Posted by Co-President Jack Kraan:
On Thursday evening Jen Marshall, David Anderon, Geoff Double and myself attended a meeting at The Hill restaurant in Berwick for the Presidents and Presidents-Elect of the Clubs in South East Metropolitan Cluster of our Rotary District. It was attended by representatives from Greater Dandenong & Endeavour Hills, Narre Warren, Cranbourne, Casey, Pakenham, Berwick and the Casey-Cardinia Rotaract Club. It was also attended by our District Governor, Paul Mees and was chaired by our Assistant Governor, Hakim Gassiep.
It was one of a number of semi-regular meetings where Presidents come together to share ideas and examine the challenges and opportunities faced by our local clubs. Some of the topics included the strengths and weaknesses of Rotary, successful projects for Clubs, the challenges faced in attracting and retaining members, corporate sponsorship of clubs, use of social media, publicising Rotary and Rotary’s image within the community.
Rotary International has over recent times gained approximately 40,000 new members, but at the same time has lost a similar number. It is seen as being stable over time and has international credibility. However, it is also stagnant, partly due to competing interests for people’s time and also increasing governance complexity.
District 9820’s recent initiative to investigate the charter of a new club in the rapidly growing Clyde North area has now morphed into a collaborative investigation of ways to increase membership in our South Eastern Cluster.
The Presidents have been firmly of the view that we should concentrate on the health of our existing clubs, rather than focussing on initiating a new club.
Money has been allocated by District for the purpose of jointly raising Rotary’s profile in our area. A plan for how best to do this is now to be formulated.