Rotary’s Challenge for the Future

 

It was a wonderful privilege to have attended the District Conferences of District 9210 in May and D9400 in June. Both conferences gave us an opportunity to Celebrate Rotary and the success of the respective Districts over the past year. A district Conference is such an opportunity to celebrate, evaluate and motivate and I had the privilege to talk on Rotary’s challenge for the future, because the Future of Rotary is in Your Hands.

 

Rotary has offered me more than I could have had in a single career path in a typical workplace. It has given me connections and friendships that I never could have dreamt up. It gave me the world and over 1.2 million new friends. It gave me the opportunity to develop personally and equally develop my fellow members because through our vocations each one of us imparts our skills onto others. It gave me the opportunity of making a difference in my community and it gave me the opportunity to serve and feel good about it.

 

Now I want you, for a minute to imagine Rotary to be your business. A business you started two decades ago and when you started this business your subscriber base was approximately 1.2m.  You were making good progress with your service to your subscribers but each successive year operating costs increased and your subscriber base remained the same. Now imagine that in order to grow your turnover you needed to diversify, so you added in new products like satellite clubs and associate clubs. You allowed your subscribers some flexibility to operate, offer some incentives, perhaps some awards, etc. and still your subscriber base does not increase. You develop a new strategic plan to include a new and exciting market, the up and coming middle class and still nothing happens. You have got to agree that before long you will be in a crisis.  

 

 

The worldwide trend for membership changes show a decreasing trend. In July last year we dipped below that magical 1.2m membership mark to 1,185m members. In the Southern hemisphere we have a growing region whilst we have some problems in the Northern hemisphere. Africa in particular is growing with great gains in Central & West Africa.

 

 

On the African continent we have 54 countries. Of these 52 countries have the presence of Rotary. The economic indicators show a net GDP growth of 5% across Africa. This provides a great opportunity for the creation of a new middle class of individuals. Individuals who are making money from IT activities and entrepreneurial talent and unless we engage with this new generation of members, we run the risk of losing them to other non-profit organisations and community based organisations. Organisations that do not require an attendance commitment. Organisations who do not charge annual fees. Organisations who are specific area focussed. Organisations who receive government funding for their operations. Because if we do not ask them to join us at Rotary then these organisations will.

 

The second issue on membership is retention. When we invite someone to join our Clubs and when they do, do we take care of them? Are they assigned a mentor? Are they kept informed about the workings of the Club and District? Are they engaged in service activities?

 

Most people join Rotary to positively impact their communities and for friendship and fellowship. Rotarians who feel that they are a valuable part of the organisation, who are contributing to our projects and feel appreciated do not leave. While one can argue that recruitment and retention in a volunteer organisation can be different than in a business, the goals are very similar;

·       Bring in the individuals who are the most qualified to advance your organisation

·       Do what you can to keep them satisfied.

 

 

One of the biggest challenges for SA clubs is the concept of CSI (Corporate Social Investment). Large corporations are investing monies in social upliftment programmes via their staff pool. Any staff member can identify a worthwhile project in their community, submit a plan of action to the CSI committee and if approved the project is undertaken with corporate funding, personnel and time. Now why would one want to join Rotary when one is employed in Corporate which provides the time, money and opportunity of doing good in our community. That’s where our PR skills come into play. We need to clarify what Rotary stands for, how it is different and how people should care. It is our responsibility to inspire, motivate and engage prospective members and strategic partners.

 

The second challenge in SA is the invitation of the black members of the community into our organisation. Whilst critics may continue to castigate us for not trying enough, the actual problem lies in the very concept and philosophy of Rotary. Why must I pay fees to belong to an organisation that requires me to give off my time to uplift others whilst I myself may need help. And until we can convince a change in mindset we will continue with this challenge in SA. But all is not lost. With 20 years of democracy behind us we believe that the younger generation would embrace Rotary’s values and principles and we remain hopeful.

 

So dear friends in Rotary… what is the future…

 

Behind me… I find infinite power, the power of knowledge that we have a great organisation and have done great work without which our world would have been that much poorer.

Before me…. is see endless possibilities, the possibility for each one of us to make a determined effort to share the joy of membership and invite an individual to experience the same joy and magic of Rotary each of us enjoys.

 
Around me I see boundless opportunities for all of us to work together, across our borders in growing our organisation for it matters not where we live, what matters is that foreign friend, relative, associate being introduced into Rotary.

 

So I encourage each one of you to share the gift that you were once given, to reach out to that friend, colleague, business associate or young generation’s member, to ask the question once posed to you…would you be my guest tonight at my Rotary Club? It could be the start of a new friendship for you and it would change the life of the person you invited and yours too.

 

And as we look to the new Rotary year I encourage you to continue to Engage Rotary and to make a difference in your communities by changing lives and creating such an illumination in their lives that we Light up Rotary.

 

July 2014