As your club’s vocational service chair, you have been engaging young professionals through mentorship initiatives and career counseling projects. You would like more of your fellow club members to participate in these initiatives since many of the mentees are starting off in their careers and you want to introduce them to Rotary and all it offers. You would like to see the young professionals join your club, but have received feedback that they cannot attend your club’s meetings because of the cost and inconvenient time.
You propose to your club leadership that they should change the location, time, and introduce a reduced cost option to attract young professionals. The youth have mentioned that they like to meet with one another at a local bar, so you suggest your club starts meetings at this location instead where drinks and food are optional making it more affordable for the prospective members. Your club leadership is opposed to this idea; they believe it will drive away current members who are not comfortable in that setting. You believe these changes will help attract young professionals to join your club while helping members get more engaged with youth.
What would you do?
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If you would like to submit an ethical dilemma for discussion, email us at rotary.service@rotary.org.
Service in Action 
Start a satellite club.
I absolutely agree with Dave F. From Spruce Pine R/C, NC.
Satellite Club is the best idea. Alternatively, have two meetings in the traditional settings and two meetings per month in the Pub. Encourage the officers and some liberal members in your Club to attend some or all of the meetings in the Pub. Establish common social events and use social media as often as you can .Engage the younger members in the affairs of the Club – promote mentorship……..
Start a satellite or pilot program for the young people. We will still be one club, same board and officers.
JoAnn Ayres, President
Rotary Club of La Grange TX
Dear Rotary friend JoAnn,
Satellite Clubs have separate Board and Officers including Chairman(not President) ,different from the host Club. You maybe thinking of Pilot Clubs ,but they finished in 2016.
From Rotary.org: Some clubs create a satellite club to accommodate members’ differing schedules. This allows some members of the club to meet at a different time and place than the rest of the club. The benefit is that the club doesn’t lose members because of scheduling conflicts. Satellite club members are officially members of their sponsor club, but if membership grows enough, the satellite club can break off and charter as a new club.
Reblogged this on shanakyar.
Alternate he meetings…every other meeting at a location where drinks and optional food is available and the other meetings with a traditional format
I would suggest to the club board that it consider creating at least two optional meetings per month at the local bar. Allow all members to fulfill the club attendance requirement by attending at either the traditional or new venue. Assign several board volunteers to rotate running an abbreviated, no-frills meetings at the bar. Regardless of which venue members choose, all are expected to participate in service projects and traditional fellowship events such as the annual holiday party and demotion dinner.
Easy: There exists precedent in Australia wherein the club splits into two …
Yes, simply split the club into two … it works …
Tensions disappear
Allow free movement between the two
We all know that modern clubs do not keep attendance records ..that’s all old hat pre April 2016.
Do it however … Satellite club in the bar if you like …
Respect the old guard of conservatives … they’ve worked hard in their day ..
Their world of Rotary is prior to April 2016.
If you don’t recruit the new young members your club is on death row.
By the way:
“feedback that they cannot attend your club’s meetings because of the cost and inconvenient time.” is a common theme, especially with respect to cost:
RI will wake up one day to the fact that they need to facilitate and nurture clubs without bleeding them.
In Australia
Just do it
Don’t just think about it
You’ll be pleasantly surprised.