SWOT Your Club

By Myles Golden, District Membership Chair

I hear a lot of entrepreneurial ideas in my business. Recently there has been a flurry of them. My usual response is to suggest a SWOT analysis before forging a business plan. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats are the words that the acronym represents. If you have not done a SWOT analysis for your club you might consider this simple little tool. Now that you have turned in your Planning Guide for Effective Clubs to District Governor-elect Becky Faulkner, give it a shot and see how it impacts your clubs plan for the upcoming year. For example:

by PDG Myles Golden District Membership Chair

Strengths Having visited all 55 of our clubs in my year as your District Governor, I can assure you that each and every club is unique. That uniqueness should be a strength and should have appeal to certain prospective members.  So what are some of the strengths of clubs? I have recognized that many clubs foster great relationships among its members. They really stand by each other in times of trials and tribulations. Other strengths are service to the community, forging strong business relationships and powerful networking amongst its members. A more common strength is fun. I was always amazed at just how much fun so many of the clubs seems to have when they get together. I recall the Union Club has a tradition of singing and on my visit they sang Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called To Say I Love You.” What a hoot that was and now a fond memory for Ann and me.

Weaknesses Yes, we all have them and if we don’t get them out on the table they will continue be a negative impact on our membership and our clubs’ projects. Poor recruitment plans or no recruitment plans are common.  If you don’t have a membership committee you are already in trouble. Your District Membership Committee is available and ready to offer a workshop on membership recruitment and retention if you wish. Our plan is a “train the trainer” approach. DG Becky and the Committee will be meeting soon to lay out our plans for the year. Rest assured our new Fifth Avenue of Service, New Generations will be at the top of our priority list. We need more young shining stars in our clubs throughout our district. Poor programs are another weakness that impacts both recruitment and retention. Bringing a prospect on a day when your club has a poor program is a real downer. Bottom line here is to get your weaknesses out on the table and address each and every one of them. It’s just good business planning.  

Opportunities Opportunities for improving membership or offering more services to your community and the world at large pop up every day.  I have watched with amazement how the Greenville Evening Club took advantage of an opportunity to address character/ethics education in our middle schools. Luck would have it that the assistant principal of Powdersville Middle School, Todd Binnicker,  was told about EarlyAct FirstKnight  (EAFK) by a parent who recently moved to the area and asked Todd if his school had an EAFK program. Hearing good things about this program, Todd went on the internet and found a contact, Jefferson Pike, a member of a Rotary Club near Charlotte, NC. Luck would have it that Jefferson had recently become the Executive Director of EAFK for the EAST coast. EAFK is a program of The Knights of the Guild, a nonprofit education organization, based in San Antonio, Texas and Jefferson was looking for a middle school to launch the first project on the East Coast. It has been an overwhelming success and is expected to spread throughout the East as it has in Texas and Oklahoma.

If you want to know more about this program just email Ann Golden at agolden@goldencareerstrategies.com.

Nothing inspires new members more than being a part of successful programs that impact their community and the world at large.  So pull together the collective genius of your board members and seek our new opportunities.
Threats: Our district, as does Rotary at large, has some serious threats in the making. Average age of our members is in the high 50’s. A tight economy has had a negative impact on membership and corporate sponsorship for members is almost nonexistent. Only a few companies recognize that social responsibility can be a good thing for their bottom line. We need to address these issues and it starts at your clubs board meeting. One club recently held a special event targeted to bring more high potential female leaders in their club. It was a big success.

My “SWOT your club” is just an idea that came to mind this morning thinking of what I might share with you relative to developing your membership. I hope you will give it a try. I believe it will be effective.

Remember Einstein’s definition of Insanity, continuing with the same behavior expecting different results.
Myles

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District Governor George Fletcher
Rotary Club of Greenville

205 Rosebay Drive | Greenville, SC 29615
864.380.6392 |DG@rotary7750.org

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