Compilation of PROBUS April 12, 2019 District 3 Meeting Table Discussions
President’s Table 1
Successes
Recruiting, Welcoming and Retaining Members
- Recruitvia newspaper ads, word of mouth, having quality speakers and many interesting activities and events
- Welcome new and all members through letters of welcome, door greeters, sponsors, partnering up with seasoned members, new member receptions, introductions, pictures in newsletters
- Waitlist members are retained on waitlist through opportunities to join meetings and events (only a few clubs allow waitlisted members to participate in activities)
- Retainmembers by keeping an active PROBUS with excellent speakers and many activities, events, travel and social opportunities
Challenges
- Should we sing Oh Canada at the beginning of meetings?
- Should we say the PROBUS prayer?
- Should we recognize the Indigenous Peoples who originally owned the land on which our meetings are held?
Next Steps
- Some Presidents will bring the above questions back to their respective clubs for discussion
- Presidents will bring the successes of other clubs to our respective Management Meetings
President’s Table 2
Successes
- PROBUS reputation and demand is up, with many on waitlists
- Volunteer helpers
- Financially strong – waitlisters at some clubs get opportunities to participate in club activities in some cases with a fee
- Neighbouring clubs support and co-operation
- Probus Canada Support , Insurance, highlights
Challenges
- Recruiting for Management Team and Volunteer positions ( use of member application form, direct asks, continual attention at club meetings, volunteer recognition)
- Men only clubs experiencing decline in membership – consider change to mixed club ?
- Mixed clubs – how to encourage men?
- Insurance Policy – need greater clarification on coverages; e.g guests , third parties, speakers
- Probus Canada – still lack of public awareness of Probus, potential for marketing efforts (in light of health benefits of Probus), articles in magazines, building a stronger relationship with clubs
- Data Privacy – home addresses on websites (some clubs do , some don’t); Photos on website?; getting member permission
- Indigenous Recognition – where clubs meet on original First Nations land. How to do it -.Up to individual clubs, perhaps annually
- Management of Waitlists – fixed gender ratios vs soft targets, preference to those willing to help, participation in activities while on waiting list
Next Steps
- Probus Canada – Marketing; clarification insurance coverage, data privacy guidelines
- Share District feedback with club members at club meetings
- Continue sharing among clubs
Past Presidents
Successes
- Provide friendship and fellowship to all members through recognition, friendship ambassadors, committees, events, volunteer badges, profiles in Newsletters,
- Have excellent convenors
- Best promotion of clubs is word of mouth
- Provide wide variety of Speakers
- Sponsor new PROBUS clubs
- Save money by buying badges in bulk
- $1 fine if no badge at meeting
- Free 50/50 ticket if badge worn
Challenges
- Long waitlists
- Succession for Management Team
- Coed Distribution
Next Steps
- Share other clubs’ successes
Vice President’s Table 1
Successes
- Speakers at the monthly meetings were something all agreed were a pivotal part of the meeting and it was noted that politics and religion were not topics discussed.
- Membership was not an issue at our table, and there was a variety of clubs represented. Women’s only, men only and mixed gender.
- Activities were discussed from each club and the consensus was there were a variety of activities to engage members.
- There was a sharing of ideas that has been successful to welcome new members. Such as;
- Introducing them at the monthly meeting
- Mix and mingle dinner
- Wearing name tags to say new member, that way during coffee members can introduce themselves to the new members
- Some clubs have a Friendship Ambassador to ensure new members are welcomed.
Challenges
- Keeping membership fees down. The dues differ due to location and rental of space for the meeting. Other issues discussed which were not consistent between clubs were;
- The fee charged for guest members attending a meeting
- The cost of coffee charged at meetings
- Price sensitive travel and events
- Refunds for events were not permitted as a commitment of numbers and deposit is often required. If however the event is planned way in advance there could be a date selected where by a refund may take place.
- Managing the wait list, a number of clubs having waiting list for membership.
- Fulfilling Management roles for the executive. Members are often reluctant to come forward for positions.
- Getting volunteers to lead activities.
Next Steps
- Be consistent between clubs on fees for guests
- Monthly communications by email, sharing information between the group of VP’s who have met at the regional meeting
- Friendship Ambassador identified to welcome new members into the club.
- Have co- chairs to engage more members in to the volunteer group of activity leadership, so the positions are not too daunting. By engaging more members in leading activities, hopefully it will encourage them to take executive roles at some stage.
- Surveys once a year for feedback on club activities and events.
Vice President’s Table 2
Successes
- Clearly defined role for VP – in several clubs in addition to supporting the President the VP also has a special responsibility such as major lunches, getting speakers. Several clubs have a first and second VP and this works well for them.
