MEMBERSHIP

Last updated: 3 September 2024


Membership is a key area of focus for the Regional Council, and is one of the first areas to transfer from a district led responsibility to a Regional Council responsibility. Led by Director Andy Rajapakse, the Membership Team has identified the areas of club transformation and new club development as top priorities among other membership activities.

Membership resources

Support to start new clubs

Would you like to start a new club or satellite club, but need some advice or support to make sure you’re headed in the right direction?

You can now request assistance directly from Rotary Pacific’s New Club Start Up Team by filling out our new club enquiry form.

Once we receive your enquiry, we’ll get back to you as soon as possible to help.

We can’t wait to learn about your amazing ideas for new clubs in our region!

Domestic violence prevention toolkit

Last year, Past District Governor Dave Harmon led the launch of the region-wide Rotary Says NO to Domestic and Family Violence prevention and education program.

The Rotary Pacific Membership Team has now created a handy guide outlining how your club can participate in this amazing campaign to increase your community impact, reach new audiences, engage existing club members, and attract new members.

July 2023 update

To provide a strong focus in this area, an initial team has been established. In late July, they met for an intense training day in Sydney to upskill their knowledge and experience and to also further develop new techniques that will greatly assist districts and clubs with the confidence to build new clubs across the zone.

This diverse, skilled team is composed of 10 members from different districts, who bring a wealth of ‘hands on’ experience in starting new style clubs throughout Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. These frontline, new-style club start-up specialists are a resource available to leaders in our zone.

The team’s mission is to set a new trajectory in expanding Rotary’s reach across Zone 8. New club development is an essential part of growing Rotary, along with attracting and retaining members in our existing clubs. New style clubs in particular are essential for reaching new demographics that our traditional clubs may be unable to attract and retain.

In the last 3 years from 1 July 2020 we formed 27 new Rotary clubs in our Zone.
Did you know that 23% of members attracted to them were under the age of 40? This is compared to the 4% that we have in our existing clubs. 54% of the members attracted were female, which is higher than the zone average of 31% and the worldwide average of 26%.

The great news is, almost 85% of these members are first-time in Rotary.  These new style clubs can provide more member centric experiences with flexible attendance, relevant causes, no rituals and fines, smart use of members' time, cost-effectiveness, a friendly atmosphere creating a desire to belong, and many more reasons.

The team’s goal is to start 20 new clubs in Zone 8 this Rotary year.

 

The Membership specialist team are: 

  • PDG Michael Buckeridge from Mackay QLD D9560

  • PDG Jitendra Prasad from Brisbane QLD D9620

  • DGE Stephen O’Connell from Albury VIC D9790

  • PP Mathew Pham from Perth WA D9423

  • PP Mark Huddleston from Adelaide SA D9510

  • PP Damien Leach from Adelaide SA D9510

  • PP David Kenny from Jimboomba QLD D9640

  • AG Raj Chand from Auckland NZ D9920

  • PP Tony Heyward from Wellington NZ D9940

  • PDG Andy Rajapakse from Gold Coast QLD D9640. 

The new club development specialists will be reaching out to districts to start conversations and assist with the development of clubs in their areas. In the meantime, if you have an idea, suggestion or require more information, please contact any specialist in the team below.

For more information or to get involved please contact rotaryregionalpilot@gmail.com