Rotary District 5060 Membership Survey
June 2010
Summary of responses
Here is the summary of the District membership survey and I thank all the participating clubs for their input! There is a GOLD mine of information in
the summary; absolutely a Gold mine:-)
Pam and I discussed what the next step would be to help the different
clubs reach there membership goals. We are convinced that any club
that sets a plan and puts that plan into action will reach there goal.
This is what we came up with:
*Email this gold mine to all the membership chairs asking them to
review the summary looking for the nuggets that can help your club.
*Suggest setting a club meeting aside between now and Sept.31st/10 to
brain storm with your club the different ideas in the survey summary.
IE:
if retention is an identified challenge in your club; brain storm that
part; make a plan, put that plan into action, review the results say
in Jan/11
*I am willing to brain storm with you through the telephone, email,
internet webinar and I will come to your club if possible. I am very
sincere in this offer as membership is a passion of mine. There are
plenty of people in our communities that want to help their community.
Our job is to make Rotary there best option.
Number of Clubs contacted = 30
Number of responses received by July 2/10 = 19
1.What is your target for membership in 2010? (+1, +2 etc.) Clubs reported a net gain of : one club – zero; 5 clubs of 1; three clubs of 2; four clubs of 3; one club of 5. Several clubs didn’t answer this question.
2.How will you go about meeting this target?
-Each member brings a possible member ( a friend or business associate)
-Keep the membership talking about Rotary – contagious enthusiasm!
-Through community awareness and local projects – creates a desire to join Rotary
-Specific campaign by membership committee; membership drive with new location, new time, better food
-Planned community information sessions
-Have new member proposal forms on tables at each meeting
-Personal contacts
3.How do you orient/educate/train new members?
Many Clubs have a mentorship program, firesides with current and new members and packages of information for new members.
Mentorship program – assign a mentor; two Club members act as mentors for everyone; match with a mentor who spends the first month with new member; one club wants to develop a mentorship list of responsibilities; select a Rotary “buddy” responsible for mentoring.
Firesides – with each new member; within a month of joining; with new and current members (mentioned by 5 Clubs).
Information packages – Clubs use typical handouts; Rotary Basics; membership packages; one Club to develop this; orientation documents.
Meeting one-on-one with new members to discuss costs and expectations.
Give new member a task or encourage to join a committee or project asap that lines up with their interests and skills.
One Club wants to explore the available computer-based training.
Provide NM specific instructions on how to access Club Runner and RI.
Membership moments and Rotary Minutes and Club updates at each meeting ( to increase understanding of Rotary).
Business meetings informative for new members.
Develop handouts on the process of recruiting new members.
A whole meeting devoted to membership
A specific monthly meeting designated for potential new members ie. second meeting of month.
Foster a welcoming attitude and motivate members to foster within each new member the feeling that they are valued.
Develop a handout for new members stetting out Club’s expectations.
Encourage new members to attend District Assemblies and to assume leadership roles at Club and District level.
4.What actions do you take to retain Club members?
Up to leadership, Executive and Club as a whole
Firesides mentioned by several Clubs
Handouts that set out Club’s expectations
Improved planning for weekly meetings
Have every member on an active committee
Match up new member with committee or project of interest to them
Well run meetings
Greeters at the door
Mentor to assist in getting new members involved with committees
Phone calls when members are absent
Good communication
Make it FUN!
Speakers
One Club has a Club Plant that is passed along to different members every week or two
Recognizing members who bring a potential new member by giving them a Tim’s card ($5)
Host Club socials with spouses invited (invitation sent); “Guess who’s coming to dinner?”
Rotary International dvd shown once a month instead of having a guest speaker to provide a big picture look at Rotary
Good projects
Recognize birthdays and anniversaries
5.What actions in recruitment, orientation, retention have been particularly successful? Please describe.
