Not Only Is Rotary Changing but So Is the World Around Us. Rotary, Has Been in Existence

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Not only is Rotary changing …but so is the world around us. Rotary, has been in existence for 106 years and that is only because it has constantly reinvented itself to adapt to the changes.

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Compare Rotary today to that of 1911 and you can appreciate what I mean. But it seems change is happening at a much more rapid pace these days and in such a changing environment one has to wonder, has Rotary lost its prime? Is this great organization of ours at risk of dying?

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In an effort to make you reflect on this, let me quote you three wise Rotarians from our past:

“We take individuals into our clubs — good, new, potentially active members— and think that we are increasing our membership. But unless we motivate them, unless we engage them in challenging programs, it is inevitable that many of these members will just quietly drop out.

Past RI President Clem Renouf addressing the 1978 convention in Tokio.

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The age level of Rotarians has crept up. Each year, on average, Rotary loses 10 percent of its membership. In order to offset these losses and strengthen our clubs, we need to bring in thousands of good, high-quality younger Rotarians so as to create a better age balance.

Past RI President James Conway at the Honolulu convention in 1969.

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Many people have entered Rotary in the past, not knowing the true meaning of the organization. As a result, many Rotary clubs have weakened themselves by the admission of new members who have not become educated as to Rotary.

Past RI President Everett Hill, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1921

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Are these not familiar sounding concerns? The first author is voicing his concerns about Rotary’s retention rate, the second addresses the issue of getting younger members into our organization and the third speaker addressed the education and ultimate retention of our new members.

After hearing (reading) these words dating back some 90 years, it is quite obvious that the concerns we are voicing today are hardly new. However, it does not lessen our need to aggressively address these concerns because they are still very relevant today.

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Let’s take a look at some statistics:

Click SlideJune 30, 2003 Rotary had 1.2 million members in 31,551 clubs.
Click SlideJune 30, 2010 Rotary had 1.2 million members in 34, 103 clubs.

Click SlideSince 2003, the Rotary word has added 2,552 Rotary clubs and yet the total membership increase was only

Click Slide226 members.

What is even more distressing is that in that same 7 year period, we inducted more than

Click Slide1.1 million members into our Rotary clubs.

I don’t have the statistics for our District but I would not hesitate to compare them to that of the Rotary world.

It seems that our clubs have revolving doors;we bring in one member and one member leaves. This trend seriously dilutes the value of being a Rotarian; it seriously damages our public image and undermines our clubs’ effectiveness.

I’ve been delivering this type similar message for a few years now, as AG, as Governor as the membership committee chair and now as the director of District Membership. The clubs have all the tools necessary to recruit new members and help retain them. We’re very good at attracting new members and forming new clubs; the numbersare there to prove it, 1.1 million members in 7 years; in my opinion that’s a pretty impressivenumber… but we’re failing at keeping them in. Maybe this is because we have failed to realize that our low retention rate isnot the cause but a symptom of something else. This is perhaps a fundamental piece that we’ve been missing and need to address.

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Why not look at our Rotary Club as a business; our members are our customers; their currency is time and money. What value do we give them in return? … Just like customers of any business, our members join our clubs and give us their precious time and financial support and they expect benefits in exchange. In the business world, an unsatisfied customer leaves and takes his or her business elsewhere. An unsatisfied Rotarian will also leave to receive the sought after fulfillment somewhere else.

… So what does this mean? It means that we have to take a good close look at ourselves and our organization to make sure we know what our customers want and then mimic our clubs to those sought after values. Our clubs need to come to terms with their Identity and vision and effectively communicate this to their target audience. Until we can successfully do this, we will never solve our membership problem.

In his speech to the International Assembly in San Diego this past January RI Director John C. Smarge spoke a bit about branding and I quote his words here:

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“A brand is an expectation, a promise — a promise you make and keep in everything that you do. An effective brand separates the organization from its competitors. If a brand is strong and clear, the organization is healthy and competitive. If a brand is confusing or has no distinctive elements, the product or service is nothing more than just another commodity. If Rotary’s brand were succinct and inspiring, our membership would become more vibrant. Pride to be a Rotarian would become even more contagious. Visiting prospective members would feel the energy. They would want to be a part of it. They would want to join the club. They would stay.”

Because of demographics, financial resources, and the specific community, vocational, international or youth oriented services it provides each club is unique and needs to develop and recognize its own identity within the Rotary’s worldwide brand.

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Instead of making membership recruitment and retention the objective, …why not make it a point to identify and understand who we are and communicate this effectively. Once we recognize our unique club services and benefits we can then seek out men and women within our communities who share these same characteristics.

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Yes, there are undeniable costs to being a member of a Rotary Club: time, money, energy. What are the benefits one gets for paying these costs: networking, fellowship, personal and business growth and of course the biggest benefit of all: the opportunity to serve others both locally and around the world.

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Once again, I will quote RI Director John C. Smarge: “Recruits will not join, nor will they stay, unless benefits exceed costs. We can help the younger group discover how satisfying it is to replace Facebook with real-face time. We can watch as their expressions change when they experience the energy of a firm handshake and a friendly smile compared to an impersonal digital text or tweet.

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To change the path we have traveled for decades is by no means easy. It starts with our clubs taking a good hard look at all components of their organization — keeping what works and discarding what doesn’t. It might require doing away with outdated traditions or resurrecting a successful project from the past. Rotarians have always been resourceful. Today, we need to challenge each club to be innovative.”

No one knows this better than IT companies such as Apple, Research in Motion and Microsoft where innovation is an essential component of survival. So do our clubs need to become innovative if we are to remain competitive and relevant in the service organization market place.

