Adapt your club to meet member needs
Does your club want to better meet the needs of your current and prospective members, better represent the community you serve, or provide a more inclusive club experience?
Adopting flexible membership and meeting options can help you attract new audiences, diversify your club, and make your members more engaged.
Read on to learn about the three key tactics your club can use to become more flexible!
Offer alternative membership types
By offering alternative types of membership, you can attract members who traditionally were unable or unwilling to join a Rotary club due to factors such as cost and time commitment. Such people could include busy professionals or people with young families.
These are some types of alternative membership options:
Family membership
Young professional membership
Associate membership
Corporate membership for business leaders and their employees
Or you can create your own membership type to meet the specific needs of your members!
Each type of membership can have its own policies on dues, attendance, and service expectations, which must be documented in your club bylaws. Rotary will count these people as members of your club if they pay Rotary International dues and are reported as active members in My Rotary.
For more information, download the start guide for alternative membership types, and read the membership types FAQs.
Change your meeting format
By changing how and where you club meets, you can make your meetings more fun and engaging, and more inclusive for members who can’t attend traditional meetings.
Your club can meet in person or online, alternate between the two, or offer a hybrid meeting.
You can also change the format of your in-person meetings from the traditional meal and speaker to include service projects, leadership development, committee meetings and social gatherings. Some clubs even rotate where and how they meet!
For more information, download the start guide for flexible meeting formats.
Relax attendance requirements / reduce meeting frequency
These simple measures can make it easier for members with busy schedules to participate to your club in ways that are meaningful to them.
By focusing less on attending meetings, your members can contribute in other ways such as working on a service project, adopting a leadership role, or updating your club’s social media channels.
If your club meets in some way at least twice per month, you’ll meet Rotary International’s meeting requirements.
For more information, read the meeting frequency and attendance FAQs.
A great way to discover the best flexible options for your club is to ask your members, guests, and other participants! Download Rotary’s member satisfaction survey for a template you can use to collect feedback.
Click here for more tips, resources, and club success stories.