Let's start with the basics: Rotary clubs that set goals grow, and Rotary clubs that don't set goals shrink.
It really is that simple. And it's why I want to talk with you about two things every club in District 5650 can do this year: set a membership goal, and write a strategic plan. Neither one costs a dime. Both of them work. These are two of the sic priorty goals for every club established by Rotary International
Why a membership goal?
I suspect your Club wants to have more members. But wanting and planning are two different things. "We'd like to grow" is a hope. "Net plus three by June 30" is a goal. One of those tells your membership chair what to do on Monday morning. The other doesn't.
And here's the thing about a number: it changes how a club behaves. Once you commit to net growth, you start watching the back door as carefully as the front. You start asking why members leave. You start following up with the guest who came twice and never came back. That is where the real growth is hiding, in nearly every club I know.
Membership is the engine for everything else we do. More members means more hands on our projects, more support for The Rotary Foundation, more future leaders, and more fun at your Club meetings. Paul Harris and his friends didn't start Rotary to keep it small.
Why a strategic plan?
Every July the gavel changes hands. That is one of the great strengths of Rotary, and one of its challenges. A president serves one year, and a club can't build anything lasting one year at a time unless there is a plan that outlives the presidency.
A strategic plan is that plan. It is the thread that ties this year's board to next year's and the one after that. It also answers the question every prospective member is silently asking at their first visit: What is this club really about? "We're the club that is going to end childhood hunger in our county by 2029" is an answer. "We meet on Tuesdays" is not.
And it doesn't need to be long. Three to five priorities, a measurable target for each, and a date. One page. Because one page is what people will actually read.
How to do it
- Start with what you already know. Pull five years of your club's numbers from Rotary Club Central: members in, members out, net change, and why people left. Look at it together as a board. No blame, just the facts.
- Ask our District Visioning Team to help. They are happy to club and spend an evening with any Club helping to discern the vision that will define yor plan.
- Hold one good planning session. Two or three hours, away from your regular meeting, with your board and a handful of members at different stages of their Rotary life. Ask three questions: Where are we? Where do we want to be in three years? What are the three things that will get us there?
- Pick a membership number that is specific and a little uncomfortable. Net growth, not just inductions. If you're at 32, say 35 by June 30. And set a retention goal right beside it.
- Put every goal in Rotary Club Central. That is the one place where your club and the district see the same number. If it isn't entered, we can't help you chase it.
- Give every goal an owner and a date. A goal that belongs to everyone belongs to no one.
- Look at it at every board meeting. Five minutes. What did we say we'd do, where are we, what's next. This is the step most clubs skip, and it's the one that matters most.
- Ask for help. We have terrific people in this district who have done this before, and they would love to help. Your assistant governor is the place to start.
It takes all of us
Nothing I have described here is complicated. It is just intentional. A club that sets a goal, writes it down, and looks at it every month will outgrow a club that doesn't, almost every time.
Absolutely nothing great in Rotary gets done alone. That's the whole point, isn't it? So pick your number. Pick your three priorities. Put them in Rotary Club Central. And then let's go chase them together. I can't wait to see what this district does next.
Yours in Rotary service,
Bill Harvey