2. Focus on Membership

3. Focus on Membership More Rotarians are able to do more
Continuous turnover
Need to “grow Rotarians”

4. Focus on Membership
Get ‘em in!
Plug ‘em in!
Keep ‘em in!

5. Get ‘em in! Five for One Plan Who Do You Know? Yellow Pages
Meet and Greet
“Get ‘em in” is finding new members to share the Rotary experience. As we’ve traveled and listened to your various ways of recruiting new members, we’ve found many solid ideas for inviting new members to Rotary.

6. Plug ‘em in! Make them feel welcome Mix them (and you) in
Get ‘em in - volved!
How does your club make visitors feel welcome?
If you belong to a typical Rotary club, you sit pretty much in the same place every week, and you can predict where each member of your club will sit, and who they will be sitting with. Do you remember the Objects of Rotary? The first one is “The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service.” Some of you have been getting acquainted with the same people for 10 years now – you should know them by now! So move around and get acquainted with your new members – and in many cases – your existing members! In our club we have a couple of new members who have volunteered to help with club fellowship, and while they don’t do it every week, they’ve made it fun and interesting. Not long ago, I walked in the door of our meeting room, and one of them met me with a deck of cards, and told me to pick one. I did – it was the 7 of hearts, and he told me to find a table designated as a “hearts table.” I wound up sitting with three other Rotarians who I’d known for years, but hadn’t visited with in quite a while. Refreshing? YES! Tradition-breaking? YES! Random? YES! Good for our club? Definitely! Another time I was asked when my birthday was, and then was sent to the table that had my astrological sign! So in order to help retain members – get to know one another – use acquaintance as an opportunity for service!
And then get them – get them in-volved in the work of the club. Have their proposer to find out what skill sets they bring to the club, then help get them involved in a committee that fits their interests. Now here’s where I think many times we fail. We Rotarians are people who can get things done – and often, we can (and do) do it on our own. We may not ask for help, and may not even want another opinion on how something should be done. So the work of our club gets done by a several groups of lone rangers, without involving other members of our club in the process. We NEED to involve the rest of the club, especially newer members. They joined Rotary to make a difference – let them!

7. Plug ‘em in!
Mentors / Sponsors
Red Badge Program
Fireside Chat

8. Keep ‘em in! Unavoidable membership loss Only 50%
Every club will lose members due to death, job transfers, job demand, loosing or changing job/career, personal health issues, family health issues, or they retire or relocate.
Not much can be done to stop membership loss due to these reasons – but this accounts for only 50% - half – of the members who leave Rotary clubs.

9. “Friendly Fire” Not fun Not invited to participate Club politics
No community involvement
Bad / no programs
Poor fellowship / not welcome
Why do the others leave? Past RI President Cliff Dochterman calls it “Friendly Fire-” Things that we do in our club that make members not want to hang around. Not having fun, not being invited to participate in club activities/committees, sees no value to self or their company, bad food, club politics, club not involved in community, club grows stale, bad/no programs, dull or poor fellowship, not made to feel welcome.

10. Keep ‘em in!
New Member Mentors
Past Presidents Council
Rotary Moments

11. Keep ‘em in!
What’s Rotary?
What would YOU say?

12. Our Best Advice . . .
STOP Recruiting!
START Attracting!

13. Focus on Membership

14. Focus on Membership
Get ‘em in!
Plug ‘em in!
Keep ‘em in!

16. District Resources Larry & Brenda Nelson Jayne Lowe Rolf Wilkin
Clay Langley

17. Resources “Be a Vibrant Club: Your Club Leadership Plan”
“Connect For Good - Rotary Basics”
“New Member Orientation – a How-To Guide for Clubs”
I close with a list of several really good resources from Rotary International. Here they are:
“Be A Vibrant Club: Your Club Leadership Plan”
“Connect For Good - Rotary Basics”
“New Member Orientation – a How-To Guide For Clubs”

18. Resources “Membership Committee Manual”
“Strengthening Your Membership”
(Development Resource Guide)
“Club Assessment Tools”
“Focus On Membership”
“Membership Committee Manual”
“Strengthening Your Membership”
“Club Assessment Tools”
“Focus On Membership”
All of these are available on the AnyEvent App, or online at and can be downloaded as a pdf file.