The Light for May 17, 2022
By: Neil Gambow
President Linda Gerber called the 45th meeting of the year to order at 7:30 a.m. on the dot with the ringing of the bell.
Kelly Fedei read “Why We Are Rotarians,” followed by the thoughts for the day, which are included in the poem “Beggars Song” by Ranier Maria Rilke.
Announcements
John Wertymer (Wilmette Harbor Club) - Trivia Night Contest at Rotary Club of Wilmette Harbor is on Wednesday, June 1. Also, a raffle. Teams of four. Time for Evanston Lighthouse to show its meddle! Register at
www.rcwhevents.com.
Kathy Tate-Bradish - Reported that we had a table at the Umbrella Arts Festival on Saturday, May 14. Sponsored by ASPA Evanston (Asian, South Asian, Pacific Islander American), the festival was a celebration of culture, arts, music, dance, and food. Our table was right in front of the Rotary building, and we had lots of interested visitors. Thanks to Marisa, Linda, MaLu, Ann W, Bruce, and Myra for tabling, to Jean Saunders for getting the Rotary tablecloth, and to Hillary for the new brochures and table-toppers
Kristin Brown - Please come to the plaza in front of One Rotary Center on Saturday, May 21, between 8:00 - 8:30 a.m. for a rally to send Edwin Velarde off on his "Windy City to Space City" bike ride to the convention in Houston. This will be Edwin’s fifth 1,000-plus kilometer ride to a Rotary Convention to raise awareness about diabetes.
Katherine Peterson - Announced that due to the recent increase in Covid-19 outbreaks, we have canceled our in-person meetings for the next two weeks. We will be watching carefully and resume hybrid meetings when the risks go down.
Please mark your calendars for the annual Installation of the new board, Sunday, June 26, at Lovelace Park. The Installation Committee planned to keep members safe with this outdoor event and we hope you will enjoy a classic picnic evening with plenty of parking. Everyone is welcome. Please join us!
Steve Goranson - The Community Service grants will be given out at our next meeting.
Don Gwinn - Please include a reminder that we have workdays at the Evanston Development Cooperative housing project at 1930 Jackson on June 4 and June 11. The project includes painting and some light carpentry. This supports our affordable housing focus. Please let Don (
d_gwinn@comcast.net) know when you are available.
Ann Weatherhead – Asked for our club members to sign a petition supporting the purchase of the Margarita Inn by Connections for the Homeless.
Brien Johnson – Reported that the Walk For The Homeless in Wilmette raised more than $14,000.
Linda Gerber – We are invited to the NU Block Museum to see the “A Site For Struggle” exhibit on Friday, May 27, at 5 p.m.
.
Program
Topic – The Power of Rotary Membership
Speaker - Nick Krayacich
Nick Krayacich, a family physician, is a former president of LaSalle Centennial's Rotary Club in Canada, and soon-to-be Rotary's "First Gentleman," when his wife, Jennifer Jones, becomes the first female president of Rotary International. Nick will serve as Rotary D6400 District Governor in 2024-25.
Why do people join our organization? According to a survey 10 years ago, the top two reasons were to serve their local communities and their international community, so, in other words, service, and the second reason they joined was for fellowship. People stayed in Rotary for the same two reasons, but they were reversed, with fellowship taking the top spot.
Why did people leave Rotary? People stated they had nothing to do, the meetings were poor quality, their club was not fun, and they were not getting service and they were not getting fellowship and so.
What is our “value proposition”? Nick said he thinks Rotary is unique in the fact that we offer the two aspects mentioned above along with networking skills, leadership development, public speaking skills, and event planning skills, to name a few.
Rotary has 1.4 million members including Rotaract members. Over the last 10 years, Rotary brought in 1.2 million members and lost 1.2 members. Rotary does not have a recruitment problem, he said; it has a retention problem.
Exit interviews are too late in most cases. The better answer is to do a better job at the introduction interview. Ask the prospect about why they are interested in joining Rotary. Then the club has to deliver. Get the new Rotarian involved quickly with committee assignments and other activities that align with their interest. Who should we ask to join? It's quality and not quantity, that we should be asking for. Nick suggests we should be looking for people who are already Rotarians by their actions but haven't joined our organization yet. Ask!!
DEI is a very present aspect of Rotary. Rotary often does projects where we help people with disabilities. But we often forget to ask these people to join our organization. Many of these people are leaders in their own communities and bring a different perspective and a diverse way of thinking to an organization because they have to be able to adapt and survive in the able-bodied world. They have different ways of thinking and bringing a diverse perspective to our clubs, so it's interesting when you were thinking about who we want in our club.
Here are some other ideas to promote and retain membership:
- Provide written information on cost, what our projects are, what our value mission was, and also what our value proposition including providing leadership skills, public speaking skills, service projects, and fellowship so they knew the type of club that they are potentially joining.
- Cut the price of membership by 50% for young professionals under 30.
- Start a satellite club that recognizes some people cannot make the time for the regular meeting but still want to be part of the club.
- Make sure the new member has a mentor.
- Conduct a periodic survey to gauge membership attitudes.
Nick Krayacich
Guests and Milestones
Visiting Rotarians
John Wertymer – Wilmette Harbor Club
Other Guests
Callie Furlong – Interested in Rotary
Birthdays This Week
Paul Brown, May 23
Club Anniversaries
Carol Pandak joined 17 years ago on May 17, 2005
Kassandre McGovern joined 3 years ago on May 21, 2019
