Strengthening Your Club I’ve been a Lion for a long time now, and I suppose if I wasn’t committed to the basic principals of what Lions is about… I would have found some other interest by now. Unfortunately, many others have… and we’re not replacing them. I firmly believe our membership is in crisis… and we have to do something about it. Men and women join Lions to do projects – i.e. to make a difference in their communities. They don’t join with the prime aim of finding new or replacement members? BUT, it’s just like the automotive industry – if you don’t have a new model on the horizon, your business or brand will wane and fade away. We all know Ford and Chevrolet, but where are the latest Duesenberg's and Studebakers? However, talk to members about membership and…… CLICK Acknowledgement to 202E GMT Coordinator Peter Gamble for the initial development of the programme

Membership The elephant in the room – heavy & cumbersome? Too HARD! Someone else’s problem? Something we need to consider later in the year? This is what most of our members think…. Membership

Three Years of Club Growth?? 65% of all clubs in MD202 have either stagnated or decreased in size. 35% of all clubs have grown by increasing membership Firstly, lets look at strength of our clubs over the last three years across our MD The first or navy column – Clubs that have had a net gain their membership – 113 – 135 – 110 2nd or middle column - Clubs with a status quo membership or stayed the same – 66 – 69 – 58 The third or red column – Clubs that have a net loss in membership – 172 – 137 – 169 For the 2013 – 2014 year we had a huge improvement. However, the last year was a disaster The objective is to lift the 1st navy column and drop the next two columns And… we look at how 202M stacks up…… click Membership

202M’s Three Years of Club Growth?? 66% of all clubs in 202M have either stagnated or decreased in size. 34% of all clubs have grown by increasing membership Overall your district 202M have consistently out-performed all other districts in 202 over the last three years. However, there is room for improvement because these increases are largely as a result new clubs being formed and the growth in some clubs. Taradale is a good example. In other words the district growth is only in a small number of clubs. 2/3rds of all clubs that have either stagnated or shrunk in size. Therefore, only a 3rd of the clubs in our district have shown any growth First column – Clubs that have increased their membership – 18 – 15 – 24 2nd column - Clubs with a status quo membership – 10 – 8 – 8 Third column – Clubs that have decreased in membership – 24 – 29 – 25 Membership

Membership … is a Project Membership There needs to be a written plan. Most important – resources need to be allocated We need someone to Drive the project? Okay, I’ll do it Well… most people join to do projects so… Therefore, why not make membership a Project? For the club to grow the project needs to have a plan and resources just like any other project Membership

Membership Membership is…. ‘Project Number One’ The statistics tell the story Without new members, clubs will fade away Without new members, clubs become top heavy AND Will cease to deliver service OR We are restricted in the way we deliver service The first project of any Club is the “Club itself” The first project of any club should be the Club Itself! So membership should be number one Membership

Membership Putting this……. Number ONE Project together? “I’d like you to consider”…. Putting this……. Number ONE Project together? Well… most people join to do projects so… I believe we need to make it Project # One Membership

Project ONE4ten Membership …it is a project …it is the number one project of the Club …it aims at a 10% increase or better Project ONE4ten Project one 4 ten Delay to sink in, then… Let’s go back a few slides? Membership

Membership Too Hard, someone else’s problem We have tried everything. Many of the LCI Programmes have not worked in NZ. I just don’t feel comfortable asking my friends to join, they might say NO… and then how will I feel? Something we need to consider later in the year Let’s just get stuck into projects now – that’s what Lions is all about The elephant in the room Who wants to talk about something that has been far from a roaring success in the past Read out the italics sections Talk about or expand on Membership

Project ONE4ten Project ONE4ten How would it work? Appoint a ‘driver’ – call him/her the Membership Chairman/Director/Coordinator, Growth Director, Club Saviour or whatever you are comfortable with. Are the members comfortable with the manner this person drives? Are the rest of the members driving on the same side of the road? Do the members know where they are going? Will the club give this person the fuel necessary to get to the destination? Project ONE4ten The driver could ideally be a newer member that is not too old? PDG, maybe, maybe not? A few do bring baggage or repetition? You must trust the driver and be willing to get behind them 100% Fuel = venues, supper/luncheons, promotional material Project ONE4ten

Project ONE4ten Take your membership and divide by ten This will be your new member TARGET for this Lions’ year In most cases this will not be a whole number (1.8 or 2.6 or some other like #) Round your target up to the next whole number The job of finding those new members is NOT the task of JUST the Membership Chairman and his or her committee Divide the current club membership by the number of new members you need to find This should give you groups of 7, 8, 9 or 10 members It is the task of each group collectively to secure ONE new member between them All of a sudden you have made maybe 7 or 8 members working on the task and the whole club is involved! Cover each point Project ONE4ten

Project ONE4ten There needs to be a Common Plan Point One Point Two The Coordinator must have an overview of all groups Point Two Be careful that groups do not approach the same prospective member – this is not a competition, it is collaboration. Point Three Regular reporting is necessary to keep members informed and enthused. Point Four There may be expenses involved. The club needs to be aware of these and commit to meeting them. Point Four The common plan is the Club’s unique plan designed and implemented by the club itself – not a District or Lions Club International plan. One full meeting to launch the project – keep calling it a PROJECT. Meetings after that just 10 minutes to catch up, inform and enthuse the members. The plan must be personalised, project ONE4 ten is the structure and is a general framework Clubs would use the basic structure and flesh it out with detail to design their own plan. Project ONE4ten

Lions Clubs International are promoting the Just Ask programme Within this initiative it says; “ASK ONE! Imagine if each and every Lion member – all 1.37 m – asked just one person to join their club” Get this programme online at the LCI website – go to the top right hand corner and type Just Ask in the search box and hit enter Alternatively contact your District GMT leader for assistance. Clubs may not want to do all that the publication promotes – adapt it for your local needs Ask one is where the clubs can get some good details If we achieved a 10% success rate across the world that would be 137,000 new members, and that is what is being suggested – one new member for each 10 you have already – 10% increase Project ONE4ten

Other programmes are available and Clubs may have ideas of their own to tackle Project ONE4ten Club Quality Initiative (CEP) may highlight issues and/or strategies – How are your ratings? “Blueprint for a STRONGER CLUB” and “New Club Development Guide” are not membership programmes per se but do have many good recruitment ideas in them Other resources available are the Global Membership Team and your Zone Chairperson – use them There is also the “Club Growth” programme which has some good information that could be used. Cover each point Project ONE4ten

Membership …. is a Project Project ONE4ten

Membership …. is Project Number One Project ONE4ten

- if we can’t meet, we can’t serve Lion’s Motto Remember “We Serve” - if we can’t meet, we can’t serve If we can’t meet because we don’t exist as a club anymore, we can’t serve!! Project ONE4ten

Questions? Project ONE4ten If we can’t meet because we don’t exist as a club anymore, we can’t serve!! Project ONE4ten