Membership Growth for 2008-2009

No, of Members by end of June 2007: 1,636

No. of Members by end of June 2008: 1, 705

Growth rate: 4.2%

Presidential Citiation Requirement for 2008-09

Ecah club is required to have one net gain of members by 31 March 2009 in order to fulfill the Presidential Citation Requirement.

RI President DK Lee

Exepects 10% growth over past year. i.e. 170 new members

DG Albert Wong

Expects to have a net growth of 250 members and exceed 1955 members by end June 2009

Regional RI Membership Coordination PDG Alex Mak

Expect to reach 2008 members (increase about 300 members) by end June 2009.

Suggestion for each Club

To be qualified for the Presidential Citation, each club is encouraged to have at least a net gain of one new member by 31 March 2009.
To set a more aggressive target for membership development
Report to Distict on Changes of Members

Club Presidents are reminded to report total number of members and new members monthly to RI by using Member Access on the RI Web site (www.rotary.org).

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Message from DG Albert Wong 2008-2009

Message for 2008-2009 District Membership Development Committee

Membership Development, Extension and Retention are objectives of Rotary International hope that every districts and clubs can achieve. Comparing with our neighbor Taiwan with over 20,000 members covered by seven districts, our district 3450 (Hong Kong, Macao and Mongolia) only have around 1,700 members suggesting that there are rooms for improvement. But I see a trend in our district, membership is on the rise as there are formations of new clubs and the average age of our members is dropping meaning people are joining Rotary at a younger age. In view of this, our district committee for Membership Development, Extension and Retention are hoping Rotarians in district 3450 can show support to us by letting people around you know what is Rotary and the work we do to help our society. By sharing these facts, I am sure it will be great help to our Membership Development, Extension and Retention.

社員增長和保留是國際扶輪希望每一地區的扶輪社都能做得到。現時我們地區(香港，澳門及蒙古國)總數有約1,700名社員，但相比鄰近國家如台灣，他們有20,000社員組成7個地區，這個數字和我們地區相比，我們是較為落後。 但是，我們地區這幾年來有了一番新的景氣。我們地區成立了數個新社，社員亦不斷增加和較年青化，所以我和地區社員擴展及保留委員會都祈望所有3450地區的社友都能關心，介紹扶輪社及身邊的朋友們認識扶輪的工作及大力支持我們地區社員擴展和保留委員會的工作及活動。

Albert Wong
District Governor
Rotary International District 3450
(Hong Kong/Macao/Mongolia)

 

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Message from Membership Development Committee Chairman 2008-2009

PP Peter Ho

Dreams of a Big and Happy Family
When it comes to membership development for our district, there are many dreams.

RI President DK Lee dreams that we grow at least 10%, a net growth of about 170 members. DG Albert dreams that we have a net growth of 250, a tall order by any measure. The Regional RI Membership Coordinator, our very own PDG Alexander, dreams that we grow by about 300 and reach 2,008 members, a seemingly fitting target for year 2008 but is nearly an impossible one. Considering that we grew by only about 70 members in last Rotary year, are they serious?
In last Rotary year, we started out with 1,636 members and ended with 1,705. This is a delightful development after losing members for most of the past ten years. It was also a hard fought result. We lost a club but we gained back two. We lost over 150 members but we gained more than 220. All these could not have been achieved if it were not because of the strong efforts made by all the Rotarians in our district as well as the capable leadership of IPDG Peter Wong. As such, for the sake of the continuing development of our own clubs, we should carry the enthusiasm from last year into this one and start earnestly making our membership goals into reality.

Drawing from the experience of last Rotary year, the MDC has planned a few things this Rotary year to help the District to work towards these goals. On September 13, 2008, we will hold a District Membership Seminar at the Renaissance Kowloon Hotel at the New World Centre. Eight teams of club membership chairs from the eight areas in Hong Kong and Macao will present a membership topic each and will show us how to take actions to address and resolve eight important membership issues. I hope that by going through these exercises, all clubs in the district will be able to find some effective action plans most suited for their membership development and see their membership figures leapfrogged in unprecedented ways.

We are also planning two New Member Orientation Seminars. A similar one was held last December. Although attendance was small, all the participants came out very positively of what they have learned from the sessions in the seminar. Too often, new members fall out of the Rotary family because they don’t have a good knowledge of what Rotary is and all the good service programs that Rotary performs. By letting them know more about Rotary, these new members can appreciate all the efforts made by past and present Rotarians and can learn how to become involved in them and to be identified with them.

I am also delighted to report that welcome packages for new members are almost ready for clubs to purchase at the RIC as well. Coupled with our committee website soon to be affixed as a permanent feature at the district website, I hope my capable committee members and I will be able to serve all the clubs in the district better this Rotary year and that all our membership dreams can be fulfilled before long. With your help, let’s make Rotary into one big and happy family.

PP Peter Ho

Chairman

Membership Development Committee

2008-09