Time to get serious

We wonder why there is a lack of Club membership growth in our District.  I believe (and the following survey endorses this view) that people do not appreciate what Rotary does in their community.  Most see our activities are for raising funds.  If this is all we did, would you remain a member?

• On an unprompted basis the awareness of Rotary activities is fairly low. The best known activity on an unprompted basis is raising funds to assist local charities at 15 percent, followed by Rotary Youth Exchanges, which were mentioned by 12 percent of respondents.

• The unprompted awareness of Rotary activities tends to be slightly higher in the higher income groups. However, these differences are not significant.

• When it comes to total awareness, raising funds to assist local charities was mentioned by 81 percent of respondents. Rotary Youth Exchanges was mentioned by 64 percent and Rotary activities and courses which help young people develop their leadership skills was mentioned by 57 percent. Thus, Rotary activities that benefit young people are quite well known. Raising Funds to buy an ambulance for the local ambulance service was mentioned by 47 percent in total, while building houses for poor families in the Pacific was mentioned by 41 percent.

• Rotary projects, such as providing shelter boxes when disasters happen, was mentioned by two percent on an unprompted basis, rising to 24 percent when prompted awareness is included.

• The differences between the sample in total and the income breakdowns are generally not significant. However, it does appear that the total awareness of Rotary activities on the part of respondents in Wellington, is lower than elsewhere. The highest levels of awareness are found outside the main metropolitan areas.

(these results come from a Survey conducted by Research New Zealand - April 2011)