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There are two types of people within our District and our clubs. There are those who are ready for change and for something different and those who fear change and the loss of what they perceive Rotary to be. Change is not always successful but we should not fear change because of what we might become.

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Past RI President Saboo said that "Change is essential to our evolution as an individual and as an institution. It is necessary for our survival. Ordinary leaders fight it; visionary leaders delight in it. Ordinary leaders imitate; visionary leaders innovate. Change is the factor that offers new opportunity, new horizons and new leads to progress."

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Change does not mean to throw away the history of our organization, the four way test, or any of the foundational elements that makes Rotary what Rotary is. What we need to look at are the peaces that the individual clubs have the power to change. We’re talking meeting times, meeting structure, the intention and location of our meetings, member involvement and committee formats, things of this nature, things that clubs have the ability to change within the Rotary constitution. If your club is not growing then what you’re doing is not working and you must change it because if your club is not growing …then it is slowly dying.

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Let’s take a look at some demographic numbers.

Traditionalist (those 65 years and older) & Baby boomers (aged 47 to 65) represents 70% of all Rotarians. Generation X (those in the 30 to 46 year old bracket) represents 28% of our membership while only 2% of Generation Y (millennials those below the age of 30) is in our clubs. This last number, Generation Y is understandably low being because a lot of these people are still in school …but this ladies and gentlemenis where we need to start recruiting them.

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We do that trough youth programs such as the Youth Exchange, RYLA, and Ambassadorial scholarship programs to name a few. And then we have Interact, Rotaract and the newly formed Earlyact programs. These are all means of getting our younger people getting to know Rotary, getting to know who we are and what we do and to get them interested in a volunteer life. Because then, by the time they reach the 30 – 46 years of age bracket, they’re ready to settle down and are prime for the picking.

Ah but you say, we can’t get them to join, they keep saying they’re too busy with family life their new career and so on. Well let’s get back to where I mentioned that we need to change. Our next generation of Rotarians ladies and gentlemen is the reason we need to change.

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Let’s look at some numbers again: 2% of Rotary members are under the age of 30 and more startlingly only 11% of our members are under 40 and 68% are over the age of 50. It’s not to say that we who are over 50 are old but when you do look at these figures, …are we an organization that would appeal to the younger group of prospective members.

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Katie Ischkin is a 27 year old Rotarian and former Rotaractor. She is very proud to be a product of Rotary programs and the reason she decided she wanted to form a new Rotary Club in Minnesota. I’m going to touch on a few points here that she made during her speech to the International Assembly in San Diego. There are three points that she addressed that I will also bring to your attention: first the importance of keeping the core but shifting the surface elements; second introducing a nontraditional and flexible club structure; determining expectations vs realities of the new generation.

As I mentioned before taking a new approach to Rotary does not mean changing the core pieces of our organization; the history, the founders, the Four-Way-Test, and more; these are the foundational elements, our Rotary structure issound and it isrelevant. What can and need to change are the surface elements and logistics – the pieces that the clubs have the power to shift or redesign. I’m talking about things like meeting times and locations, program structures, club member involvement, committee formats and so on.

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As an example on how things can be different I’ll talk a bit about how Katie Ischkin’s club operates. Her club is an evening Club but the first difference you’ll notice is that they do not have a meal. Because for many of their members the extra expense for the meals is just something they cannot afford. Because of the younger age group who are not yet quite yet settled in their business life, the club does have a high turnover rate but they are not afraid to bring in new members who might leave, they expect it. This generation is always on the look-out for “what’s next” and what is “cutting edge”. Her club is a pilot club for the use of Skype as a way for their members to attend meetings when they can’t be their physically. And finally …their club does not meet weekly. …They still meet four times a month but not once a week. Their meetings are geared to the younger generation’s need for instant gratification; and it tries to hit their members’ areas of interest for joining. They have a regular program-type meeting every second week, the third meeting is a happy hour/networking meeting that rotates locations around the city and the fourth meeting is a hands-on volunteering opportunity. These members may not be able to write large cheques to the Foundation, pay for a meal every week but they can and they want to give back by giving of their time and effort, however as their lives and careers move forward, they will be the established and dedicated Rotarians who will not only be able to, but be proud to financially support The Rotary Foundation and the programs it provides.

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The hardest thing for us within the traditional Rotary clubs to understand is the realities of the newgeneration and how important it is to comprehend and manage expectations vs realities. The new generation of Rotarians is always on the go and truly connected. There’s a lot of pressure on these young professionals to be involved in multiple endeavors while maintaining a strong work-life balance. A new approach to Rotary has to accept and understand that even though young professionals may be “on call” with their careers and juggling multiple responsibilities, it doesnot mean that they are not as dedicated and passionate about Rotary as the next member. They ARE our future – we must get them involved, we must guide and support them, we must make room for them within our Rotary clubs if we want the true impact and commitment of Rotary to continue.

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When trying to recruit younger members, take the time to outline what the expectations are …and whether they will align with the members you are trying to attract. Understandably, not every Rotary club can quickly shift to attract younger members; it takes time. List out what your club is capable of changing and take baby steps to incorporate these changes. For many clubs, all it takes is an open mind and to start thinking differently about the future and the club’s membership.

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During the membership break-out session scheduled for 11:25 we’re going to focus on identifying new and innovative ways to bring in new members. Sue Croft is the District Chair and your contact for membership this coming year and she’ll be running the break-out session and gathering all the good ideas that will be generated during the session. We hope to see you there a great numbers.

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Remember… Rotary IS our Future!

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Thank you for Promoting Membership in District 7010