Notes – 16 September 2021
The fourth Zoom meeting was called to order by Sergeant Ted Mason who balanced the Scottish situation by a reminder that our International President-Elect for 2023/24 is a Scot from Edinburgh.
President Ian Grant confirmed that our Special Guest Speaker would be Dave Harmon from District 9640 (Northern NSW and Southern Queensland including Gold Coast) who will talk on Building Membership through Community Services.
He welcomed all members and especially President Vivian Edgar of Rotary Papamoa with Geoff Mathis, Barbara Joyce and Christa George. A warm welcome was also extended to partners and friends.
He congratulated President Viv on becoming a grandmother for the first time early this morning and shared that his new granddaughter had arrived earlier in the week.
In a quick review of the past week, President Ian complimented the organisers of the fantastic walk/cycle and dinner at Te Aroha last weekend.
Bill Robinson introduced Dave Harmon of Ballina-on-Richmond Rotary Club and handed the meeting over to him.
Building A Vibrant Successful Rotary Club was the topic of Bill’s presentation. He showed that membership tends to go in cycles which can easily be negative and spiral down unless action is taken
His club recognised that the average age of its members was well over 65 and that a plan to rejuvenate the club was vital. The result of the subsequent programme was a net increase of 169 Rotarians in his District.
The key, Bill said, was to concentrate on community projects which meet real needs and place Rotary in the public eye as an organisation which can make a change by helping those in need. In Ballina the Club identified domestic violence as a community problem – the town has only 380 streets and police recorded about 380 cases of domestic violence in 12 months.
The project started with a parade of around 800 people with Rotary signage and banners such as “Say NO to domestic violence”. This was followed by active engagement with other organisations and lots of publicity. It was also decided, continued Bill, that fund-raising for other organisations was a secondary consideration. Financing and running the Domestic Violence Project became more important and was a better use of fund-raising abilities. Ancilliary projects, such as the Love Bites Education Programme, involving 6 local high schools, were supported.
The Club’s main thrust was re-aligned to the community project rather than to fund-raising and fellowship. The Centenary Baton Race also provided an excellent PR link.
This re-direction of effort had a major effect on attracting new members. Bill continued by stressing that it is essential to give members real value for the time that they are prepared to give. What can we give to new members? What activities are we and they passionate about? Can we move from minor projects to a major cause? These are the questions we asked, explained Bill, and from the answers came our plans and success.
Answering questions, Bill added that
- membership average age is probably now under 60 and two new members are in their 20s;
- 68% of new members were female;
- a few corporate members had been attracted;
- retention had been recognised as a problem and was being addressed;
- the change to running our own projects instead of funding other organisations has revitalised the Club;
- the meeting format has changed from fortnightly to the first three Thursdays each month but this is still too much of a commitment for younger members;
- projects relating to social justice and the environment are more attractive than barbeques.
President Ian thanked Bill for an inspiring presentation. In conclusion, Bill offered to share ideas and materials and hoped that, one day, he might visit us in person.
Bookarama (Ray Milner) – bit of a hiatus and stocks lower than last year. Help will be needed for the move into the Town Hall on 10 October, ready for the 13/17 October 2021 event.
Urban Miners (Mark Hanlon) – next collection on 25 September 2021. There are now 25 members involved plus 12 community volunteers. Te Awamutu Club has 7 members working on the project.
Adventure Club – next trip is to Rotorua and will be an easy ride with a more challenging route for serious mountain bikers. Nigel Salter has sent out emails on his bike rides.
Christmas Parade (Nigel Salter) – confirmed for 5 December 2021.
Future Meetings (John Bishop) – all set to be back at CHS if we move down to Level 1, as hoped. If not, Zoom meetings will continue.
President Ian closed the meeting.