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Last week I outlined some of the issues relating to the difficulty of attracting and holding new Members, and how our changing world is impacting on not just Rotary, but seemingly, most other voluntary groups.
How do we go about interesting the masses out there who have time on their hands to interest in what Rotary is doing for its community, and have them join with us?
1. Working together.
WE need to accept that this is a shared ‘problem’ and work together with our local Melville area Rotary Clubs to rebuild our positions.
There are over 2,000 ‘volunteers’ linked to the City of Melville Volunteers Resource Centre’s contact lists: surely, if we can get our messaging right, even 1-2% would see the value in stepping up to the community role that Rotary plays.
We have already held one CoM Volunteers Sundowner, and the four local Clubs have agreed that we should work towards another similar event in May.
Can we please put some thought into how we can better capitalise on this opportunity, and then work with our fellow Clubs to sell our story.
2. Volunteering is a 2 way street… you give and you get.
AxR offered an incentive local project Seed Grant Fund for a Volunteer ‘work with us and the CoM’ at our first Volunteer Sundowner.
We had no take up, but at short notice.
I am asking our local Clubs to support this, and show that we are genuine in asking others to join in and work with Rotary for community betterment.
Better publicity required, especially through the CoM Volunteer Resource Centre, which is more than happy to support.
3. Every Event for membership
As we have in the past, and continue to do, we must make every public facing event and project a membership drive.
We should consider reviewing our approach to how we do this, certainly utilising stronger face to face engagement at events, and upgraded handouts.
I am well aware that this is a hard one to message, but it does represent the time when our efforts are on full public display.
4. Publicise
We certainly need to tell our story to our world, something that we do very poorly.
In todays ‘me too’ world, I suspect too many people don’t know that AxR exists, let alone the wonderful community work we, and other Rotary Clubs, do.
5. A Process.
When setting out to attract ‘newbies’ to AxR, we need a set process in place to ensure we not only aim for the ‘newbie’ we want/need, but secure their engagement.
It’s not always about getting ‘bums on seats’, and then suffering from the disappointment of early departure as so often happens.
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Just a few thoughts for consideration on how we address our changing ‘volunteering’ world, and what we might consider as a means of regaining membership ascendancy.
AG Kenn.
HANGING BY A THREAD - Afghan Women's mosaic project
And finally...just a little something I had the opportunity to participate in this week.
This global project 'Hanging by a Thread' was launched in September 2021 with the intention of drawing attention to the dire social and economic conditions Afghan women are now subjected to. Mosaic artists throughout the world have been asked to reproduce an Afghan motif using glass. The work will become a huge 'scarf' in each Australian State and Territory.
To date we have over 700 mosaic artists from 40 countries involved. In September 2022, as part of the International Year of Glass as decreed by the United Nations, a dozen scarves will be installed around the world.
Exhibitions will also be held in the United Stated, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain and Tunisia.
Our group completed our mosaic 'scarves' at the William Langford Community House in Langford. This community house supports a very diverse multi-cultural community including Afghan refugees. As it coincided with Harmony Week and Persian New Year we were treated to multi-cultural lunch which included Persian delicacies.
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