Speeches :
THE PRESIDENTIAL CONFERENCE ON MEMBERSHIP – CHENNAI -11 DECEMBER, 2007
A Russian, American businessman, a Saudi Millionaire and a Rotarian were traveling on a train across Europe. The Russian took out a bottle of Vodka, poured each of his companions a drink and threw the half-full bottle out of the window. “Why did you do that? ” asked the American businessman.
“Vodka is plentiful in Russia. We have more of it than we can ever use”
A little later. The
Saudi offered cigarettes to the companions, lighted these with his lighter and
threw away the lighter. “We have plenty of oil, in my country. In fact, we have
more than we can ever use” 
The American businessman sat silently for a while and then got up, grabbled the Rotarian and threw him out of the window.
The declining graph of Membership is a matter of great concern of Rotary. On one hand, we have many challenges to meet, many new challenges to conquer and many major service activities to address. On the other hand, we have to face declining membership.
In spite of hundreds of new Clubs chartered every year, the total membership is static or even declining.
Many “carrots” for membership growth have been dangled before the Rotarians – recognition, awards, appreciation and others – but the outcome has been very disappointing. The reason seems to be that we are not choosing the right kind of members. We do not give adequate and forceful information about Rotary, its objectives. We only convey our desire to enlist and even stress on fellowship.
No “good” Rotarian will join Rotary for fun and fellowship. We must offer challenging tasks equal to the capabilities of new Rotarians. New Rotarians are leaders in their field of vocation and can easily get fellowship and fun from other “Clubs”. Rotary Club is a different type of Club. It expects returns – returns in the form of service, sacrifice and commitment. If these facets are stressed and re-stressed BEFORE a new Rotarian is admitted, we will have a better record.
Lack of Rotary information is one of the major reasons for membership loss. Before a new member is inducted, he or she gets hardly any information. Many of the Clubs have no plans to gather the new members with their families and tell them what they ought to know about Rotary. A new comer has hardly any idea of what Rotary is and what are its objectives. They are also ignorant about the service activities – locally and globally – and they have no idea about what the club is doing in the area of Service. An ignorant mind will have many false notions and unless these are attended to, the result will be negative.
A newcomer must not only be told about the club he or she is joining and the strength of the Club but also about the district, its thrust areas and its salient service projects.
A new comer must also be exposed to the “culture” of the Club by inviting the proposed member to the regular weekly meetings for a month or so in order to expose the prospect member to the existing Rotarians and the families and also expose the existing members to the incumbents.
An inter personal dialogue can help the Club choose a right member and help the new member recognize the milieu in which work will have to be done.
Continued Rotary information after induction is also very vital. Rotary’s face is changing and ALL Rotarians in general and the new Rotarians in particular should know what is happening and what is expected out of them.
A mere two to three minutes of Rotary information at the beginning of every Club meeting would not be sufficient – though very useful. Special meetings – Fireside meetings - must be conducted at least twice a year – to expose these new Rotarians to Rotary’s objectives. It is at these meetings that new members AND their families should ask questions and satisfy their minds and remove any doubts.
Such Fireside meetings are a MUST for every Club because many of the new Rotarians may not be attending every Club meeting and the information given at a regular meeting would be thus, unavailable.
Again, there are questions, a new Rotarian is reluctant to put before Club’s leadership and the best way to address this problem is to give them plenty of time to ask and thus get satisfied.
New Rotarians exposed to this type of treatment will always be happy and contended and if we add to their sentiments the label of “being wanted” by entrusting them with service acts – the planning, the implementation and the result – and if we appreciate them openly for their contribution, it is certain that these Rotarians will never leave Rotary or be a negative P.R. source for Rotary. Let us give adequate vital and stimulating Rotary Information to all the new Rotarians frequently enough to retain them not only as Rotarians but “ Active” Rotarians.
Let Rotary evolve a mega plan on Membership Retention and Administration. If a standardized blue print is distributed to ALL Clubs, the problem of Retention can be solved. Just as Rotary has “steps for enrolling new members”, let us also have steps for retention and assimilation”.
Membership is a crucial facet of Rotary and there are many areas within its ambit that need to be addressed. The role of the proposer, the role of the Club leadership, the responsibilities of ALL members, the role of the families, the need for continuous Rotary information and education, the need for exposure to service activities and many such areas of Membership must be simultaneously addressed to ensure a healthy membership.
A conference such as this, with R I President at its helm is one of the best ways to educate Rotarians. Almost every aspect of the programme of Membership Growth and Membership Retention will be presented to the audience and coming from the stalwarts, who represent the cream of Rotary, there is going to be feast of information, ideas and solutions.
Remember that Rotary devotes a lot of time, lots of energy and lots of efforts to ensure the growth. Yet, the results have been disappointing. The conference such as this one will expose us to novel ideas and novel methods to keeps us from dwindling in numbers. We expect very important inputs from our faculty and I am confident that we will emerge successful in controlling our losses through brilliant ideas presented at this meet.
Let us pledge to keep Rotary growing.
ASHOK MAHAJAN
DIRECTOR – ROTARY INTERNATIONAL
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