New and different club models will attract diverse leaders to Rotary. Watch the video above to learn more.
Rotary clubs continue to demonstrate their value by staying connected to members and responding to changing needs in the community. Read about clubs around the world who are finding ways to adapt to new challenges and meeting online.
Use these resources to increase your club's value:
- Assess and adapt
- Engage current members
- Connect with prospective members
- Make new members feel welcome
- Create an inclusive club culture
- Strengthen your club
- Start a new club
- Stay current
Not sure where to start? Our Club Experience Concierge can help.
Assess and adapt
Use these resources to see if your club is meeting members' needs and reflecting the community:
- Club Experience Concierge — Explore ways to improve the club experience through practical tips and resources with this interactive, online resource.
- Club Health Check — Identify your club's problem areas and make changes to help it stay relevant for members and the community.
- Is Your Club Healthy? — Take this Learning Center course to help your club improve its member experience, service and social events, public image, and club operations.
- Understanding Membership Reports: Getting Started — Learn how to use membership data to determine where to focus your membership efforts.
- Membership Assessment Tools — Be intentional about improving your club experience. Use these tools and their results to make changes.
- Getting to Know Prospective and New Members (member interest survey) (online version)
- Understanding How Your Club Represents Your Community (diversity assessment)
- Finding People to Invite (prospective member exercise)
- Engaging and Keeping Members (retention assessment and analysis)
- Enhancing the Club Experience (member satisfaction survey) (online version)
- Understanding Why Members Leave (exit survey)
Engage current members
Use these resources to learn strategies that will keep members involved:
- Best Practices for Engaging Members — Take this Learning Center course to develop strategies for engaging people at all stages of membership.
- Engaging and Keeping Members — Learn when and why members leave your club and generate strategies to keep them engaged.
- Designing Your Rotary Experience — Encourage members to consider all the ways they can make connections, participate in meaningful service, become a leader, expand their perspective, and design their own Rotary experience.
- Understanding Why Members Leave — Use this exit survey to address the reasons that members may be leaving your club.
- Club Innovation Stories (audio recordings) — A series of recorded stories highlighting the innovative work being done by clubs all around the world.
- Recognize members for their dedication and service to the club, community and to our organization.
- Connect members with opportunities to develop their professional skills and expand their networks.
- Club Programming Vimeo Channel – Use these videos from recent Rotary events to supplement your club meetings. Videos range from 10-25 minutes.
Connect with prospective members
Use the strategies and ideas in these resources to connect with potential members:
- Prospective member flyer — Take this easy-to-print flyer to events in your community and distribute to members of the community so they can learn more about Rotary and benefits of getting involved with our programs and activities.
- What's Rotary? wallet card — Print these cards and keep them in your wallet to share with people you meet who want to learn more about Rotary.
- Hosting a prospective member event — Use these tips when planning an event for prospective members at the club or district level.
- Engaging Younger Professionals — Welcoming younger professionals into Rotary is essential for us. Our digital kit will help you rethink membership and bring emerging leaders into your club.
- Strategies for Attracting New Members — Take this Learning Center course to help draw prospective members, update your club's experience, and better highlight what it does well.
- Customizable club brochure — Design your own club brochure using the template on Rotary's Brand Center. Choose images and wording to best represent your club.
- Finding People to Invite: A Prospective Member Exercise — Try these strategies to attract qualified members for your club.
- Creating a Positive Experience for Prospective Members — Learn what you can do to ensure that prospects have a positive experience, regardless of whether they join. Find tips and ideas to determine whether membership would match their needs as well as your club's.
- Guide to Corporate Membership — Learn how to engage your local businesses and offer a new membership type to a few of the business employees.
- Online Membership Leads course — This Learning Center course will show how a prospect experiences the membership leads process, and how club and district leaders can create a consistent, positive experience for prospective members.
- Use these guides to find best practices and detailed screenshots for managing your online membership leads:
- Grow Your Club Membership Using Membership Leads
- Grow Your District Membership Using Membership Leads
- Prospective member outreach templates for clubs and districts — Use these customizable scripts to communicate with prospective members assigned to you through the Manage Membership Leads page in My Rotary.
