Kitchener Waterloo Case Study Bob Wallace

Why the Status Quo was not OK Decreasing Membership Differing Opinions Among Members about the Future of the Club No One Willing to Take a Leadership Role No New Activities to Engage or Attract New Members Reputation in the Community Diminished as Internal Problems Became Public Knowledge Finally a Board meeting was held at which the ADG facilitated discussion about the Leadership situation. This left the Board members with very negative feelings about taking on leadership especially the role of PE

What was Required to Begin the Process of Rebuilding Members must collectively have a desire for the club to succeed District Facilitated Visioning Session was held Facilitators did and excellent job and all members participated fully There was excitement that had been missing for some time

A Champion was Required Despite the Visioning Session no one stepped forward for the PE role The situation became critical and the club was about to lose 10 members, about a third of those remaining A past President came forward and offered his name for PE as long as 2 others would agree to take on the same role in the two subsequent years The Newly formed ``TEAM`` became the ``Champion``

Issues Along the Way Not everyone supported the new ideas and some felt alienated One of the new ideas was to reduce the number of formal meeting to 2 per month rather than weekly – this alienated some traditionalists and these folks eventually left the club

The Commitment that is Required to Make the Vision a Reality Creating an Elevator Speech and Strategic Plan, ``Toward 2018`` Laying the Groundwork for new Fundraisers with a stretch target of $100,000 by 2018 Provide increase tutoring and mentoring to 2 Rotaract clubs Increase the membership to 50 by 2018, currently they are at 60 Ensure Members become more engaged in Rotary, ongoing

Two Issues were identified that Interfered with the Recruitment of New Members Weekly meetings, biggest issue when recruiting young people and folks nearing retirement High Cost especially for younger members, partly real, partly perceived

How We Proceeded Held 4 meetings about the future of the club, membership, new fund raising, use of funds raised and logistics (ie frequency of club meetings)

Proposal The Kitchener Waterloo club will meet the 2 nd and 4 th Tuesday of each month at the Granite Club (or off site) at the direction of the assigned POD And The expectation is that the Board, Board Committees, PODS, Fund Raising project groups and other Rotary related meeting will take place on a regular schedule or on an as needed basis whenever or wherever meeting s are required So the club members have supported not just meeting twice per month, but as often as necessary to carry out the work of Rotary

The term `Fellowship` is archaic, but friendships, working relationships, an unparalleled level of trust and a common goal of carrying out the mandate of Rotary will thrive in a combination of ``traditional`` meeting and working meetings Goal is to give members the value they expect for the time they spend To reduce costs, credit is given to a member that notified the club in advance that a meeting will be missed- so that the meal for that person can be cancelled

Factors in their success Club was ready for change and committed to accepting change- buy in A committed Leadership Team that worked together tirelessly and with consistency Communication: everyone on the same page, timely, transparent and ongoing. Website was reworked and social media outlets refreshed so that they were current and demonstrated the energy and excitement that was present at the meeting. One third of their new members contacted the club after viewing the website. Youth Diversity, both genders

First impressions count! Once a prospective new member comes to a meeting, they are warmly greeted and introduced not only to club members but also other prospective members. A member sits with the prospect making them feel they had a great experience Raising the profile of the club: hosted a gala for their 50 th anniversary- asked the Governor General to speak; held an annual City Address-Mayors breakfast attracting hundreds of business and community leaders Engaging mew members early: early involvement in POD`s, committees projects and fundraisers very important Succession planning: done on a continuing basis for the Leadership Team, Executive Committee POD leaders and Committee Chairs. Know the PE and PN at least one year in advance