Mentorship
Firesides
Identifying new members interests and getting them ona committee as soon aspossible; find out why they joined Rotary and match to this (committee or project)
Not overloading new members; involve new members to the degree they feel comfortable
Hands-on projects
Fellowship
Encourage members to attend Board meetings so they get they understand more about Club
Getting existing members actively recruiting
Personal contacts
Coffee sessions to avoid early drop out and clarify expectations
“This is Rotary” DVD to new members
Club Runner is great for communication and for membership data
Keep people informed (principle of letting them decide what to read or not)
Having the Club know how to propose a new member and understanding the process avoids hard feelings
Booths at local Trade Shows and word-of-mouth
New Club?
Website has good information
Interview meeting with potential members so they know what’s expected of them, provide history of the Club and it’s projects, find out their interests
To ensure they feel welcome and that their contribution is important
6.What do you see as barriers or challenges when recruiting members?
Time required; busy schedules, family and job commitments
Cost is prohibitive
Inclusion – members often sit in the same groups every week and it’s hard for new members to be/feel included
Lack of knowledge of what Rotary is about
Being able to communicate what Rotary is about to new members
New members need to see how they can be involved and contribute with results
Lack of projects to excite them
“old boys club”
Small communities with small population; time off for meetings is challenging (same people involved in many organizations = multiple commitments)
Want members to join for the right reasons not just because they are flattered to be asked; quality vs quantity
One Club said “no problems or challenges”
7.What do you see as challenges or barriers to orienting/training new members?
One Club said “no problems or challenges”; no barriers or challenges, just opportunities
Time commitment is biggest challenge (4 Clubs)eg. finding a convenient time to host a fireside for new members
Need a training component at every meeting
Keeping new members’ interests high
How much involvement they want to take on ; observing tired members at weekly meetings
Finding folks with time, energy and resources in a small community
It falls between committees, there is no one committee doing this
Lack of free Rotary orientation material; must be bought from shop.org - takes time, is a hassle and costs
Knowing why a member leaves will be helpful for retention
Ensure we respect members’ time and interests
Idea - Did a pdf of an article from Rotarian and sent it to new Rotarians who made time to read it, as it wasn’t he whole magazine
8.What about for retaining members?
No specific retention program
Keep members involved in areas that interest them
Keeping interest high in new members; making sure members are working in areas of interest
Life is busy; people are busy
Not engaging new members soon enough in something that interests them
Engaging new members too much too soon eg. in midst of major fund raiser
Avoid burn out of members
Not enough outreach
While Club Runner is useful we find that members are not engaged in updating their personal information so we have to duplicate that effort eg. send out hardcopies of invoices and have them filled out and information entered by hand. Often expect member with this expertise to volunteer their time; Club doesn’t want to pay for professional services.
Getting to know the members
Competing needs eg. running their business
Need to do exit interviews, either by email or in person (confidentiality may be an issue)
Make sure there are interesting local projects so people get involved
9.Does your Club have a membership committee?
13 Clubs responded yes but we’r e unsure if it is a committee or a single Rotarian. One Club responded NO and one was uncertain. One Club indicated thy had a Chair but was dealt with by the Club as a whole.
10.What would you like to change about membership?
Five Clubs said “nothing at this time”; no issues
Improve membership numbers, diversity, retention and participation
Increase number of active members
Our member ship strategy works for our Club
Increase focus on getting members involved quickly
A smoother process
More female members
Don’t know
More free literature and promotional material
Have membership take ownership of the Club
Have an exit interview
11.What resources or support are you aware of regarding membership?
Knowledge of Past Presidents and have a strong Committee Chair
Rotary .org has resources galore
District training
Rotary has more than enough resources available, it’s a matter of accessing it
Awareof the stuff online but as have no problems haven’t accessed it
Aware of but have not used
Intends to look into what’s available
Used the Membership Committee handbook which is excellent
RI website, information received as President
Aware of Club Runner and RI website (useful)
Use resources that are easy to access
Club Runner
Biggest source is the more experienced members; getting to know the people is most important
Not much time, would appreciate help (check the Club)
RI and District 5060
Committee manual and Rotary website
-Contact Information
Marie Kolenosky
250-804-2854
Pam Doyle
250) 837-7477