Regional Membership Coordinator

We were pleased to have two visiting Rotarians last week. Gail Nebeo from the Ft. Collins Downtown Club visited as did Dick Griffith from the Ft. Collins Breakfast Club. The Squicquero’s brought their granddaughter Haley as a guest. We were pleased to induct JaNelle Wamsley as our newest member.

President Susan Van Deren reported on behalf of Dave Thiemann that the newspaper poll found that 60% of the respondents requested unspecified financial assistance, 16% requested yard clean up and 8% sought counseling.

PROGRAM:

Diane Kessel-Knight was our presenter. She is a member of the Ft. Collins Breakfast Club but has been a member of three other clubs and is the PDG of District 5450 (Denver). She is also the Regional Membership Coordinator and is an accomplished singer.

Diane told us how the number of Rotary clubs is increasing, but the number of members is decreasing. There are 465,000 Rotarians in North America. She shared some District and local statistics. Our club, for instance went from 9 members to 33 members in 5 years. He District has grown by 1.35% in the last year.

Diane urged us to “Get your ASK in gear.” Ask guests to come and select guests that would become good Rotarians. She said a membership team includes several factors:

-More than a “one man band”

-Clear goal and action plan

-Clear roles and responsibilities

-Meeting regularity

-Report back to the club

She said there are numerous ways to find new members. Check new business licenses. Check with the Chamber of Commerce. Make contact with any Newcomers Club. She also urged us to consider spouses, speakers, and news makers. Some clubs advertise by posting a “Rotarian Works Here” sign in their business window. She said some clubs use a business card size invitation to ask people to come as guests. She also said the Red Badge Program has worked well in some clubs. This allows new members to go through a kind of orientation process in their first six months so that they have a better understand of what Rotary is and what is expected of the member.

Quiz: At 30 to 35 degrees north and south of the equator is an area called the Horse latitudes. It got this name when many sailing ships jettisoned their horses to lighten the load when they were becalmed. Next question: Who was the first president to have a telephone on his desk?