Governor’s Message for August 2010
Bring in New Members by Promoting Your Club!
For many years Rotary International has designated August as Membership and Club Extension Month. Shouldn’t every month be focused on membership? Each club in our District has set a goal to retain all the current members and gain anywhere from 1 to 20 new members. Before the beginning of this Rotary year, the presidents in District 5320 set a net goal of 100 NEW MEMBERS.
John Bouyer, Membership Chair, Don Clinebell, Membership Extension Chair, 12 Membership Area Coordinators and Kim DeBroux, Public Relations Chair are direct membership resources for you and your club to call upon. They are aware that public awareness of Rotary and each club’s public image have a direct effect on membership growth. It is important that membership and public relations committees work together to coordinate their activities and goals. When your club has a prominent, public presence in your community, inviting prospective members to become Rotarians becomes a much easier task to accomplish.
Rotary International provides a variety of materials to assist your club, available on the Rotary.org website and on our District site, Rotary5320.org. Does your club have a modern, sophisticated club website that is a source of pride for the existing members? When prospective members click onto your website will they want to take the time to visit your club and check out becoming a new member?
International President Ray Klinginsmith suggests that each club set their new membership goal and create a plan to accomplish the goal. He has seen the “5 to 1 plan” work well for clubs. Teams of 5 members focus on one new quality member to bring into the club. A little club competition always adds to the fun!
I feel confident the Rotarians in 5320 will “Generate” the 100 net members by the end of this Rotary year. With more members Rotary can do more good in the world as we are “Building Communities –Bridging Continents”!
