RI president Messages

May 2008

Dear fellow Rotarians,

Soon after I was nominated to serve as president of Rotary International, I began planning a series of membership conferences in North America. Earlier this Rotary year, we held seven such conferences, each drawing between 200 and 600 participants. I chose North America as the setting because of the region’s recent alarming decline in membership as well as its large pool of qualified prospective members, many of whom are just waiting for an invitation to join.

Each conference generated a high level of energy and a shared understanding of why membership is such an urgent matter. We talked about the challenges Rotary faces in this arena as the need for its service continues to grow. And we determined that the organization can’t grow, or even maintain its status quo, unless more Rotarians take on the responsibility of bringing in new members.

Right now, only about 18 percent of Rotarians ever bring a new member into their club. The great majority of our membership growth reflects the work of just a few individuals who take their responsibility very seriously.

But that responsibility belongs to all of us, not just to those few. This is the premise of the “member get member” initiative I’ve been promoting this year. “Member get member” is not a campaign or contest. It is, very simply, the way we need to approach the whole question of membership for Rotary to survive and grow – the understanding that it is the responsibility of each one of us to bring in at least one new member every year.

Our North American conferences produced some encouraging results: In the first half of this Rotary year, every zone in the region showed a positive change in membership. Next year, President-elect Dong Kurn Lee plans to hold the events in 10 countries, building on the momentum we’ve developed and spreading the enthusiasm to other parts of the world.

As this Rotary year draws to a close, consider the benefits of fulfilling your individual responsibility of bringing one new member into your club. Think about having one more pair of hands to do Rotary’s work and strengthen your club’s service. One more person to embrace Rotary’s core values and bring help and hope where they’re needed. One more person who will not only show the world that Rotary Shares but also allow Rotary to Make Dreams Real .

Wilfrid J. (Wilf) Wilkinson
President,
Rotary International