Membership Assembly Results
Twenty two members attended our Club Assembly on Monday, October 28 and participated in discussions regarding the challenges we face with a declining members (image below). Those attending participated in lively discussions. Discussions took place at each of the four tables dealing with three topics: the strengths of our club, the weaknesses of our club, and ideas to attract new members. This article presents the outcomes from these discussions. I also sent members a Clubrunner email with this information.
Club Strengths (as stated by the four groups)
Note: * indicates more than one group listed this topic
- Participation *
- Diversity *
- Comradery and fellowship *
- Loyalty
- Flexibility
- Civic minded *
- Generous philanthropists *
- Welcoming & committed members
- Veteran club leadership
- Hardworking
- International / National presence
- Peacebuilders designation
- Robust Speakers *
- Continuity of members
- Can do attitude
- Well-funded club foundation
- Good public exposure through fund raisers
- Quality of meals and comfortable location for hospitality
Club Weaknesses (as stated by the four groups)
Note: * indicates more than one group listed this topic
- Lack of ethnic / racial diversity
- Communicating our value / work to the community
- Attrition – aging members *
- Declining membership
- Financial: high cost of dues plus meals and expectation of outside contributions *
- Resistant to change, skeptical of new ideas
- Overwhelming work on new members
- Burnout for labor
- Lack of understanding of how Rotary works for new members
- Behind the times on social media and public relations
- Volunteer opportunities not well attended
- Time and location of meetings *
- Lack of public awareness
- Number of clubs in Springfield
- Lack of corporate memberships
- Not introducing potential members
- Internal conflicts with work and other organizations
- Insufficient interaction with other Springfield clubs
- Declining coverage of local news
Ideas for Attracting New Members
These were the best ideas brought forward from each table’s discussion. They are ranked by the number of votes cast for each idea. Twenty one members voted (as facilitator, I abstained) with each member allowed to cast 4 votes. No member could vote for any idea more than once. A total of 84 votes were cast (image below)
.Members Ideas for Attracting New Members
The number of votes for each idea is shown (21 voting – 4 votes each) in ranked order:
Social Media – expand (IG, snapchat, threads), expand all media (12 votes)
Identify companies who may be open to discussions on corporate memberships (11 votes)
Change time of meeting so fewer conflicts with family obligations (10 votes)
Set grant recipient expectations: engagement, year round promotion, social media, co-branded volunteer opportunities (9 votes)
Open house reception / party with food and drink for potential new members (7 votes)
Consider potential Rotary club mergers (6 votes)
Advertise on flag lights (5 votes)
Look for members who would be part of the peace work and honor flight (5 votes)
Provisional membership for non-members to return to more meetings (4 votes)
Engage district membership committee to identify resources to increase membership and clubs that are successful to learn from them (4 votes)
financial incentive (discount for first year) (4 votes)
Branded attire for flag deployment (3 votes)
Create “new member” campaign (3 votes)
Springfield magazine (1 vote)
Note: 21 members cast 4 votes each or 84 votes (Total votes=84)
The following suggestions received no votes:
Forums in the community to find out what potential members want from a service club
Start using a tagline
QR code in Illinois Times and business cards
Utilize GSCC Membership for visibility events
What’s next?
A second Assembly will be held on Monday, December 9. Attracting new members is important but retaining and engaging members is also critical. Retaining and Engaging will be the topic of the December 9 Assembly.
A Membership Work Group has been formed to take the outputs of the Assemblies and turn them into actionable plans. The Group is made up of President Megan, Immediate Past President Travis, President Elect John, and Past President Barry who is a member of the District 6460 Membership Committee. This group will make recommendations to the Board regarding Membership related plans. As was pointed out Monday, if we decide to expand our efforts supporting these ideas, we may have to stop some of our current activity. The Work Group will also have to be cognizant of this fact.
What can you do? First, if at all possible, you should plan to attend the December 9 Assembly. Second, if you have interest in one or more of the topics that this week received a high number of votes, please let Megan, Travis, John, Barry or me know. Third, we can all do a better job of inviting folks to be our guest at a meeting.
Thanks again to all who participated on Monday. As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.