Dexter Rotary Club votes to change monthly meeting routine to encourage new membership and community engagement. Survey shows strong preference for mix of morning and evening meetings.
Following recent board and business meeting discussions about the future of the Dexter Rotary Club facilitated by current president Steve Feinman and past president Francie Kivel, club members recently responded to a survey indicating their choice for future meeting schedules. The current morning meeting time has been cited by many past and prospective members as a factor in their decisions to join or leave the club, and many other Rotary clubs have changed their meeting routines as a strategy for recruiting and retaining members. The results of the meeting choice survey were presented and discussed at the October 30 business meeting.
Based on 13 members responding to the survey (out of 22 active club members) the results strongly supported a change, with almost 70% saying they did NOT want to keep the current meeting schedule. Further, a majority of members responding indicated a preference for 2 morning meetings and 2 evening meetings monthly, 1 quarterly community service activity, and 1 quarterly social gathering at a local establishment. This option was preferred by twice as many members over the next most popular option, which was also 2 morning and 2 evening meetings monthly. The survey results are shown in the charts below.
The October 30 business meeting discussion covered a wide range of options for meeting locations and times, and eventually proposed evening meetings at 5:30pm on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays, and morning meetings at 7:30am on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays every month. The 2nd Thursday evening meeting would need to take place in the community due to a schedule conflict at the Dexter Senior Center, while the rest of the meetings could take place at the Senior Center. The board will address these changes formally at the November 19 board meeting, anticipating the changes will take effect in January 2026.
