DISCURSOS - Rotary International

Over the past few years, I have attended many seminars relating to membership growth. They
are often well attended. They often have good speakers. They almost always relate statistics and
talk about the problem. They are well intentioned. But more often than not, no action plan is developed
— no decision or plan to do something about the problem. There is no development of a
specific district and club goal, and no plan implemented as to how the goal is to be reached.
I submit that there is no greater assignment that will come to you as an officer of Rotary International
than that of building and strengthening membership in our clubs.
So, how do we build membership?
Every effort at success must involve a plan — a business plan — to accomplish the task. And every
successful plan begins with a specific, clear goal. Every year, the Trustees of The Rotary Foundation
set a specific financial goal. They ask every district governor to set a specific goal in his or
her district. And the successful district governor asks the same of every club president.
The district governor helps the club president to set a realistic goal.
We need to set specific goals for membership growth, retention, and development, just as we do
for The Rotary Foundation.
The next question, then, is how to reach the goals. A business plan needs to be developed for
each club in the district. Some clubs ask their members to write down names of people they
think would make good Rotarians. Then they divide the club into teams, and the teams call on
the potential members. Other clubs have two or three potential-member receptions every year.
And other clubs take out full-page ads in their local newspapers, perhaps with a photo of every
member, and then ask each member to pay for his or her part of the ad. Still other clubs look for
surrounding communities that could develop new clubs, or a breakfast or dinner club. The point
here is that we are leaders of business and professional people. Our members know they need
to have a business plan in place for their businesses to grow. And we need to do the very same
to grow the business of Rotary. We are asking you to see that the clubs in your district work their
business plans to grow.
Why not 1.5 million Rotarians? Why not 5 million? Rotary is a vast, private United Nations — the
most powerful, prestigious, important organization of competent community leaders the world
has ever known. In the words of Albert Schweitzer, “Rotary is necessary for the future.”
And who touched you?
I remember two men. I can still see one sitting in my office the day he invited me to a Rotary
meeting. He became a district governor, much loved and respected by all who knew him. He was
my Rotary sponsor. He changed my life; he touched me.
And just a few years later, I was in India, in the Great Indian Desert. I had been leading a Group
Study Exchange team, and we had been traveling for three or four weeks, often without showers,
water, beds, toilet seats. I was feeling exhausted. And all I wanted was a bath and a good night’s
sleep. The Rotary club adjourned at about midnight, and the president of the club said to me:
“Tonight we have a great honor for you, Rick. You are going to spend the night with a 94-year-old
Hindu, in his 200-year-old home out in the desert.” And right away, I knew there would be no
bath, no running water, no toilet seat. But I was so tired, at least, I thought, I could get some
sleep. At about 12:30 in the morning, my host took me into his living room and sat down in the
middle of the floor. I realized he wanted to talk. I decided I would be a gracious guest for about
20 minutes, and then I was going to bed, whether he liked it or not. And he began to talk.
He had been a Rotarian for half a century, and for the same 50 years he had been a journalist for
the Times of India. And he knew them all: Lord Louis Mountbatten, Winston Churchill, Nehru,
Mahatma Gandhi, and the giants of the 20th century who had crossed the pages of his legendary
10 International Assembly Speeches 2013