Membership Retention & Development
Step by step process for a successful September-October membership drive

Step 1
Second Week of July - Select a committee of 6 to 12 of your best, brightest and most outgoing members. Name a chair for this committee.
Month of July - Schedule several interesting programs for September and October, even if they are repeats.

Step 2
Last Week of July - Obtain a list of all local businesses from your city clerk, county officials, chamber of commerce or similar agency

Step 3
First Week of August - Meet with your membership committee and go through the list of businesses, making note of those businesses in your community without a representative of Rotary.

Step 4
Second Week of August - Present the list of business and individuals to the entire club and request hat each member "adopt" at least five businesses or individuals. Explain that a letter will be going out soon to these people and businesses asking them to join Rotary. It will be the responsibility of those who adopted the business or the individual to follow up with a personal business within the next week. Stress that a personal visit is the best, but at least make a personal phone call to see if they received the letter and that someone will be contacting.

Step 5
Third Week of August - Develop and prepare for mailing the letters to your potential candidates. Make sure you keep a good record of the letters and that duplicates are not sent out. Also you may want to consider breaking the mailing up into two, three or even four mailings to keep from having a flood of new candidates attending the first meeting in September. This also gives the membership committee more time for follow up while the letter is fresh on the potential member's mind.

Step 6
Forth Week of August - Drop the first batch of letters in the mail and assign the committee a list of members to call about follow up. Instruct them to try and determine why potential members who did not join. Also instruct them to ask those potential members for the names of other potential members in their organization.

Step 7
First Week of September - Schedule a meeting with your membership committee to review the follow up forms they have completed.

Step 8
From Second Week of September and thereafter through October 30 - Follow up with your committee and take action as necessary. Review the follow forms with your committee.

Step 9
November through June - Make a special point of greeting each of the new members personally at each meeting. Ensure that they feel welcome and a part of Rotary and are active in club activities. If a new member misses a meeting, contact them to remind them they were missed at the last meeting. Offer to pick them up to take them to a make-up meeting.

Need Help? Contact the membership committee member nearest you.