Membership Club Extension

1
MembershipClub Extension
For District Leadership October 24, 2009 Rick
Benson, PDG D-7980, CT

2

All Rotarians share the responsibility of
ensuring membership growth and development
through three key components Recruiting new
members Retaining existing members Organizing
new Rotary clubs As Club Leaders you will play a
critical role in your communities And in growing
Rotary
3
And as of June 30, 2009, Zones 22 -34 (USA and
Canada ) had only 385,683 members, a loss of
48,289 Rotarians
Lets look at the sad facts in North America

4

This membership loss in North America threatens
our ability to meet humanitarian needs the gap
is growing in our own communities

Humanitarian Needs
The GAP

Membership
5

The Future of Rotary is truly in your hands
Humanitarian Needs
The GAP

Membership
Rotary is at a cross roads
6
Rotary International Zone Membership Conference


7

• Extension Goals
• Identify communities that are not served by a
  Rotary club
• Identify communities where another club could
  prosper without hurting the existing club
• We must not ignore those in our communities who
  want to serve, but who can not or choose not to
  attend existing clubs in the area
• More Rotarians More service

8
Why should we organize new Rotary clubs?

• Meeting facilities may not be able to
  accommodate a larger group
• Too many Rotary clubs have found it impossible to
  continue increasing their membership as they have
  aged
• The meeting time may be inconvenient for large
  numbers of potential members
• Prospective members feel precluded from joining
  some clubs because of their gender, age or cost
• More Rotarians mean more resources to help the
  community

9
Why should we organize new Rotary Clubs?

• To provide an opportunity for more people to
  participate in Rotary by offering more options
  for membership in your community
• Different time of day
• Different day of the week
• Different location
• Offer different club size
• Offer different club culture
• Offer different types of meeting conditions

10
Why should we organize new Rotary Clubs?

• To attract, accommodate and retain ethnic or
  minority members that make up part of the
  community
• To hold a meeting in a language other than the
  dominate language in the community
• To make it easier to form lasting partnerships
  that can sustain projects to serve minority or
  ethnic communities in need

11
Your District Successes
Which Communities in your Districts Have the
most Rotarians? Why?
12
Our 7980 Successes
Westport 2 successful clubs 150 Rotarians
26,000 population Norwich 2 successful clubs
135 Rotarians 36,000 population Milford 2
successful clubs 165 Rotarians 55,000
population New London Largest club in district
(114) 26,000 population 2 meeting
times Lunch Sunrise different days Two new
Provisional clubs both young members / cocktail
clubs
13
Your District OpportunitiesPut Your Extension
Committeeto work
Communities where there are no Clubs
Communities with Underserved Minorities
Korean, Chinese, Latino, Spanish, Black,
Communities where more than 1 club is a
possibility Separate joint clubs 1 per
community large corporate parks Few other
service clubs, but a culture of service Do a
demographic study- Rotarian Community Coverage
Analysis
14
The keys to organizing a new Rotary Club

• More Clubs are not a threat to existing clubs
• Requires a dedicated District Special
  Representative, see 808 New Clubs
• Needs a supporting Sponsoring Rotary Club
• Must Recruit quality individuals who want to
  join Rotary for the right reasons
• Must identify and attract several spark plugs
  for club leadership
• Must educate the club members on Rotary
• Must involve members in club leadership (the club
  leadership plan) and worthwhile projects

15
Now You Have a Listof Prospective Communities
You are the Key to Extension! And your Districts
Growth How do you physically start a new club?