 5

6. Membership Strategy
 The 4 R’s
• Re-Brand
• Re-Tool
• Re-Engage
• Recruit
6

7. Membership Strategy - Re-Brand
Communicate your Passion
• Remind Members
• Newsletters
• Emails
• Facebook
• Website
• Newsmedia
• Fundraisers
7

8. Membership Strategy - Re-Tool
 New ways to attract members?
 What works for you?
 Where to find people who share
your passion?
8

9. Membership Strategy – Re-Engage
Six Ideas
 Open House
 Satellite Club
 Meet community leaders
 Youth Service – Parents
 Connect fund raisers to your passion
 Who lives in your community?
9

10. Who lives in your community?
10

11. More Ideas - New Members
 Proposal Card …At a Club meeting have every
Member fill out a Proposal Card. Follow-up by
assigning individuals to invite the proposed
individual to a Club meeting or service project.
 Friends of the Club President …The Club
President asks three (3) Members as a personal
favor to propose a new Member within a month.
When the first one does so, approach another the
same way so as to always have three (3) Members
working on a personal pledge to the Presidents.
11

12. More Ideas - New Members
 Six-Month Plan…Encourage every new
member to bring in another new member
within six months. A district in Arkansas,
USA, experienced 17 percent growth using
this plan.
 Five for One Team…Divide the Club into
groups of 5. Assign each group to bring in
at least one new member within three (3)
months. Make this a contest with proper
recognition for the winning group.
12

13. More Ideas - New Members
 It Takes Two … Assign an accountability
partner to each member of the club and call
each other weekly to follow up on who
they are inviting to Rotary this week. Pair
them up by complimentary classification.
 Rotary Guest Day…Develop a list of
potential members and distribute
invitations to those on the list. Host a meal
or Happy Hour and information evening for
those who accept the invitation.
13

14. More Ideas - New Members
 Classifications …The Rotary Club of
Trenton, Ontario, Canada, reads a list of
unfilled classifications at each meeting.
This regular reminder helps Club members
consider potential members during their
daily interaction with a wide variety of
people. The Rotary Club of Trenton gained
20 new members through this strategy.
 Alternate Meeting Times … Majority of
loses in Rotary Clubs -LUNCH MTG-
14

15. More Ideas - New Members
 Community Projects …A successful
project attracts new members. Encourage
Club members to invite their friends to
participate in a worthwhile community
project.
 Increase Efforts …Increasing generational
diversity. Change the Club practices to be
more attractive to the next generation.
Focus on the guest experience at your club
and revise your meeting agenda / format.
15

16. Attract The Next Rotary Generation
 Look Back to Plan Forward …Re-
connect with the mass of young people
who already know you and have benefitted
from what you do.
 Start Small …Invite younger prospective
members to help out with short-term
targeted projects.
 Focus on Outcomes rather than Process
…What are you achieving; Who are you
helping;& How are you making an impact?
16

17. Attract The Next Rotary Generation
 Use Stories to Get Your Message
Through …The facts and logic may
impress them, but your stories and
experience will inspire them.
 Concentrate on Common Purpose not
Common Interests …The next generation
of Rotarians look, sound, and think
differently than you.
17

18. Highlights of 2013-14 Presidential
Citation Membership Criteria
Membership Criteria
 Organize at least one
networking event in
which club members can
meet other local
professionals and
introduce them to
Rotary. Work with
your membership chair
on this.
18

19. Highlights of 2014-15 Presidential
Citation Membership Criteria
Light Up Rotary
Membership Criteria
 Our club achieved a net
gain of one member. (5
points)
 Our club achieved a net
gain of 1-4 percent. (10
points)
19
30 Pts

20. Highlights of 2014-15 Presidential
Citation Membership Criteria
Light Up Rotary
Membership Criteria
 Our club achieved a net
gain of 5-10 percent. (15
points)
 Our club achieved a net
gain of more than 10
percent. (20 points)
20
30 Pts

21. Highlights of 2014-15 Presidential
Citation Membership Criteria
Light Up Rotary
Membership Criteria
 Our club president
personally sponsored two
new members. (5 points)
 Submit and achieve
membership development
goals for 2014-15 on
Rotary Club Central. (5
points) 21
30 Pts

22. Highlights of 2014-15 Presidential
Citation Membership Criteria
Light Up Rotary
Membership Criteria
 Ensure that every club
member has a profile on
My Rotary. (5 points)
 Promote member engagement by ensuring that
each club member is assigned a specific role in
your club’s leadership development goals for
the year, either in a leadership position or as a
member of a club committee, subcommittee,
or project initiative.1 (5 points)
22
30 Pts

