The Future of Rotary
Posted by Chris Offer
on Jun 26, 2012
Will Rotary die - are we in the last stage of grieving for Rotary? Our speaker on June 26 - challenged the club to think hard about our future.
A provocative speech on the future of Rotary was delivered by PDG Gary Hollick of the RC of North Delta (District 5050). He asked the audience to visualize a tombstone with “RIP Rotary” and the news headline for that day that the last Rotary club in the world has stopped holding meetings.
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This is the future if we don’t change our attitude to membership recruitment and management of our Rotary clubs according to PDG Gary. He compared Rotary club attitudes to membership recruitment to the stages of grieving; denial, anger, negotiate, depression and finally acceptance.
Gary explained how he and a team revived the Surrey Board of Trade and he has now been asked to work with the South Surrey White Rock Chamber of Commerce. Both had membership and financial challenges.
He feels change is necessary for Rotary. In particular the area of attitudes to young members, they need to feel welcome. Rotary clubs should focus on why do people join, remember what’s in it for them and the personal benefits of Rotary. Service and commitment to the community will follow. He urged the club to contact all members who have left the club in the past year or more and interview them to find out the real reason they left.