In the last 10 years, St Johns Rotary has grown its number of members by 79.49%, from a starting figure of 39 members (using the initial compared to this year's figures supplied as at February 2018 - there will of course be some fluctuation to the present situation). This made us the 4th largest club in our Rotary District 9920. Well done and thanks for the proactive membership development guidance of Beryl over 5 years, followed by Allan last Rotary year, and now Robyn.
Within NZ Pacific Rotary, only 5 other clubs grew greater percentage than this, and they are: Port Vila; Henderson; Apia; New Plymouth North; and Oamaru. There are currently 264 Rotary clubs throughout NZ Pacific, with an average club membership of 31 Rotarians.
Unfortunately, total membership in NZ Pacific Rotary has dropped by 20% over this 10 year period, with 75% of clubs declining in numbers, and 30% of all clubs have less than 20 members. For this reason, there is a Rotary Modernisation Exploration Project underway that is looking at the structure of Rotary in NZ Pacific, such as how many Rotary districts are best for the future, and what needs to be done to arrest the decline in total member numbers.
While the decline in the number of NZ Pacific Rotarians is of serious concern, this is regarded as an opportunity, rather than a “woe is me” situation by the Rotary Modernisation Exploration Project. Full information about the membership situation and the modernisation options to address this was circulated to all Rotary clubs earlier this year.
In the meantime, our Rotary club needs to keep on growing our membership via new quality people being introduced, and also make sure that our existing members are happy and fulfilled in their Rotary membership experience, so membership is up to all of us!