Membership Corner - April 18, 2016

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Membership Corner: How to propose a new member for Rotary
 
By Tom Sturiale
 
Why do people join organizations – any organization? People have altruistic as well as personal reasons for joining organizations. Of course, there are those who are primarily interested in the idea of service to others, volunteerism, charity, and all the wonderful things we do in Rotary. But most folks join organizations because they want to build relationships, they want to experience a positive experience and they are interested in solving problems.They may either have personal and business networking objectives or be retired and interested in helping others. In any case, we need to be selective in whom we ask to join and to be reasonably certain of a person’s fit in rotary before we ask them to join.
 
Ask, Ask, Ask is a Rotary way of pursuing a prospective member. We want to know if we want to build a relationship with the prospective member and the prospective member wants to know if they want to build a relationship with the Rotarians in your club. How do we both find out the answer to that question?
  1.  Ask prospective members to join your Rotary activities or meetings as a guest – not as a prospective member. Let them become familiar with your Rotary activities and even participate. In this way, they are becoming involved in a non-judgmental manner while you are gathering enough information to fill out a “Propose a Member” form. Do not introduce them as prospective members – that is a fatal flaw! It puts them in the awkward position of having prematurely to make a decision. It puts the sponsoring member in the embarrassing position of having proposed a member who may either not accept or may be rejected by the Membership Committee. Why do it? Let the prospective member ask first a few questions about your club and/or Rotary as a guest. 
  2. Ask them to attend an information meeting with several members and learn more about Rotary and your club’s activities. At this point, they and you are still considering each other. If a decision of the prospect is to not join or if the club decides not to accept, then no harm – no foul. Both of you can walk away with positive feelings of each other. And maybe the relationship can again be pursued in the future. 
  3. Ask the prospect to fill out an application for membership if at this point both of you have decided that a good match has been determined. You have now vetted each other and increased the probability that a long-term relationship will work.  Now is the time to begin the education and integration process into Rotary. 
So Ask, Ask, Ask is a good process to pursue when seeking new members for your Rotary clubs. Try it.
 
Closing thoughts
 
We need to keep experimenting with our meeting agendas to maintain members’ interests and to encourage attendance. Meetings need to be fresh, exciting and interesting. This will also assist your club’s Membership Committee chair and members in attracting new members to the team. Please let me know of your ideas, comments and stories about Membership you would like to share. E-mail me at tsturiale36@gmail.com.
 
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