New Thinking New Possibilities
I welcome the learned members of this most important committee of RI. A very hearty welcome to RI President-elect Ron Burton who has shown a keen interest to be with us during the deliberations. It shows how seriously he has taken this topic to his heart and his desire to make Rotary stronger and bigger.
Our welcome goes to the Advisor, PRIVP Monty Audenart, Liaison Director Allan Jagger and Liaison Trustee Past President John Kenny. Their presence will certainly make the functioning of the Committee smooth and productive. RI General Secretary John Hewko and the staff of RI have always supported us with their inputs. I welcome them to this meeting and look forward to their valuable contributions during the course of our discussions.
President Sakuji Tanaka has vested enormous responsibility on us. Our views will form the basis of the decisions RI Board may take to implement a robust strategy for membership development and retention.
During the year 2001 the worldwide membership was 1.18 million. In 2002 it increased to 1.24 million and till today the figure of 1.2 million has been hanging over our heads.
Asia registered an increase from 30th June 2009 to 30th June 2010 of over 1.7 percent. During the same period membership in Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, North America and RIBI decreased. The trend was most disturbing in North America which showed that the membership dropped by 2.25 percent followed by Australia and New Zealand with 1.93 percent.
Europe and Africa showed an increase, though not very significant. It was just 0.04 percent.
During this period we have been promoting the slogan ‘Each One Reach One’ with varying degree of success. Probably the time has come to rethink on what we should be saying. If we continue to do the same thing, then the results will be the same. An earlier report from RI suggested that the sub- regions in these areas are impacted by different economic situations and cultures.
The reasons for the 12 percent decline in RIBI from 2006 to 2011 read with the 11 percent drop in Japan during the same period may be an indicator on what our action plan needs to be. The increase of 27 percent in India and 20 percent in Korea during the same period may be commendable but attrition rate in these areas are also worrisome.
Difficulty in retaining new and existing members seems to be a worldwide phenomenon. Issues over which the club has a control needs to be scrutinized carefully. Do the clubs have the proper communication strategy? Do they have qualified Rotarians who can be mentors?
Is the District Leadership playing a role in making or breaking clubs? Is RI’s communication facility existing as it does – not effective? Can a member in a club get all the information he wants from RI website?
Growth has been largely coming from new clubs being formed. However, an analysis of the figures provided from 2006 till 2011 shows that the number of clubs chartered were between the 600 and 850 figures. During 2008-09 when 845 new clubs were chartered 20,000 members were added as charter members. In 2010-11 it dropped to 636 new clubs.
The question is why was there a drop? Is the role of the district governor an important factor in accepting a recommendation for a new club in a locality?
The question of clubs getting terminated within five years of their existence needs to be studied in depth. Did the Governor form the club on very sound basis to justify the monetary incentive he receives for every club that is formed? Should this system be continued or should the compensation be given after three years if the club is seen to be viable?
The need to bring in younger members has also been stressed. Probably we need to define our target group more specifically. It would seem that the potential age group from which new members need to be attracted would be between 30 to 45 years.
Universally, we can assume with a fair degree of accuracy, that during this period a person is normally settled in a job, business or profession, married and has started thinking on how useful he or she can be to the society they live in.
Our public image building effort needs to be co-ordinated around this group, of course with a different message to people in different continents. At the district level, is the urgency to increase membership being felt? There is no doubt that we have to get bigger to do larger projects and attract more contributions. But are the membership development seminars effective? Who attends these meetings and what comes out of this? Talking about new thinking and new possibilities, I urge the honorable members to think on how we can Reverse the Trend and Bring a Friend into Rotary. The need to reverse the trend emphasises the task before us to stop or contain attrition. Bringing a friend highlights the need to introduce people who will be Rotarians forever.
When we say friend it denotes that he or she is as devoted to the concept of service like the proposer and is not just an acquaintance. The word friend also denotes that he or she is dependable like the proposer.
The target of three percent growth has to be goal in every club president’s mind. How can we make that happen? Of course, rapid dissemination of information of our action plan has to be done.
If the strategy is to carpet-bomb every district with the need to achieve the target, it has to take place. Analyzing the role of Rotary Coordinators and a performance appraisal of the existing people may be of help. Should we print the Rotary Basics and the ABCs of Rotary in English and as many local languages and distribute it free? Can we use the resources of the regional magazines and consider compensating them?
I am sure that you will be coming up with newer ideas. Let us hear it and put together a resolution that can become a blueprint for membership development.