- Leveraging Local Events to Grow Rotary: A Membership and Marketing Guide — Use this guide to raise awareness about Rotary and attract new members before a large event in your area.
Make new members feel welcome
Use these resources to celebrate new members, develop an orientation program, and get them involved early and often.
- Welcome to Rotary — Share this inspiring video with new members when they join.
- Introducing New Members to Rotary: An Orientation Guide — Find ideas for engaging new members, getting them involved, and giving them a meaningful Rotary experience.
- Rotary Basics — Give this comprehensive overview of Rotary to new members or order it for club reference. Alternatively, send new members a link to the Rotary Basics online course.
- Designing Your Rotary Experience — Encourage members to consider all the ways they can make connections, participate in meaningful service, become a leader, expand their perspective, and design their own Rotary experience.
- New Member Welcome Kit — Order a welcome kit from your local, licensed Rotary vendor or put one together using the resources in this section.
Create an inclusive club culture
- Creating an Inclusive Club Culture — Take this Learning Center course to learn about actions your club can take to become more inclusive, diverse, and equitable.
- What makes up the club experience — When clubs offer their members a club experience based on their members’ ideas, interests, and input, they will be happier, stay longer, and get more involved. Learn more about it with this one-page flyer.
- Microaggressions — Take this course to understand the impact of microaggressions and how to respond to them in ways that uphold Rotary’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- Practice Responding to Microaggressions — Use this resource for different techniques that can be used when experiencing a microaggression.
- Microaggressions: Offering a Meaningful Apology — This resource offers things to consider, do, and avoid when apologizing for a microaggression.
- Diversify your club — Take this Learning Center course to learn strategies for expanding your reach and building relationships with new groups.
- Committing to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion — This Learning Center course will help you learn more about Rotary's DEI statement, what DEI means, and how you can put it into practice to create positive experiences.
Strengthen your club
Find ideas for planning and strengthening your club in these resources:
- Strengthening Your Membership: Creating Your Membership Plan — Develop a long-term strategy for boosting membership.
- Club flexibility — Learn about flexible membership and meeting options; view frequently asked questions, governance documents and start guides for alternative membership types and flexible meeting formats.
- Club Membership Committee Basics — Enroll in this learning plan to learn more about your responsibilities in developing a strategic plan to engage and attract members.
- Club Membership Committee Checklist — Follow these steps to identify prospective members, introduce them to your club and Rotary, invite them in a meaningful way, and be sure to engage them and get them involved.
- Leadership Development — Help your members develop their leadership skills by taking professional development courses in the Learning Center.
Start a new club
Find ideas for starting a club in these resources:
- Starting a Rotary Club — Learn what you need to do to form a club.
- Starting a club – This Learning Center course walks you through the process of starting a new club, whether it's a Rotary, Rotaract, or satellite club.
- Rotary Club Models — All clubs share similar values and a passion for service, but no two clubs are the same because each community has its own unique needs. Learn about different club models that will attract new audiences in your region.
- Guide to Satellite Clubs — Understand the benefits a satellite club can have and the steps for starting one.
- Guide to Passport Clubs — Learn how clubs can operate in a way the gives their members freedom to attend other club meetings and events and fulfill their own club obligations through service efforts.
- Nurturing new clubs – This Learning Center course is for new club supporters and covers ways each role can help a new club grow and thrive.
Learn more about starting a club.
Stay current
Stay up-to-date by:
- Understanding the current state of Rotary's Membership: how we got here, who is joining, who is leaving — and the opportunities we all have to make membership a top priority.
- State of Rotary's membership as of 1 January 2023 (PPT)
- State of Rotary's membership as of 1 July 2023 (PPT)
- Taking courses in the Learning Center
- Sharing resources and best practices in Learning Topics in the Learning Center
- Watching recordings of past webinars
- Subscribing to our Membership Minute newsletter
- Swapping ideas on the Membership Development Best Practices Discussion group
- Learning about best practices for hosting online meetings
Tools
- Keep track of your prospective member candidates:
- View your membership lead reports:
- Track your club's progress in Rotary Club Central.