Membership Corner - January 18, 2016

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Membership Corner: Attracting and Vetting Members to Rotary
 
By Tom Sturiale
 
It can be argued that attracting new members to Rotary is the most important task of Rotary clubs. It is through new members that we are able to grow and continue good works. It is through new members that we are able to replace attrition for many reasons. It is through new members that we are able to introduce new technology and new ideas.
 
It may be comfortable to maintain the status quo, to continue the habits of many years and to continue the many warm relationships, but the status quo also implies sliding backwards. The reality is that members leave for many reasons, clubs become stagnant, the old habits may not resonate with changing attitudes in their communities and senior members may tire of repetitive assignments to officer and/or chair positions. Of course, it is important to continue the major projects and good works of Rotary clubs. But it is equally important, if not more important, to develop and maintain a vibrant, energetic effort to continually attract new members.
 
Attracting new members is a multi-faceted endeavor. Clubs have to be attractive in terms of interesting meetings, good venues, interesting speakers and great community-development projects, with good fellowship and fun places to be. In other words, clubs have to have the basics in place. Then they will be able to attract folks of the appropriate mindset and ethics to the world of Rotary.
 
Your club has gone through the basics. You have developed a “target list” of prospective candidates with the help of all the members. Now it is time to consider whom to invite. How do we vet prospective members? Should we accept anyone into Rotary? The prospective member and Rotary should have reasonable expectations of each other. These expectations can only be met when we know what they are. 
 
Prospective members should be made aware of what Rotary is all about – history, benefits, organization, dues, financial expectations, meetings, attendance, participation, projects, etc. We should gather information about the prospective member’s ability and willingness to meet our expectations in terms of meeting attendance, dues, foundation, participation, etc. Obviously, the idea is not to scare each other off at first sight with extraordinary demands, but instead to simply set the stage through orientation meetings, through invitations to meetings and/or to have prospective members participate in club functions. Let them know what we are all about and let us find out a bit about them so that membership in Rotary is regarded as a real prize and honor and not a total surprise. It is only through an effective vetting process that we can expect to improve our retention rate of new members. 
 
There will be instances when we will discover someone we think will not make a good Rotarian. I believe it is important that during the “mutual discovery” process we do not lead individuals to believe they will be automatically accepted into Rotary. No one ever wants to be in the unfortunate position of either informing someone they were not accepted as a member or in receiving that message.
 
The membership process requires stalwart Rotarians. It is not an easy process. It requires patience, endurance and persistence. While there are few successes and many failures, it is of the utmost importance to every club. It requires the total backing of the club leadership and membership. 
 
Once new members are inducted, it is up to the members to pitch in to welcome, educate, mentor and befriend them. It is also up to the leadership to ensure they are asked to participate in club duties and projects.
 
Please let me know any ideas, comments and stories about Membership you would like to share. E-mail me at tsturiale36@gmail.com.
 
Tom Sturiale is vice chair of District 7910's Membership Committee.
 
Here are the Membership Corner articles that were posted during December: