As presented by incoming Membership & Social Networking Director Kero O'Shea to the Rotary District 9465 Southwest Assembly Membership & PR breakout session on 18 May 2014

1. Retaining and building the network
As presented at Southwest Assembly, Collie, on 18
May 2014

2.  I’m Kero
 President of E-WA Rotary
 Membership Director & Social Media Adviser
for District 9465
 I’m a community developer
 I believe in the future of the Rotary experience

3.  Retention is absolute top membership priority
 Rotary has lost & gained a million members in
10 years
 June 30th is the high risk date
 Who is at risk in your club?
 DG Erwin has declared May & June 2014 as
Rotary Retention Months
 Our biggest challenge now is retaining the ones
we’ll lose on June 30th THIS year. (i.e. less than 2
months from now)

4. We need to build club communities, not just
recruit members:
 Consider who your key stakeholders are
 How can you develop the relationship?
 Use your social media and bulletin to
communicate with your community
 Make the bulk of your communications
relevant to them

5. We’ve developed an unfortunate sensitivity
relative to age.
 Young recruits are great, but…
 Don’t disregard older recruits
 There are lots of excellent potential Rotarians
out there in their 60s, 70s and older
 Recruit them!

6.  Opportunities to serve and open up new
projects and audiences for your club
 Encourage new members to nominate a project
they’re passionate about for club support (and
funding)
 Give your new member the lead on their
project and support them

7.  Invest your $$$$$ in projects where people
interact with Rotarians and see the Rotary
brand
 Avoid becoming a “wholesaler” of funds to
other charities.

8.  Associate memberships
 Family connections & access
 Friends of Rotary
 Satellite clubs
 Alternate Rotary experiences
 Club visioning
 Membership surveys

9.  Associate members – try before you buy
 Offer your community the opportunity to try
life with your club, free
 For general use, restrict the associate option to
12 months – there has to be a decision point

10.  Two for the price of one: how do you cater for
partners?
 Consider offering a free partner/family
associate membership to extend your club
community
 The aim is to encourage partners and family to
participate
 Having a defined associate option for partners
improves participation

11.  Friends of Rotary – your community
 Keep them informed of what you’re doing
 Engage with your stakeholders
 Who are your most important stakeholders?

12.  Building and making better use of the D9465
media network (Facebook, Twitter, bulletins)
 Hold events for your club friends and
community
 Using enhanced club bulletins to connect with
extended club communities and stakeholders

13.  Starting a new collaborative Facebook page
 Idea is to share membership successes, ideas
and challenges
 All interested membership directors to get
content creator rights on the new page

14.  E-WA Rotary (eclub) is in operation
 New under-40s club is a possibility
 Cockburn Central is favoured as a geographical
club location
 Keeping networks together – creating new
Rotary clubs from existing Rotaractor networks
is a possibility
 Satellite club option is available

15.  Extension is a lost art in our district
 16 years since our last traditional club
extension
 Lots of potential locations for new clubs
 Cockburn Central is currently favoured as a
geographical location for a new club
 We need sponsor clubs to make things happen

16.  The satellite club option is available
 Create or retain small geographic or common
interest groups
 Build on the club within a club option

17.  E-WA Rotary is in operation
 Our first e-club in WA
 It’s a REAL club – same financial obligations &
requirement for service/interaction hours
 Online interaction with optional monthly get-
together
 Utilising a satellite club structure with
Southern Districts Rotary until charter

18. If we treat members as customers, we improve our
chance of retention. Basic principles:
 Your members should be your customers. Are
they?
 Members don’t belong to clubs – clubs belong
to members
 Providing our customers with opportunities:
finding a best fit for members in Rotary

19.  Questions?