At one time I was the secretary of my club. It was a position for which I was ill suited. My minutes reflected only those who attended the board meetings and those who didn’t. I took the motion, the second and the vote. That was pretty much it.
The only position I did not hold in my club was treasurer. Heaven forbid. I was less cut out for that position than secretary. Have you noticed that treasurers seem to hold their position for at least five/ten years. Some treasurers have been the treasurer longer than the club has been in existence. Memo to club treasurers: start finding your successor now.
Let’s get back to the secretary position. One of the secretary’s duties is to fill out the semi annual report (SAR) to Rotary International. The purpose of the SAR report is to establish the number of members in the club. The RI and District dues are based on the number of members in the club.
Many clubs take the opportunity to clean up their rolls. Folks who have not attended a meeting in years are come off the roll. Those who have passed and the club has kept them on forever paying RI and District dues are now off. Twice a year we go through this exercise to get a more accurate picture of what our membership looks like. We know we are going to lose members to death, job relocation, retirement relocation and a dozen other reasons. Therefore, we must find ways and means to keep our clubs healthy in a membership way.
Bringing in new members is so important and vital to sustaining our clubs. New members bring a fresh perspective to what we are doing. They have the advantage of being like a consultant to shake things up so we don’t keep doing the same old, same old. New members infuse our clubs with an energy we haven’t experienced in a while. And, new members allow us to have more hands on board to do more good in the world. Who isn’t in favor of that?
August is Membership Month in the Rotary world. As the new Rotary year is one month old, we look around our clubs and ask: “What can we do to bring in more members?” I’m glad you asked. We look to our membership chair, right? Maybe. We look to our membership committee. Maybe. But, this begs the question: “Who is on our membership committee?” Answer: “We all are.”
This month, we are having our District-wide Membership Seminar - are you ready for this? It will be held by Zoom on Saturday, August 15, 2020 from 9 am to 10:30 am. We have a great program scheduled to help clubs of all sizes (small, medium and large) attract new members. All we need is four people from each club, such as the president, president elect, membership chair and perhaps, one at large member.
The following topics will be covered which is critical to how we go about our work bringing in new members: Why Rotary; Why Now? Today’s Rotary Club - What Does It Look Like? What Should It Look like?
We will provide resources and tools to help each club grow. Tools such as the Learning Center, membership materials, best practices, social media and managing virtual meetings. Did I mention that the seminar is only 1 ½ hours long? Did I mention that the seminar is free? The answer is YES to both questions.
So, please join me on Saturday, August 15, 2020 at 9 am as we grow Rotary together. Here is the link for attending the seminar:
Join the zoom meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88929058174?pwd=ak9wN1ZwYXdmTFRIYUZMZ3JEUU9nZz09
Meeting ID: 889 2905 8174
Passcode: 726073
Meeting ID: 889 2905 8174
Passcode: 726073