Innovative members start dozens of new clubs

Leaders of Zone 8’s new membership teams share their insights

By Etelka Lehoczky

Innovation is a guiding force in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific, where energetic Rotary members are starting dozens of new clubs and reviving struggling ones. The leaders of four new membership teams have started 27 new clubs since July 2020. Their goal is to start 15 more, and rejuvenate 100, every year. To find out how they’re doing this, keep reading.

Start new clubs to attract new members

Andy Rajapakse
Rotary Club of Burleigh Heads, Queensland, Australia
Membership director for Zone 8’s Regional Council

“Forming a new club is easier than reinventing an existing club. New members find the new clubs to be flexible, accommodating, and rich with leadership opportunities. In an existing club, a new member will find it hard to become the president or secretary. But in a new club, you can get a leadership opportunity right away. In the new clubs we’ve started, 58% of the people who joined were female and 28% were under the age of 40.”

What’s a companion club?

A companion club is a term that’s sometimes used for a satellite club that has no intention of becoming a standalone club. Rotary and Rotaract satellite clubs have their own meetings, projects, bylaws, and boards, managed in collaboration with their sponsor clubs. A satellite club sometimes becomes its own standalone club after the club grows, but companion clubs remain affiliated with their sponsor clubs.

Launch a satellite

Michael Buckeridge
Rotary Club of Mackay, Queensland, Australia
Captain of Zone 8’s New Club Start-Up Team

“Our club went from 31 to 51 members by starting a satellite club. Our original club and our satellite club meet at different times and do different things. The satellite club has come up with a meeting structure and decided what projects they want to do, and they organize everything through videoconferencing. ... One member of the original club serves as a mentor and goes to their meetings. The satellite members help at our events and remain full, voting members of our club.”

‘Big box’ stores bring big opportunities

Rajapakse:

“To find good places to start clubs, I look for suburbs where a big store just opened. We have a big hardware store chain in Australia called Bunnings. They do socioeconomic surveys to see where new developments are being built and new families are coming in. When they open a big warehouse, that’s an opportunity for us. If there is no Rotary club in that area, we know we can start one.”

Remember that it’s a matter of time

Mark Huddleston
Rotary Club of Seaford, South Australia, Australia
Captain of Zone 8’s Club and Cultural Transformation Team

“If you’ve got a young family or you’re in business for yourself, you’re not going to have a lot of spare time. People are interested in getting out in their communities, rolling up their sleeves, and getting their hands dirty. They’re not interested in spending their time in meetings every week. Clubs are allowed to meet every two weeks if they choose to. A lot of clubs have taken that up. Most of the new clubs that have started in our zone have the minimum number of meetings: Two times per month.”

Focus on service

Huddleston:

“There was a time when we used meeting attendance to measure the value of a Rotarian. We’re slowly recognizing that member engagement is a more important measure of success. Instead of having meetings at the center of the Rotary universe, we should have service at the center of the Rotary universe. Everything, including meetings, should revolve around that.

“My own club has two meetings a month. One is on a Thursday night. The other, on a Sunday afternoon, is often combined with a service project. We do the project, and then we tack on a very informal meeting at the end of it. So, there are very different ways of doing the whole meeting thing.”

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