“We need to get a number of visitors together to form a Rotary Group” was the brief given by (then District Public Image coordinator) PDG Andy Rapajakse. The idea was to form a new Rotary Club based on corporate, rather than individual membership. That was in 2018 (incidentally, the same year our club, Surfers Sunrise, introduced corporate membership into our bylaws – we claim to have “invented” the concept… ☺). The result was a new club named Gold Coast Corporate Rotary, chartered in 2020. Today, the club counts 38 members. At the District 2022 District Conference, her club received the award for the Highest Membership growth in District 9640).
“It started off with door knocking,” she said, in other words: the ages-old method of aiming for personal contact. But her club works differently to conventional Rotary clubs: they meet just once a month on the 3rd Wednesday at 5:30 pm. The meeting usually takes place at one of the members’ boardroom, or perhaps at a café, for cheese and crackers. “We are looking for businesses rather than just individuals (but, of course, individual members are most welcome too, just as any other club does). Corporate members can nominate up to 8 people who can attend meetings in rotation. An annual fee of $900 entitles a business to have up to 5 voting members. The club runs various projects, including a mentorship program. Interestingly, this also involves online courses available from Rotary’s very own Learning Centre, on the Rotary International website www.rotary.org. For example, to visit the section of Personal Development, Click here (you'll need to login). Thank you, Vanessa, for a very instructive presentation!
A copy of Vanessa’s PowerPoint presentation (in PDF format) has been uploaded to our Download Files section on the right. Photo: Vanessa Jansen with Paul Seymour, our meeting Chairman.