World over, Rotary clubs are trying to find ways to attract members of the public to join Rotary and to retain the membership and make it grow.
It is a fact that while Rotarians everywhere, as in our District, preach, talk, and write on how to go about membership development, many Rotarians seem to ignore or brush aside the issues relating to retention of members.
Rotary movement is a congregation of equals, joined in fellowship and friendship to serve society. Recognizing the fundamental nature of Rotary is important.
That it is a gathering of individuals who are fundamentally equal in all respects. They are leaders in their chosen professions, adults with a desire to contribute to the society in any manner possible.
We can talk for hours and hours about the need for membership development and growth and the various issues and methods to attract individuals to come to Rotary.
But all these will fail, if an individual who comes to a club is not made to stay on for long and convert the involvement into a long term commitment to be part of Rotary family.
It is my sincere thought that membership retention is fundamental to growth in membership. What is the point in trying to gather new members if the existing members keep leaving. It is like collecting water with a sieve.
When people feel to be part of a club, a natural tendency would arise to bring in new members. Member get a member is practical path, if the member who is to get another member is happy about being a member of the club. If that person is not happy, it is a matter of time that that person will leave and the chance of new members being recommended by that person also vanishes.
What makes a person to feel happy to be a member of Rotary Club?
In my opinion, it is ,
- Honesty among all the members
- Respect towards all members by each other.
- Acknowledging the sincerity of members, and where needed to guide new members with humility and respect.
- Agreeing to disagree in an agreeable manner.
- Acceptance of the leadership of the club and decision of the majority, in spite of individual preferences and likes and dislikes.
Any group of peers will have differing views and thoughts. It is but natural to disagree, but it is important that the disagreement is aired and discussed over in an agreeable manner.
Agreeable manner would mean a manner in which ego, harsh words, self centeredness are set aside and humility, care and sincerity are used.
You can try any amount of methods to bring in new members; but if the members, even a small minority, do not exhibit humility and sincerity, it is a definite recipe for membership attrition. When a club keeps on losing members there is no point in talking about membership development without fixing the cause of attrition.
What is needed is not mere quantity but quality and the leadership of right quality is the touchstone on which good membership growth rests.
In the Montreal Rotary International Convention in June 2010, a workshop was conducted on this subject and a long list of suggestions towards members’ retention came up from the participants. The list of suggestions can be viewed at the following internet link. [http://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/memb_retention_ideas_closing_back_door_workshop_en.pdf]
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