Kate is dedicated to community service where she currently serves as the immediate past District Governor of Rotary International (RI). Kate holds several positions at the local, district, and zone level of RI. She is currently both the Chair of the NEPETS for the class of 2020-21 but also the Assistant Coordinator for Membership for Zone 32. She is the proud parent of four children and one grandson.
Kate spoke about the membership and growth of Rotary clubs.
•1,206,501 ROTARIANS, which is an increase of 11,394 members since 1 July.
•35,663 CLUBS (down 18 from 1 July). Starting new clubs expands our reach and increases our capacity for service around the world. We know that for many clubs, flexibility has proven a great way to address the varied needs of club members.
•Women now make up 23 percent of our membership, an increase of about 1 percent since 1 July.
•The information in Rotary Club Central suggests that the majority of our members are between ages 50 and 69, though accurate percentages are hard to gauge because 41 percent do not include their age in their membership profiles.
Last year, Rotary districts received almost 18,000 membership leads that involved prospective, referred, or relocating members. But only 793 were admitted to clubs through the Manage Membership Leads page.
It may be that some districts or clubs have a separate system for managing membership inquiries, we also know that many of these prospective members are never contacted. Based on membership leads reports, clubs contact only a third of the prospective members assigned to them.
When we don’t respond to leads, we not only miss opportunities to grow our clubs, we also miss a chance to create goodwill in the community. Of the candidates who don’t hear back from us, 54 percent say they’re no longer interested in Rotary.
One prospective member wrote: “To my great disappointment, no one from Rotary contacted me. So I ended up joining Kiwanis.”
Kate realized that time was running out, and paused her presentation for conversation with our club.
Gary Miller asked if we could access the list of leads of people showing interest. Kate said she would get clarification.
Rollie Sterrett asked what defines an inactive member. Kate clarified that Rotary has chosen to take a stance that there are no hard rules on inactive members. If money towards dues is an issue but a Rotarian is very active in the community and the club, the club should not turn them away. Heather Pantano clarified that we do this as a club as long as members are transparent about their role and expectations. We are flexible to make membership work for all.
If you are interested in a copy of Kate's full presentation, you can reach out to Lauren Gardner at lauren.gardner@focusautismct.org for a copy.
