Using Rotary’s Action Plan to grow your club

Words: Tom Gump. Chair, Rotary International Membership Growth Committee.

My Rotary club president was proud to tell me that our club grew by a net of 10 members this past year. This was a 15 per cent increase in membership in just one year. We did this by doing one thing – using Rotary’s Action Plan.

Our Action Plan is not a document to be placed upon a shelf and then forgotten, nor is it only to be used by almost perfect clubs to judge and congratulate themselves on how well they are doing. It is supposed to be used by all clubs to improve themselves, regardless of whether they are weak or strong, small or large, traditional or a new and innovative club.

Assessment, like all good things in Rotary, requires action. Assess your club’s current programs and projects. Set aside a club board meeting or assembly (if you are a small club) for this purpose.

Your club should make a list of its standard activities over the past year. Then overlay that list with the four Action Plan priorities. These are: increase impact, expand reach, enhance participant engagement and increase ability to adapt. You may be surprised to discover that your club is already active in all four areas. You might also find a chance to grow club activities in areas where improvement is needed. My club did this, made a few tweaks to what we were doing, and we grew!

Whatever your learnings, remember that change, to be effective, will require buy-in from most of your club members and that sustainable change can never happen overnight. Moreover, if Rotary is to change, it must happen at the club level. Our clubs are where Rotary action happens – or alternatively, does not happen. So, keep at it! It will take focus, but the reward will be an active, growing club that both reflects and is an asset to your community and the world!

For information and resources go to rotary.org/actionplan. Tom Gump can be contacted via tagump@gmail.com or 1 (612) 770-8389.