Rotary International District 5170

To fulfill its humanitarian and peace-building mission, Rotary must continue to grow, constantly recruiting and developing new members who embrace the high standards of service and ethics that historically have characterized the organization. Thorough orientation is a necessary step in transforming new members into active and committed Rotarians. The primary responsibility for educating new members lies at the club level.

To provide the warm welcome essential to all new members, clubs are encouraged to develop structured new member orientation programs. Your clubs orientation program can be as elaborate or as simple as you choose.

Some clubs break orientation into two segments. The first segment, known as the Information Meeting, brings together the prospective member with his/her sponsor and a representative of the Membership Committee (the Club President is always welcome, as well). The purpose of the meeting is to discuss with the prospective member, not only what Rotary membership is about, but also what responsibilities and expectations go with it, including the time and financial commitments involved with membership. This is to insure that the prospective member knows what to expect and accepts the conditions of membership.

The second segment of orientation is a more formal orientation program, held after induction into the club, to educate the new member on the broad aspects of Rotary. An effective orientation program should include the following key categories of information:

• Benefits of membership
• Responsibilities of membership
• Opportunities for service
• History and tradition of club
• Rotary International

Another important aspect of orientation is to quickly engage new members in both the orientation program and the activities of your club.

A complete guide to "New Member Orientation" is available from Rotary International. A copy can be downloaded as follows:
Go to: www.Rotary.org
Select "Downloads" from the menu.
From the Download Center, select "Membership".
Then, under "Resources for Recruitment and Retention", select "New Member Orientation"

Your District 5170 Membership Orientation Chair for 2006-07 is
Darryl Stow (Cupertino) 408 252-3117