Prospective member recruitment is unique to each and every Club – its membership, city, meeting venue, community service projects, etc. But there are some practices all Clubs and their members can follow to welcome visitors to their Club and plant seeds for future Rotary membership.
A great beginning is to make a good impression on guests, with Club members warmly welcoming all guests, be they prospective members, speakers, friends of Club members, visiting Rotarians, etc. Use free time before and after the meeting to get to know the visitor, and if possible, learn about the visitor’s interests as they may relate to the Club and Rotary. This opens the opportunity for this guest to begin building a relationship with Rotary and your Club. Invitations to visit the Club again and providing them information on future Club meetings and programs is important, either thru adding them to your Club emails and/or other notices of each meeting, providing them information on your Club’s website where they can find meeting information, etc. If possible, be sure to get their contact information for follow up, and then make sure that one of your Club members does timely follow-up.
If guests are interested in any of your Club’s community service projects, invite them to help with it. If you detect an interest in Rotary, try to make sure that they leave with your Club’s membership application. And finally, encourage your Club members to invite their friends and neighbors, people they work with and relax with, etc. to visit the Club so that your Club receives the opportunity to welcome and get to know a broad range of people, some of whom hopefully will be interested in learning more about Rotary, and your Club. The Club then creates the opportunity to cultivate new members from your pool of Club visitors.
Jim Dardnne
District 5870 Membership Committee