August 2023

I wanted to take a moment to write a little bit about membership and specifically our club’s membership. Let’s start off with a quote from Theodore Roosevelt below.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

~ Theodore Roosevelt

Membership
The membership challenge for all service organizations is noted in this well written article on LinkedIn Why Our Service Organizations Are Dying (and 6 ways to fix them). Being that the theme for Rotary this August is Membership and New Club Development, this article got me thinking, more deeply than usual, about our club membership and how to grow our club. The author is a Rotarian and I appreciate his six suggestions on how to improve club membership.  

COVID-19 had a huge impact on our club’s attendance as we were forced to quickly move to Zoom meetings. We no longer had to attend meetings in person or find make-up meetings each week. This went on for a few years and people got used to it. When meeting in person became the norm once again, about 1/3 of the members showed up. I know this is a simplified version and does not include all the factors for why we are not attending meetings the way we did previously.    

Why did I join?
I joined because my manager at the time asked me to find a Rotary Club to join so I could network with the community and grow my business.  

Why do I stay?
Once I found out what my Rotary Club did, I found the mission to be worthy and in line with my personal values. I like the people, raising money, and doing good things in the community we all live in. A very important part of a club member staying in the club is what is called the “Rotary Moment.” This is when you have a moment that deeply touches your heart and that would not have occurred without being a Rotarian. Mine came when I was in San Juan Bautista doing a sales presentation to a local business owner. I was selling payroll and tax service and it was going okay but once she saw that I was wearing a Rotary pin, her attitude totally changed, and she stopped me so she could tell me a story of how Rotary helped her family when she was a little girl. I then realized that Rotary is a good thing and much larger than we can imagine. Since then, I have had many Rotary moments that hit deep and I strongly believe that if a member has not had a Rotary moment, they are a candidate for leaving the club. That is just my analysis. If you do not have an emotional connection to a Rotary Club, perhaps that Rotary Club is not the one for you?   

What is an Active member?
According to Rotary International, a member is expected to pay club dues, attend meetings and events, and to use your professional skills and talents to make a difference. I like to think of the above definition as “active members” versus RINO’s (Rotarians in Name Only). RINO’s include Rule of 85 members that pay dues and those members that do not attend meetings or events or attend sporadically at best. They are basically out of the picture and check in when they can. You know what? That is totally fine!

The active members are those in the arena. These members are involved in organizing, fundraising, writing grants, managing events, club operations, speaker management, volunteer management, posting on social media, etc…you know, the ones that make the club work. I may be the President of the club, but nothing happens without a hard-working Board of Directors and an active membership.

If you are currently a RINO, please consider coming back to our live-in-person meetings on Wednesday mornings! If not, that is okay too. I am not going to badger you. I personally hate being badgered. Just know that the door is open when you are ready to return.

A Club in transition
A big part of why I chose Steinbeck Rotary Club was that we were a boots-on-the-ground club with somewhere between 50 and 65 members. We volunteered and that made us different. Most Rotary clubs cut checks but were not visible in the community as much as we were. I wanted to be hands-on and see the impact of my efforts and it was better for me to volunteer than dish out money. Well…we are an older club now with about 34 members and we still love to volunteer but we have not been inducting younger members to take on the physical demands while bringing new ideas and the energy needed. So, what are we going to do? How are we going to grow? How do we attract a younger (30-50) demographic of young professionals that want to give back to the community and join a Rotary Club? Do we need to start a new club? Do we need to have a satellite club that meets in the evenings? These are the questions for you, the membership! Please email me with your ideas so we can talk through this and make it happen.

In conclusion, I want to thank those members that have comments and provide input. We are a volunteer membership, and you should have fun, feel valued and feel good about the club you belong to. If this is not the case, please email me and see what we can do.

Thank you,

Robert Mendoza
President 2023/2024