Selkirk Club on Members - Doug Forsyth

Wed, Aug 29th 2018 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

.


Doug Forsyth of Selkirk Rotary Club gave a talk on his club’s success in attracting new members. Out of the small population in the town of 6000 they now have a membership of 33. Doug has already given this presentation to several other clubs in the district. He warned us that what had worked for them might not work for us.

Their drive for new members consists of three subjects: awareness, Facebook and mentoring.


Awareness. The object of this is to tell the local people what their Rotary club does. They hold a series of events where they send personal invitations to attend an evening where they explain what the club does. Among other people, they target the parents of children who Rotary has helped or those who have taken part in Young people’s events such as the Young Musician or RYLA.  Under no circumstances is Rotary membership mentioned. (or, as Doug put, it don’t mention the M word) The people attending are either offered wine and cheese or a buffet meal. The guests are not charged for this. The chosen evening of the week is a Friday. They make it as informal as possible. Members are requested not to wear a jacket and tie and must mingle with their guests. The event should be as attractive as possible with no long speeches. They use the event to make donations or present certificates to young people. They make use of rolling screens which are regularly updated. These events are run twice per year and they only invite around 9 or 10 people per event. One of our members queried the low number. Doug’s reply was that it could be more depending on the size of the venue. They try and get coverage from the local press.


Facebook is also used is also used to tell local people what they do. Three of their members undertake this task and ensure it is up to date. They try not to use ‘Rotary speak’ and have pictures as well as text  At an awareness event cards are distributed asking their guests to ‘like’ their Facebook page.


Mentoring.  It is essential that a new member does not leave the club after a few months and so he or she is carefully mentored. They plan for this before the new member joins. They are careful to appoint the right person for the task. The mentor carefully explains what to expect at a business meeting. They try to ensure the new member is involved in the activities of the club. He or she is given a card listing these activities and asked to mark items of interest.  The new member is also given a card listing the items the mentor will cover. It can be quite a while before everything has been ticked off.


Doug told us that this is not an overnight fix. Selkirk have now been doing it for 6 years. In the first few years there were few new members but the numbers have gradually increased. No young members have joined. The age varies between 50 and 60.

Although Rotary GB&I no longer offer associate membership, Selkirk still offer a form of this. They only allow an associate member 12 months to either join the club or leave. They ask for 25% of the normal fee. All their associate members have eventually joined the club.


The club’s vote of thanks was given by Mike Rowe.

 



'What We Do' Main Pages:

Partner Club: Bronze Roundel

Our support for Rotary International charities

more  

Read about our Club initiatives

more  

Read about our Club and where we are....

more  

This page features recent submissions to the press about our Club. Please note that the press editors may have made changes to the copy used for final publication

more