Lt. Governor of Membership
First and foremost, I want to express to all the areas in our district affected by hurricane Harvey that our thoughts and prayers continue to be with you now and until full recovery is attained.
We are well into our 3rd month of the Rotary year. The membership number as of September 10, 2017 shows that we are at -2 members. Further analysis shows that we have the majority of the clubs at no growth due to clubs not yet having their induction of new members reflected for this year and some cleanup was done. With your help, I have no doubt that we will meet our Net 90 members by the end of the Rotary year. If all clubs grow by Net 2 members we will surpass this goal. In order to grow a Net 2 members in a club, you need to bring in at least 4 new members to cover for the natural attrition. My experience has been that you lose by natural attrition about 50% of what you bring in.
My job as Lt. Governor of Membership is to facilitate membership development to our clubs and to assimilate the latest ideas from Rotary International and our district.
A standing committee on membership was established by RI’s 2016 Council of Legislation (COL), in recognition that membership is a top priority of the organization, and polio eradication was also reaffirmed to be a goal of the highest order.
The 2016 Rotary International Council of Legislation granted clubs greater flexibility. This changes were needed because membership has been declining and average age of members is increasing in some parts of the world.
Did you know?
- Attendance: COL recognized that club health is not determined by attendance alone. Clubs may relax or tighten attendance requirements and termination policies for non-attendance. Rule of 85. Rotarians can be excused from attendance if the combined total of their years of membership in one or more clubs plus their age equals 85, with their years of membership totaling at least 20.
- Club Meetings: Council of Legislation overwhelmingly voted to eliminate limitations on how Rotary clubs conduct their meetings. Like it was mentioned above, they also recognized that club health is not determined by attendance alone.
Individual clubs should be able to:
- Determine the best day and time for their meetings.
- Change or cancel meetings, if the need arises.
- Count service projects or social events as meetings
- Choose whether to gather in person, meet online, alternate between online and in-person meetings, or even use both formats at the same time
Consider Satellite Clubs as a form of growth & expansion:
- What is a Satellite Club?
- Satellite clubs provide a new option for creating Rotary clubs. A satellite club functions as a short-term, transitional step on the way to becoming a full, independent Rotary club. The Satellite initiative grew out of a need to accommodate quality individuals in the community who had an interest, however, they could not join a traditional Rotary Club due to financial, scheduling or other constrains. It is a way to attract a different demographic to Rotary or sub-group of individuals.
- Who in your community would benefit from a satellite?
- Possible target areas or populations for satellites:
-Young Professionals (e.g. 25-40 years old)
-Workplace – this may include any company or organization
-Small struggling Rotary Club (e.g. a longtime struggling Rotary Club closed and became part of a larger, vibrant Rotary Club and became that Club’s Satellite)
-Different time of day
-Individuals living in a senior or retirement community
- Is there a minimum number of members for the sponsor club?
New satellite clubs must have at least eight members at the time they form.
Please let the District Governor and/or the Lt. Governor of Membership know if you are interested in starting a satellite club.
Reminders:
- Use the Zone 21b-27 11 year history membership charts. This will allow you to view your club’s 11 year history and help set a realistic goal. Go to www.rotary2127.com/charts.
- Use the Ignite Program to implement Rotary Membership Development’s best practices. Last year we had 23% of our clubs using Ignite and over 90% that used it had positive growth in their clubs. Our goal is to double the clubs that are using Ignite to 46%
- Ignite Reports are due on October 10th. Send to lrcavazos@aol.com
- In Rotary around the world we are great at bringing members into our clubs but a great majority leave. There is a big revolving door. Develop a Retention Program in you clubs.
- If you have not done so, please give me contact information for your club’s Membership Chair.
- Communication is King! I will continue to communicate via district mass email system and District’s newsletter. You can reach me directly at lrcavazos@aol.com or call me at my cell 956-592-2145.