The Rotary Club of Boronia in D9810, decided that they needed to change their membership strategy and to start acting like a recruiting firm to see if that would generate better results.

Article by PDG Shia Smart, Assistant Rotary Coordinator

What do companies do when they need to hire new staff?

Depending on the size of the company, they will do the advertising themselves and try to find someone by word of mouth, social media, or ask people they know.

Larger companies though, will hire agencies/recruiting firms to find the people they want who have the skills they are looking for and the values and ethics of the company, making them a “good fit”.

Sound familiar in regard to Rotary membership. Most Rotary clubs act like smaller companies and try to find new members by asking family and friends, using social media and club events to advertise what they are doing, and hope people will show an interest and approach the Rotary Club asking if they can join.

The Rotary Club of Boronia in D9810, decided that they needed to change their membership strategy and to start acting like a recruiting firm to see if that would generate better results. This change in mindset came about due to a new member who joined being a recruiter in their professional career and asking why Rotary was not more proactive in their membership recruitment. As you can imagine, there was hesitation to change from the tried-and-true path, however during a year of massive change an action plan following the “recruiters” process was put into place.

The following is the recruiting plan that was devised.

• Identify 10 owners/operators of local businesses.
• Send them a letter with a general introduction to Rotary, the club and the benefits of getting involved.
• Follow up the letter with a personal phone call.
• For those who express interest, follow up the phone call with an email inviting them to attend a meeting, either via Zoom or in person.
• Place the names of interested persons on a contact list for occasional follow-up. Invite them to special events and meetings with attractive speakers.

Repeat this process approximately every 3-4 weeks.

So far for the RC Boronia this strategy has been successful with 3 new members, 2 candidates attending meetings and thinking about joining, more on the interested but not yet committed list as well as a handful to be followed up later.

In parallel, that had also been issuing press releases to their local community newspaper every 2 months highlighting the breath and variety of their projects. Again showcasing to those they have made contact with, that Rotary is active in their local area.