Page 7 - 2020-03-Rotary-on-the-Move-Newsletter-Zone-8
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‘SHOUT OUT’
Article by Barbara Mifsud, Regional Membership Officer, Membership Development, South
Pacific and Philippines Office, barbara.mifsud@rotary.org,
https://www.facebook.com/barbara.mifsud.1
This month’s shout out goes to the Rotary Club of Gold Coast in D9640. This club is currently the
biggest club in the district with 66 members, and has ambitions to grow even bigger. However, that
was not always the case. The club was formed in June 2011 following a merger of two Surfers Paradise
Clubs with 60 active members. Shortly after membership took a dive to 40 members. For the next
five years there was no growth in membership.
In the last 18 months the club has worked hard to grow its membership base. Their hard work paid off and resulted
in a surge of new members: a net increase of 31 members and an increase in the percentage of female members to
40%.
What was their secret? Firstly, they surveyed their members using Rotary’s member satisfaction survey. They found
that almost half of their members were not satisfied with 7 out of the 10 measurements. This gave them ideas of areas
to work on. Secondly, they put together a 3-year plan with goals for each year, and created a strong vision. They knew
they wanted to: make a difference in the local and global community; be flexible; retain members while growing; and
attract business leaders. Ultimately, they wanted to be the number one choice on the Gold Coast for service,
networking, as well as leadership and development.
Gold Coast Rotarians in action at Botanical Bazaar, an annual Gold Coast gardening
and sustainability event the Club owns
Some of their goals included:
• continuing to strengthen their welcoming and friendly club environment
• better engaging members in service projects, meetings, vocational and service activities
• partnering with other community organisations
• strengthening internal and external communications
• attracting and retaining business people
• developing future leaders
Some initiatives they implemented included:
• establishing a membership committee
• exploring a variety of meeting formats (one guest speaker and one club forum/projects meeting per month)
• Member behind the badge segment at meetings (4-5 a month) to learn about new and not so new members
• ‘Trybooking’ pre-payment for all club meetings so that their registration desk is now a welcome desk
• sending their club bulletin 8 days before each meeting to encourage attendance
• table seating plans at meetings to ensure guests are taken care of and encourage mingling
• developing a mentor program
• staging forums about their main service activities
Recently, the club surveyed its members and found that satisfaction had significantly increased across all
areas. Congratulations to the RC of Gold Coast! We look forward to seeing what they can achieve in the coming years.
SHARE YOUR CLUB OR DISTRICT SERVICE PROJECT AND MEMBERSHIP BEST PRACTICES.
We would like to hear from Clubs or Districts telling us what they have done. Please include a summary,
contact details, a couple of captioned photos, and email to Issa Shalhoub, this Newsletter’s editor.
We also would like readers to share their experiences and stories on Best Practices in their Clubs and what has
worked for their Clubs in gaining new members and also what has helped in keeping members.
Rotary on the Move March 2020 Page 7