RTI VICE PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT RTI

Is There a Holy Recipe For Growth?

Mr MARC GERMESHAUSEN,Round Table International Vice President 2022-2023

THE SETTING OF ROUND TABLE is unique in the service club world. Depending on your association’s wishes, we face an age limit of 40 or 45. Each of us knows that we have an expiry date within our wonderful movement.

We can live the joy of our organisation, cause an impact on a local or regional level and catch up with fellow brothers around the globe. But we also need to look into our organisation and see that we can keep it up at heights. Due to the age rule, we lose between 4,000 and 5,000 members every year. This implies that we must supplement these numbers with at least the same amount of new tablers to stay strong. So far, only one region within RTI can compensate for those losses and grow: ASPA, which is mainly related to RT India and RT Nepal.

Round Table has two sides: Expansion in new countries and inner sustainable growth.

EXPANSION IN NEW COUNTRIES

Last year we had the unique possibility to charter three new associations: RT Czech Republic, RT Albania and the RTI E-Club. We can see that all three were strong enough to be chartered and to establish Round Table on their level. We need solid clubs if we consider expanding into new countries and areas.

When it comes to expansion, we are considering three statuses from an association:

Inaugurated Member: After having six meetings over three months and having ten members who regularly attend the club’s activities, the mother association can decide on leading an inauguration meeting.

Associate Member: After being inaugurated, the club should have six meetings within six months (ideally, two meetings in a month to be done), and the club charter with at least 15 members can be initiated. Charter Approval must be taken from the RTI Vice President to ensure sustainability is vital here. Charter finalisation details should be floated 90 days before the charter. Associate members are part of Round Table International but do not have voting rights during official meetings, and members of those associations are not eligible to run for certain RTI offices.

Full Member: An Associate member may apply for Full membership if:

It has chartered a National Association and;

It has not less than three chartered Tables and;

It has not less than fifty members.

Application for Full membership by an Associate member may not be made before the third RTI AGM after the one at which it was officially recognised as an Associate member. Alternatively, suppose an Associate member cannot apply for Full membership under the rules above. In that case, they may make an application anyway, but not before the fourth RTI AGM after the one at which it was officially recognised as an Associate member. Associate member must participate in all RTI meetings during this period. Full members shall appoint an RTI Councillor, who shall have voting rights.

Unfortunately, we already had the situation that we needed to shut down an inaugurated club with RT malaysia. Due to some structural issues, we needed to change the status of an associate member to inaugurated. We need to see the bigger picture regarding expansion. Those new clubs need particular support from their godmother association and the international community. And again: New clubs need to be strong in numbers so that we are not losing them very soon. All the steps are closely described in the expansion guideline of RTI, which is available on Tabler.World. There it is mandatory to have at least 15 members for this process.

GROWTH IN NEW AREAS WITH RTI E-CLUB

If we view potential members in a new country, but they do not fulfil the above criteria, those can join the RTI E-Club. Approved by the HYm 2020, RTI E-Clubs were given a formal go-ahead. Having it running was one of the goals shared for last year

Regular meetings were conducted, and once the RTI board was sure, we had the first AGM of RTI E-Club in August. It will have all the rights and obligations of an associate member of RTI under the CEE region. It will function independently, adhering to its own constitution. RTI E-Club will be one of the core initiatives that will also have the RTI board’s focus in the coming years. This will help us follow in places we never could get into and retain the lost members.

We are having now certain members all around the world in RTI E-Club. The demand for membership is high, and the seeds we spread some years ago are developing into beautiful flowers. The aim is not to keep members for long within the E-Club but to start the process within a new country.

SUSTAINABLE INNER GROWTH

Supporting and promoting the growth of the current association is one of the goals taken this year. We need to strengthen our associations and focus on how we can grow. For this, we have launched various initiatives at the RTI level:

Global operation Head Hunter: Inspired by RT Norway and its successes, the RTI board launched the global operation head hunter. The initiative aims to create a database of potential prospects through members’ personal and professional contacts within and beyond their existing geographical boundaries.

We did receive some encouraging participation in the program. most of them are towards the CEE region. making it a long-term strategy, we have and will be promoting this as one of the key drivers for growth in the year to come. A unique pin was also launched for members who introduced 5 and 10 members to reward the high performers. We have also established a bottom-up feedback policy for the same. The GDPR policies are adhered to in the best possible ways as well.

Celebrating growth: Celebrating and welcoming each new member inducted in the movement irrespective of the location, we launched the initiative to send a video message from at least one of the RTI board members welcoming the Tabler. This initiative was appreciated by many associations. This last year we reached out to many new inductees across the fraternity through a video message. This did help in creating special bonds.