Project Rotary’s work to draw members

There is an ancient saying that a flower shop doesn’t need to advertise. Also culturally most of us have grown up with the belief that the left hand shouldn’t know what the right hand is giving. As a result of such beliefs, we have been traditionally averse to publicising our service projects. While membership growth continues to be our topmost internal priority, there can be two different approaches to it. One is to push Rotary into the community and hope such methods will make a few join. The other is to publicise our work in the community in a positive manner and to such an extent that membership in Rotary becomes an aspirational goal for many. This strategy of pulling people to Rotary will ensure sustainable growth.

All the aggressive membership growth ideas over the years, though moderately successful, haven’t really produced the kind of sustainable result that one dreams of. If we continue to do the same thing, we continue to get the same results. Let us start working on a different strategy. The starting point of it should be to focus more on the public image of our organisation. For far too long our efforts at promoting public image have focused on Rotarians rather than the work done by them. Let our stories carry the testimonials of beneficiaries. Let us showcase the impact our service activities has had on the community and the lives they have touched in a positive way.

There are so many impactful projects carried out by the clubs in our region. If only we present these in a manner that befits those projects, we can hope to pull more members into our fold. We need members. More importantly, we need the right members joining us for the right reasons. If each one of us decides to consciously become a brand ambassador of Rotary and promotes the organisation through various PR initiatives, our membership goal may no longer be a dream.

Let us talk Rotary! We owe it to our great organisation.

A S Venkatesh
RI Director, 2021–23