Membership Corner - April 4, 2016
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Membership Corner: The 'whys' of Rotary
 
By Tom Sturiale
 
Rotarians represent about 0.1 percent of the total U.S. population - and much less than that of the world population. What is it that attracts us elite folks to this wonderful organization? Is it because we enjoy what we do or how we do it? Or is it because we believe in what we do? More importantly, how might we attract other elite folks to Rotary? 
 
Our usual approach is to tell prospective members what Rotary stands for and what Rotarians do. Our motto is “service above self” and we aim to improve the lives of others, to foster peace initiatives, to help the poor and needy and to develop our communities. We are an organization of more than one million people throughout the world in 34,000 separate local clubs who meet weekly. We network and we strive for fun, fellowship and friendship. We conduct fundraisers to support our beneficial efforts. 
 
There are several other descriptive terms we use to talk about what we do in Rotary.  However, it seems we have been unable to attract more than a miniscule percentage of folks to Rotary. Maybe our approach needs to be modified.
 
What if we turned the approach around and tell folks why we do what we do. People join organizations not only because of what they do but also because they believe in the same things they do. That is why we joined Rotary and that is why we continue to stay in Rotary. We do it because we believe and we do it for ourselves. Of course, we enjoy helping others but we do it because we believe in it.
 
In our initial approach to interested folks or prospective members, what if we appealed to their beliefs? We might ask them if they believe in improving the local community, in helping the poor, the hungry, the needy, the homeless and the veterans, in promoting peace throughout the world, in eliminating polio as a scourge of mankind, in developing youth through leadership and scholarship programs, and in many other ways of challenging the status quo. And, how would they enjoy engaging in these activities while networking with folks of similar beliefs in a fun and interesting venue? 
 
Let us engage folks from the point of view of our belief system rather than from a litany of what we do and how we do it. People want to believe in the “whys” of what they do.  We want folks who are deeply committed to devoting their time, talent and treasure to achieving the goals of Rotary. Simply rounding up members to attend meetings will not help us achieve our objectives. We will attract good members by aligning our goals with their beliefs. 
What do you think about this approach?
 
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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