SOME IDEAS TO BUILD MEMBERSHIP
100 Ways You Can Attract New Members
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Clubs are always looking for ways to grow and attract new members, There are many things club members can do in order to attract new members. Here, you’ll find a hundred viable approaches that one could use in order to attract more members.
- Ask someone
- Bring a guest to meetings
- Advertise in newspapers, local radio stations & cable TV local access channel
- Have a clear club goal & a strategic plan
- Letters or personal contact with local businesses
- Contact with Chamber of Commerce
- Place customized bookmarks in library books
- Have public meetings at malls, outdoors, etc
- Have a booth at malls, fairs, festivals etc.
- Place pamphlets in doctors’ offices, hospitals, cafeterias, libraries, etc.
- Host an Open House
- Hold a club assembly only on membership
- If you have a Rotary Club, ask Rotary Foundation alumni to join
- Give the membership chair one minute at every club meeting
- Make the membership chair a club director
- Put together guest information packets
- Service projects that serve a need in the community
- Invite family members to join
- Send letters to people in the news with an invitation to visit the club
- Print club business cards with club meeting location and time
- Distribute extra copies of magazines that relate to your club in waiting rooms, etc (i.e.: Rotarian)
- Hold high-profile meetings
- Hold wine and cheese receptions for prospective members
- Ask for help from District Membership Committee or our Rotary International Membership Zone Committee
- Have a special guest day
- Send club members to district membership seminar
- Make prospective members feel important
- Honor outstanding community members
- Connect with Rotaractors and invite them to join the club sooner. Consider an Associate Membership
- Make some meetings social events
- Build a club web site and keep it updated regularly
- Use group email to promote your club
- Put posters in public areas
- Ask corporations and employers to sponsor or subsidize membership
- Have a reward program for those who bring in new members
- Create more fun
- Give a money back guarantee—if after 3 months a new member does not want to be a club member, return their fees
- Invite the media to cover well known speakers
- Use word of mouth
- Network with coworkers, friends, and family
- Follow up with guests
- Place a colored dot on the watch of every member to remind them to bring a guest
- Lead by example—how many members have you recruited?
- Have members give talks at other organizations
- Provide guests with free meals
- Update your clubs classification survey
- Look for members in ethnic groups not represented in your club
- Provide brochures for new employee packets in members companies
- Advertise at sports events
- Ask the district for help
- Hold joint meetings with other groups
- Share your club experience with others
- Participate in community events
- Write letters to the newspaper about the campaigns your club is working on
- If a prospect can’t attend your meeting due to time, suggest another club
- Publicize club successes, elections, events, in local newspapers
- Circulate the club newsletter widely
- Design a club brochure
- Hold recruiting events with two or more clubs
- Form/join a speakers’ bureau
- Wear your club’s pin
- Mention your club at meetings of other organizations during announcements
- Send newsletter to guests
- When asked about your leadership skills & career success, tell them about your club
- Ask the AG to attend a board meeting to talk about membership
- Ask every member to submit 3 prospects to the membership chair
- Make it FUN
- Give every member a club decal or bumper stickers for their car
- Give testimonials about your club while guests are at the meeting
- Repeatedly invite prospective members
- Practice selling your club at Club meetings—have a one minute elevator speech ready
- Conduct a Membership Satisfaction Survey (RI Publication #417)
- The club president asks three club members as a personal favor to each recruit one new member
- Bring your boss to a club meeting
- Make direct contact with women’s business associations
- Bring your co-workers to a club meeting
- Bring your employees and co-workers to a club meeting
- Have new member kits
- Use books, brochures, videos and posters from RI
- Hand out invitation cards for a “Free” lunch (breakfast, dinner)
- Have members constantly promote and rave about your club
- Meet at a good location
- Assign every member to a 5 person recruitment team—each team brings in a new member every six months
- Develop a strategic plan membership is a year-round priority and needs to be planned
- Have incentives for recruitment
- Have a large poster that lists all the members who have sponsored a new member in the past year
- Select a missing classification and work on filling it
- Display a thermometer showing progress towards club goal
- Feature a member’s “benefit of the month” in the club newsletter
- Induct new members with piazzas & invite spouse/partner
- Develop a welcome letter from the president for all new members
- Contact all members who have resigned in the past 3 years
- Use billboards at bus stops and road sides
- Ask club members to put club ads on their commercial trucks
- Recognize new members in newsletters
- Regularly check the RI web site for ideas
- Check out the Rotary Membership Minute on the RI web site
- Invite spouses / family members to attend social functions
- Ask recipients of Rotary service projects or contributions to speak at a Rotary meeting
- Pass out M & M candy to remind members that “Membership Matters” and that we need “More Members”