Rotary International’s surveys show that the primary reason members love their Rotary club is a great club experience.

Article by PDG Tom Gump, Aide to Rotary International President 2024-25; and, Member of Rotary International’s Membership Growth Committee

The question is how do we intentionally create a great club experience? Below is a step-by-step easy way to do it.

1. Conduct an assessment/survey. Rotary is like any business. We are selling a product, which is the club experience. If we offer a great club experience, our members stay and bring in others. If we offer a poor club experience, our members leave. Either way, they tell others about their experience. Give your members the value they want. To know what they want, conduct a survey. You can search MyRotary for various assessment tools that are already available or you can make your own.
2. Make a change. Surveys by themselves are good, as they make your members feel they belong because you give them an opportunity to be heard. However, if you do not act on some of the suggested changes it has the opposite effect. At a club Presidents-elect (PEs) training, I once asked all the PEs to tell us the one change they were going to make to create a great club experience. PE Troy said he was “going to have pie for dessert!” The room burst into laughter. I ran into “Troy ‘the Pie Guy’” a few years later and I asked him if he “got his pie.” He did; but a strange thing happened. Club members happy with that change started suggesting others changes. His club slowly transformed from a club resistant to change to one that sought change. It is now the second largest club in its district. Rotary has a Change Model that can tell you how to make changes while nurturing those members resistant to change
3. Stay positive, smile and say “thank you.” It is the little things we do that mean the most. Standing at the front door and greeting participants (members and guests alike) with a smile and kind words attracts them and makes them feel like they belong. Saying “thank you” converts potential members into members and volunteers into long-term Rotarians. Recognizing contributions does the same, no matter how you do it.

4. Have an external focus. As a group, we Rotarians tend to talk to ourselves more than we talk to others. I love participating in Rotary President-elect trainings, District Conferences, Institutes, International Conventions, etc. However, I inevitably find myself thinking, I wish we would have invited our friends to join us. The world needs not only to hear about Rotary, but also, it needs to experience Rotary. Bring a friend with you to your next service project or social – they will love it (even if they don’t like attending business meetings)!

Together, let’s grow Rotary by creating create great club experiences!