Want to offer more flexibility but not sure where to start?
Select one of these options that describes the most pressing challenge your club faces, and find solutions and resources to help.
- My club does not reflect our community when it comes to gender, profession, ethnicity and age.
- People have trouble making it to our meeting because of its time or location.
- We have trouble attracting members because people are too busy or the cost is too expensive.
- We are losing members because they have different interests and experience levels.
- We have trouble finding new members because we do the same service project every year.
- We lose potential members because family members aren’t welcome at our meetings and events.
- It is challenging to find new people to lead our club.
Start a new type of club
Rotary clubs are autonomous and all have their own culture. You can create a club that offers a club experience that works for you and others with similar needs. For example, you could start a satellite club for your less traditional members and your traditional members can remain in the sponsor club.
Benefits:
- Creates new opportunity for prospective members in your area
- Allows disengaged members to try new practices and ideas
- Creates opportunity for new leadership
- Allows members in traditional clubs to continue if they enjoy their club experience
Resources:
- Rotary club models (PDF)
- Guide to satellite clubs (PDF)
- Guide to passport clubs (PDF)
- Practicing Flexibility and Innovation (online course)
- Story – A club built from scratch focuses on service (Rotary Club of Seaford, Australia)
- Club models FAQs
Offer alternative membership types
Your club could offer family memberships, junior memberships to young professionals, or corporate memberships to business leaders and their employees. Each type of membership can have its own policies on dues, attendance, and service expectations, provided these policies are documented in your club bylaws. Rotary will count these people in your club membership and will consider them active members if they pay RI dues.
Benefits:
- Presents options for prospective members with different pricing structures and levels of time commitment
- Presents an opportunity to partner with a local corporation
- Diversifies club by attracting businesses, prospective members with young families, and other groups who aren’t able to join as traditional members
Resources:
- Guide to corporate membership (PDF)
- Start Guide for Alternate Membership Types (includes sample bylaws) (DOC)
- Practicing Flexibility and Innovation (online course)
- Story – Corporate Citizens (Rotary Club of DeMotte-Kankakee Valley, Indiana)
- Membership types FAQ
Change meeting format
Change your meeting format and engage your members in fun, productive ways! You can meet in person, online, or a combination, including letting some members attend in-person meetings through the Internet. Or you can change the format of your in-person meetings to include service projects, leadership development, committee reporting, social gatherings, member professional talks, and educational talks on diversity, club vision, and other topics your club determines.
Benefits:
- Makes club meetings more interesting, which engages members and guests
- Creates culture where agility and creativity are valued and demonstrated
- Members can gain professional development skills
Resources:
- Start Guide for Flexible Meeting Formats (includes sample bylaws) (DOC)
- Leadership in Action: Your Guide to starting a Program (PDF)
- Story – Happy wanderers (Rotary E-Club of Australian Nomads)
- Story – 3 Meeting Formats that Increased Member Participation (Rotary Club of Rochester, Minnesota) (Audio)
- Meeting format FAQs
Relax attendance expectations / reduce meeting frequency
Change your meeting schedule to make it easier for your members to attend.
Ease attendance requirements and encourage members to participate in other ways, such as taking a leadership role, updating the club website regularly, running a meeting a few times a year, or planning an event. Remember your members are volunteers. If your club is dynamic and offers a good experience for members, attendance won't be a problem.
Benefits:
- Accommodates members who have busy schedules
- Encourages participation outside of in-person meetings
- Better captures member engagement
- Makes club more appealing to prospective members (research tells us that rigid rules keep non-members from joining)
- Diversifies club if other nontraditional groups are motivated to join
- Compels clubs to make good use of meeting time (so members come because they want to not because they have to)
Resources:
- Meeting frequency and attendance FAQs
- Guide to passport clubs (PDF)
- Practicing Flexibility and Innovation (online course)
- Story – Meeting flexibility attracts young professionals (Rotary Club of Invercargill, New Zealand)
Resources & reference
- Club Planning Assistant (interactive form)
- Practicing Flexibility and Innovation (online course)
- Rotary Club Models (PDF)
- Guide to Satellite Club (PDF)
- Satellite club FAQ (PDF)
- Satellite club application (PDF)
- Satellite club member information form (PDF)
- Guide to Corporate Membership (PDF)
- Corporate Membership: Making the offer (DOC)
- Corporate Membership: Sample Bylaws (DOC)
- Guide to passport clubs (PDF)
- Sample passport club bylaws (DOC)
- Membership Flexibility Overview (DOC)
- Rotary's governance documents
- Start Guide for Alternate Membership Types (includes sample bylaws) (DOC)
- Start Guide for Flexible Meeting Formats (includes sample bylaws) (DOC)
- Club flexibility Frequently asked questions