23. Highlights of 2014-15 Presidential
Citation Membership Criteria
Light Up Rotary
Membership Criteria
 Increase your club’s member
retention rate by at least one
percent over the previous year. (5
points)
 Increase the diversity of your club’s
membership by recruiting at least two
new members who belong to a
demographic group (for example, gender,
age, profession, or ethnicity) that is
underrepresented in the club. (5 points)
23
30 Pts

24. Highlights of 2014-15 Presidential
Citation Membership Criteria
Light Up Rotary
Membership Criteria
 Successfully recruit the spouse of a club
member or successfully refer a spouse to
another Rotary club for membership. (5
points for each spouse that becomes a
Rotarian this year; maximum of 15 points
total for this activity)
 Successfully recruit a former Rotaractor
or Rotary alumnus to join your club or
successfully refer them to another Rotary
club for membership. (5 points for each
former Rotaractor or Rotary alumnus
that becomes a Rotarian this year)
24
30 Pts

25. Useful information about retaining
your members can put to use
today.

29. RETENTION
of all new members
leave within three years.

30. RETENTION
Don’t get to the middle of the
year and say:
“Oh no, we forgot about
Retention!”

31. WHAT A MEMBER IS
We Are All Ambassadors Of Rotary
– Positive attitude towards the
growth and goals of your club.
– Through our interaction with the
public we create an avenue for
growth in membership.

32. Why be concerned?
• Less hands to serve the
community
• Reduced potential for giving
• Less friendship and networking
• Darn hard getting a new
member!!!

33. Why DO MEMBERS LEAVE?
• They have to
• They want to
We can work on those that
want to leave!

34. Why DO MEMBERS LEAVE?
• Burnout
• Lack of Involvement
• Financial
• Missed Expectations
• No Clear Mission
• Personality Conflicts
• Bad Meetings
• Time Constraints
• Job Transfer
• Medical / Death
• Not Felt Needed
• Didn’t Understand
Mission of Rotary

35. RETENTION
• A critical piece of retaining
members is to listen to the
needs of the membership
and to ensure the Club is
satisfying those needs.

36. Innovative and Flexible
Rotary clubs are:
Fun, dynamic, diverse, resilient, tolerant,
interested in trying new things, proactive, member
driven, results oriented, resourceful, inspirational, and
relationship rich.
They support and strengthen their membership, focus
and increase their humanitarian service, and enhance
their public image and awareness.
-RI Quote from “Innovative Clubs”

37. Rotary clubs are like businesses
• They must have clear direction
• They must be consistent
• They must provide value
• They must be informative
• They must care about their
members!

38. VALUE FOR YOUR MEMBERS?
• Does your club provide a good
value for their time and $$$ ?
• What is your average billing
rate?
• Multiply by # of members
• Multiply by 1.5 hours each
week

39. VALUE FOR YOUR MEMBERS?
• Does your club offer your
members opportunities that
they can’t get anywhere else?
– Programs
– Service Projects
– Networking
– Knowledge
– Giving

40. 3 TIPS ON RETENTION
Every member needs three things:
• 1) A Friend (mentoring)
• 2) An Assignment
(responsibility)
• 3) To Be Nourished (education)

41. 3 TIPS ON RETENTION
A Friend:
• A friend in Rotary to whom they
can constantly turn, who will
walk beside him, who will
answer their questions, who will
understand their problems.
• FAMILY of ROTARY

42. 3 TIPS ON RETENTION
A Friend:
• If you want a friend you
have to be one.
• Does your club recognize
when a member is gone,
and do you call them to let
them know they were
missed?
• Even those members that
left?

43. 3 TIPS ON RETENTION
A Friend:
• Is your new member induction
process planned and
structured?
“Welcome to Rotary, here is your
new member packet.”
• Let people know what the
membership requirements are
BEFORE they join.

44. 3 TIPS ON RETENTION
An Assignment:
• Activity is the genius of Rotary.
• It is the process by which we
grow like the muscle of my
arm.
• An assignment should be given
to everyone, especially new
members.

45. 3 TIPS ON RETENTION
To be nourished:
• They need to understand what it is
when we say Service Above Self.
• Hold fireside chats for new
Members.
• Explain to members what the
Rotary Foundation does and its
purpose.

46. 3 TIPS ON RETENTION
• Retention REQUIRES
keeping members engaged
in beneficial service and
meaningful friendships!!!

47. Reminder: August is membership
month…

48. Membership
• “Every one of us in Rotary is
here because we were invited,
and because we made a choice
to accept that invitation. Every
day since then, we’ve been
faced with another choice:
whether to just be a member of
a Rotary club, or to truly be a
Rotarian”
– R.I. President Ron Burton

49. Engage Membership Question
What are
you
doing
that is
working?
49

50. 50
≈Unite, Invite, Ignite≈