A 2023 public perception survey of 500 non-Rotarians in Australia conducted by Lager Research USA and Rotary International found that 9% of Australians would join Rotary if they had more information about Rotary.

Article by PDG Andy Rajapakse, Membership Assistant Rotary Coordinator

Statistically it is 2 million Australians aged 24 to 54 are waiting to join Rotary. If we target just 1% of them, that is 20,000 people waiting to join Rotary. It’s almost the total number of Rotarians we have today in Australia. Based on the same research method, there can be another 4,000 people wanting to join Rotary in New Zealand and our Pacific Island nations. Our Rotary Clubs are the funnels to attract these 24,000 people waiting to join Rotary. Is your club ready to attract them?

Of the 1224 Rotary clubs in our Zone today, 600+ have less than 20 members 172 of them have less than 10 members. Most of these clubs have not had any significant growth in 3 years. Just about 140 clubs have over 40 members. Only 6 clubs in our Zone have over 75 members. Our Clubs are the product members join to experience Rotary’s values & programs. Our new Zone 8 Regional Council Directors led by Chairman Dallas Booth from Australia and Deputy Chair Tony Heyward from New Zealand, volunteered to take on the challenge to change this downward trend within 24 months starting 1st July 2024. We must be transformational to do this.

Our Vision of the Zone 8 Regional Council is “To Transform Rotary and Rotaract in Zone 8 to increase our Reach and Impact by establishing a new governance model to grow Rotary in Zone 8.”

To take on and be ready for the huge task of Membership Portfolio, as the Membership Director, I have formed a high-performance Zone 8 Membership Team with 22 proven membership champions from 14 Rotary Districts and 21 Rotary Clubs in Zone 8. I am happy to introduce these pioneering volunteer leaders to you today. We have a few vacancies and welcome volunteers. Please reach out to our Team Captains.

Our new Zone 8 Membership Team has 2 Strategic Focuses.

1. To reduce member resignations by 20% a year in our existing clubs to increase retention and attract new members by transforming our clubs to offer new member experiences. Over the last 5 years annually 5000 members resigned from our clubs in Zone 8. A 20% reduction of these resignations will give a 1000-member gain per year.
2. To Start 15 New Style Clubs in 2024-25 year to expand Rotary’s reach to attract new demographics, Rotary alumni and members who left Rotary in the past. Every new club brings in 20 new members! This is the fastest way for growth. This Rotary year we in Zone 8 formed only 3 new Rotary clubs to date. One each in 3 districts. But 7 districts terminated 12 Rotary clubs this year.

The majority of our Rotary Clubs and Districts in Zone 8 have not been successful in implementing either of these strategic focuses during the last 10 years. There are many reasons. But 2 main reasons I have experienced are,

1. Turf War – many club and district leaders with undue influence have discouraged new clubs being formed in their city or town or the vicinity.
2. Outdated Product - The mass exodus of members year after year from our clubs over the last 10 years is proof, the majority of our club models and member experiences offered by clubs are outdated or at the end of their lifecycle.

Our declining membership and clubs are 'symptoms' of an 'outdated membership management process.' We need to start looking upstream to fix the causes. Change won’t come without action. This involves steering our clubs through significant change in a direction of rapid growth trajectory, characterized by scale, scope, and speed. Our new governance model of Rotary Community Groups and Rotary Community Leaders will play a key role as the backbone to take our new strategies forward. This can impact a few stakeholders that are at the end of their lifecycle. If not, it’s not transformational. Please join our new journey and be part of history. https://creatingtomorrowrotary.org

Please open the attached pdf 'to view the Zone8 Regional Council Membership Team Structure