The Rotary Club of Austin-Southwest began an environmental project, “The New Home for Styrofoam” two years ago to participate in the “Protect the Environment” cause of Rotary International. Little did we know at the onset, that this project (which has good community visibility at a Farmer’s Market in South Austin) would be a very valuable membership tool as well as helping to project the image of Rotary and our specific club to our local community.
The booth has obvious Rotary signage, our members wear Rotary gear, we have our club brochure at the booth with an offer for a complimentary “Lunch is on Us” coupon for a weekly meeting. Also at the booth is information about our goals with this environmental project.
We have added 5 members in the last two years from just this and have noted an increase of drop-in visitors to our meetings who express an interest in joining us in service, if not membership. (often one leads to the other). Also, we have signed up Community Volunteers through our website who help out at the booth but who can’t attend meetings.
Our suggestion to other clubs is make sure your project is advertised in as many ways as you can. We post in Next Door, Facebook/Instagram, our website, press releases and attempt to have our project announced via as many private neighborhood group postings as we can. Make contact with friends in the neighborhoods and ask them to post your project with pertinent information about the project. Proper Rotary signage at the event and clothing/caps advertises Rotary without having to talk about it. Also we don’t pressure people to come to meetings, we just offer the “Lunch is on Us invitation. Then, however, we gently follow up with them.
It all pays off. Think about it when you plan your next service project. What visibility will that project bring you? Plan your methods to spread the word to the community about the project and think about how you can incorporate community volunteers.