It's a good time for us to step back and take a look at how we are doing with membership so far this Rotary year. Fact is - there is light at the end of tunnel when it comes to membership trends for our district!
Just looking at the raw statistics, we see what appears to be membership slippage slowing down, if not actually a bit of a turnaround. In the 2016-2017 Rotary Year, District 7910 saw a net loss of 68 members. As of January 31, 2018, we still see a loss for the 2017-2018 Rotary Year of 11 members, but that is a distinct slowing of membership losses.
But wait, there’s more! The “official” statistics quoted above do not include Honorary Members. If you include honoraries in the figures, you see that we had a net loss of 35 members in 2016-2017 and an INCREASE of 23 members this Rotary Year (through Feb. 28)!
“Why does the inclusion of Honorary Membership matter?” you may ask. The answer is that more and more clubs are using the category of Honorary Membership to create new, alternative memberships such as Corporate and Family memberships. So the increase in membership numbers suggests that our clubs are actually increasing the numbers of people actively engaged in Rotary. This all bears watching to see if this is just a momentary “blip” or an actual trend, but there’s cause to be encouraged!
We want to highlight some clubs that are doing particularly well this year. Rather than just looking at raw growth, we have chosen to look at clubs who have shown the best turnaround. With that in mind, here is the list of our “Turnaround Champs” for this year:
• Franklin Club - went from a loss of 6 members to a gain of 4;
• The Brookfields Club - went from a loss of 2 members to a gain of 7;
• Athol-Orange Area Club - went from a loss of 8 members to a gain of 1;
• Framingham Club - went from a loss of 4 members to a gain of 3;
• Clinton Club - went from a loss 4 members to a gain of 2;
• Bedford Club - went from a gain of 1 to a gain of 6.
Clubs that are turning around and clubs that are growing have some characteristics in common: 1) they have something approaching gender parity among their members, 2) they are using the freedom to create alternative membership types such as Corporate Membership, 3) they are willing to consider changes in venue and/or time to make their club accessible to more potential members.
Based on the presentation of our webinar (see rotary7910.org>About District 7910>Videos on Vimeo 2017-2018>2018-02-06-#2), we are emphasizing that clubs organize their membership activity around three topics: 1) ANALYZE where your club is, 2) INVITE people into your club, and 3) ENGAGE new members.
We stand ready to consult and assist all clubs with their membership issues. You can reach us as follows: 1) Cliff Gerber - <cliffgerber@icloud.com>, 2) Judy Merriman - <judyshrewsburyrotary@gmail.co