Rotary Membership Minute

August 2008
The Membership Minute – Vol. 5, Ed. 2
August is Membership and Extension Month
Membership and Extension Month falls early in the Rotary year – just as your club begins to settle into working toward your 2008-09 membership goals. This issue of The Membership Minute is dedicated to informing clubs about new RI membership publications and resources to enhance your membership development efforts, this month and throughout the coming year.
New publications for the club membership committee Newly revised in 2007-08, the Membership Development Resource Guide (417) and New Member Orientation: A How-to Guide for Clubs (414) are essential resources for every club membership committee. Both publications provide suggestions to enhance membership recruitment and retention strategies at the club level. These publications are available as free downloads from the RI Web site and can be purchased at shop.rotary.org. Leadership Development: Your Guide to Starting a Program (250) is a brand new, gratis publication that provides suggestions for starting a leadership development program
to help develop the personal leadership skills of club members, enhance their professional lives, and nurture future leaders. Having such a program serves as a selling point for Rotary membership to younger members.

Membership Development Resource Guide

• Find new content on membership recruitment, retention, and sponsoring clubs, derived from the
• best practices of Rotary clubs and Rotary International survey research
• Complete end-of-chapter checklists to guide your club membership committee through the
• process of creating an action plan for membership development
• Discover additional resources for developing a stronger membership
• Download the online supplements Club Assessment Tools and Regional Membership

Supplements (coming soon to the RI Web site)

New Member Orientation: A How-to Guide for Clubs

• Contains session outlines, handouts, and action steps for creating prospective and new member
• information programs
• Includes sample induction ceremonies and advice on mentoring new members
• Leadership Development: Your Guide to Starting a Program
• Find practical advice on speaking points, sample discussion questions, and activities for ten
• suggested topics

Resources for new members
Check out Welcome to Rotary, a short new video segment, viewable now on the RI Web site. Less than four minutes long, and offering a broad overview of Rotary and the four Avenues of Service, this video provides an excellent introduction to Rotary club membership for new or prospective members. Find the video by going to www.rotary.org and clicking on Members, New Members, Getting Involved. Use this video during the opening segment of your next prospective member information program.
The new Membership Video Set (427) includes two DVDs: one for new members and one for prospective members. Each DVD features a compilation of Rotary videos, including Welcome to Rotary, various Humanity in Motion public service announcements, and segments from RVM: The Rotarian Video Magazine. Available through shop.rotary.org for US$10. Purchase at least one set for your club resource library.
The contents of the New Member Information Kit (426) and the Prospective Member Information Kit (423) have been updated in 2008. These prepackaged folders contain materials relevant to new and prospective members, and are available through shop.rotary.org. Add your own club and district profiles and informational brochures to give prospective and new members a complete informational resource regarding Rotary membership.
Resources for existing club members: focus on expanding membership
Inviting prospective members to attend a club meeting has never been easier than it is with the new Start with Rotary postcards (614) and wallet cards (613). These colorful cards supply space for Rotarians to fill in their club meeting information, inviting prospective members to attend as guests. Consider distributing these cards to club members when your club discusses its 2008-09 membership goals. Remember to use RI President Dong Kurn Lee’s new member sponsor pin to recognize those who sponsor new members in 2008-09. Pins are available for purchase through licensed suppliers of Rotary merchandise.
Don’t forget these favorites:
What’s Rotary? These wallet-size cards answer frequently asked questions about the organization and scope of Rotary, and are popular as a handout to non-Rotarians.
Rotary Basics (595) is an eight-page, full-color special member education section that appears annually in the August Rotarian magazine. It is very popular as a handout to prospective members. Purchase a supply to hand out to visitors.
How to Propose a New Member (254) Remind club members of their responsibility to propose new
members by distributing this brochure at a club meeting. Includes the membership proposal form.
______________________________________________________________________________
Editor: Jennifer Frisbie, Senior Coordinator
Membership Development Division
Rotary International
www.rotary.org
membershipminute@rotary.org