In the past I was a memebr of Rotary (the yougest member in Australia at the time at 26). They meet weekly and I find it an expensive organisation to be a member of. Later after leaving Rotary I joined Apex (an Australian organisation that you are required to leave once you turn 40 … you then progress on to Lions or Rotary).
The Rotary club I orginally joined was in a small country town and we only had 15 members, most of them around 40 - 50 year olds. We were active in fundraising and doing projects. Most Rotary clubs raised money but didn’t do much physical work. A joke going around was that Rotary thought up the projects, Lions raised the money and Apex did the work. My Rotary club did all, until I moved interstate and joined a larger club that did no physical activities in the community, and mainly worked on international exchange student programes. I got dismayed and left after a couple of years at the new club.
I later joined Apex and was there for 2 years in a very young and active commuity service manner. We did yard clean ups for old people, built and maintained kids play areas and many other like things.
Did I enjoy it? The commardare, Yes. The ideals, Yes. The helping the community, Yes.
Was it worthwhile for business ? The early Rotary club would be a Yes, the latter one none what so ever. Apex, none, mainly as the same in the latetr Rotary I was not working for myself (a multi National company) so there was no spin off (not that you go into these clubs for it).
There were drawbacks such as having to attend weekly meetings, do community work on your days off (especially I had a very young family at the time), attending interclub meetings outside of your own, attending state and national meetings, meeting with community groups, councils, government representatives etc, etc. And of course the cost of doing so was a burden for me at the time. I found the commitment to some of these taxing on my business and personal time and if your partner is not fuly committed then it becomes a selfish obession.
I guess the motivation for me initially was that we were in a small country town just outside a major tourist town and our area was the poor cousin in spending allocations by the governments. The club was small, friendly and everyone was committed to making the town a better place. I can’t recall one member who joined to better their business from it … they were all like minded in making the area better for everyone. Our motivation was seeing kids have an adventure playgroud built in a barren park area, 25mt swimming pool built for those who didn’t or couldn’t swim at the beach, building new and modern change rooms at the local sporting fields so the local sporting clubs wouldn’t be embarressed when visiting teams came and had to change in the local hall.
Would I do it now. No. Would I get a business benefit from it? Probably not. Would I recommend joining such a club? If I was younger, financially secure, had family backing, plenty of time away from the business, retired and looking to pass time, then maybe Yes.
In the end of the day you can only judge by yourself if you are one of these special people who give up a lot to help others. You need time, support and money to be fully committed. If you don’t have these then you won’t get the satisfaction from being a member.
Richard, I believe you will probably join one of these organisations as this is the type of person your are. If you do choose the one that suits you best, not them choosing you because you suit them. Your own time will be compromised as will some of your business time, but going with the right one can be spiritually rewarding.
Dave
