Future of Rotary – Young Professionals
While analyzing why the membership in Rotary has declined in many countries, one particular reason comes to my mind. The organisation still believes that membership is by invitation. Though this practice has been considerably watered down, it is still a barrier because elderly Rotary members do not invite youngsters below the age of 30 that easily to join their club.
Youngsters, especially professionals, who are battling it out for growth in their chosen career should have the necessary motivation to join Rotary and this can be provided only by those they consider their equals in thought.
Today, when the growth of Rotary is dependent more on young professionals, the membership development plan, must be like a modern human resources policy that can allow the youngsters to work and also serve the community in ways that are most suited for a locality.
Young people have to see themselves as part a club which can nurture their extra hours after work. We must speak to them without difficulty or barrier caused by our own impression that we are special.
There is no greatness about a person who has volunteered to join a service organisation. In fact, only those who are really very humble can claim to be service minded.
Once there is a sense of inclusion, awareness about the other person comes naturally. Awareness is life and life is awareness. There is no other way. It is only because of exclusion of certain people in our mind that we have excluded them from Rotary.
How to attract young minds to Rotary? Much has been said and debated for over 30 years and the results have been only marginal. Today’s young people, especially those who are working 16 to 18 hours a day in hi-tech areas, are becoming more exclusive characters and they find it difficult to mingle freely with others in the society.
When we say we need young professionals we assume that they are earning members who probably have a family of their own. Probably this will constitute about 10 percent of the youngsters in the age group of 25 to 35 and unless Rotary has something extraordinary for them, the idea of joining may not sink in. We are assuming that they can afford the costs involved and hence probably we are narrowing it down by another 2 percent.
Targeting such professionals who in their initial years of working do not mind hopping from one job to another and from one city or country to another, require a very high level of information to be fed to them about what they can hope to achieve by joining Rotary. To me the one reason that can appeal to such youngsters will be the need to make their community more literate or free from hunger and disease.
Now, in many advanced countries, the Government takes care of education and health care and there may be little or no role for these youngsters to play and hence one appeal may not attract all everywhere.
So what is the one appealing factor that can make such young professionals who can afford the costs involved with Rotary to join the movement? Among a few reasons such as peace in the world, I think that the prospect of developing as a leader of a group of people and guiding them for something more than what they can be, may be an appealing point.
Rotary is supposed to impart the culture of inclusiveness. This is not a new philosophy. It is about falling back to a way of life, ordinary but magnificent. This is the way to safeguard the future of Rotary and this can be done by attracting young professionals who are not bothered about the stifling procedures but about delivering measurable results for the community as leaders.
ASHOK MAHAJAN