- Past president responsible for succession – very important
- Attracting, welcoming and keeping members interested:
- PROBUS “business card” to give to prospective members (recruitment)
- New member Orientation Committee
- Specific Greeters and Ambassadors for each meeting
- Annual survey of members to determine their involvement and interests in activities
- One meeting/year strictly a “Getting to Know You” meeting (No speaker)
- One member stated that optimum group size is 160!
- Networking – Management Committee members of 3 or 4 Burlington clubs come together for mini Regional meetings
- Sharing responsibilities – Several clubs have a Committee to be responsible for Speakers, instead of just one person
Challenges
- Payment for Speakers ie to pay or not pay, how much to pay. Within our table group the range was from not paying at all to paying $300. Some clubs provide travel allowance, a bottle of wine, a gift to charity
- Meeting attendance vs Event attendance ie some members only come to Events.
- Meeting attendance: some clubs keep attendance and check in with members who have not attended at least 3 meetings per year
- Integration of new members into the club
Next Steps
- For our table these next steps will vary by club. Everyone is looking forward to receiving the collated notes of all groups and to receiving emails of table group members in order to further networking
Speaker’s Table
Successes
- Switch responsibility within committee for : A/V, welcome (Introduction), Thank you
- Surveys regarding speakers i.e feedback from members
- Sharing of speakers between clubs
- Attendance at monthly meeting is good
- Complimentary feedback
Challenges
- Age range of membership
- Proximity of clubs
- Last minute cancellations
- How much bio on speakers given out in advance
Next Steps
- Share speaker list
- Share (details of) Expenses of Speaker Honorariums
- Speaker contact should prepare short bio
Activities Table
Successes
- Many thriving, interesting groups providing opportunities for developing friendships and social interaction.
- More success in recruiting volunteers by asking an individual personally rather than putting out an appeal for group convenors.
- Cooksville PROBUS organizes a thank you lunch for volunteers at Mandarin Restaurant. They include Executive members in a measure to build relationships ie: succession planning. This does limit the options for venues with numbers.
Challenges
- Recruiting Volunteers
- Succession
- Second in Command for each activity
- A convenor operating ineffectively
Next Steps
- Free lunch for Convenors
- Monthly Calendar for Activities
- Monitoring negativity
Website Table
Successes
- Participating clubs have websites using various platforms including WordPress, Google Sites & Drives, Homestead, Wix.com, Wild Apricot and HostPapa.
- The functionality varies depending on the age of the website and the club average age
- Access security varies. Some sites are all public, some part public and part private (ie members only) with individual member passwords or simply one password for all club members. One club has two websites, one for members and one for the management team
- Communication e-mails are incorporated into most website platforms.
Challenges
- Upgrading existing websites or building new websites as with the new North York club
- Payment systems for online and offline are being upgraded to accept cheques, credit and debit cards. PayPal is used by some clubs for on-line payments. The Square has been recently adopted successfully for in-person payments of memberships, events and activities.
- There is a wide choice of hosting services so selecting the right platform for new and upgraded websites can be challenging. The functionality that suits particular club will vary but criteria should include ease of creating and editing content, club communications, e-mailing capability, news-letter distribution, member privacy, security, payment systems and operating costs.
Next Steps
- With still only about a third of clubs having websites, much remains to be done to bring website benefits to more clubs.
Newsletter/Secretary/Communications
Successes
- The majority of clubs do monthly newsletters. Editors and the secretaries have the usual problems of getting their information in a timely manner. Newsletter people use a variety of methods of sending out their newsletter.
- Some compose in Word, Publisher, some send to a link, some have a program that lets them know if members have opened their email. If not for several months they contact the member.
- Some commented on the use of logos of companies, or repeating ads, a definitely no-no in most cases.
- Some use “survey monkey” on occasion to find out members’ preferences
Challenges
- Editors and the secretaries have the usual problems of getting their information in a timely manner
Next Steps
- Some suggested that their newsletters be shared by sending them to other clubs
Treasurer’s Table
Strengths and Successes
- Credit card payment process
- Started this at the Sheridan Probus
- Working very well
- Easy to use to gives you detailed reports
- Managing the money
- All clubs are running in surplus
- Good controls in place
- Tracking and Tracing of financial details
- All clubs have processes in place
- Clubs using different processes
- Most are using manual processes combined with excel spreadsheets
Challenges
- Reserve or Surplus funds
- What the right amount
- Each club using their own processes
- Group consensus that Clubs maintain between 50% to 100% of annual expenses
- How do the clubs allow payments by members?
- All Clubs accepting cash and cheques
- Sheridan accepting payments by Credit Card
- Should we continue to accept cash payments?
- Move toward electronic processes
- How to track funds received for events?
- Most Clubs had concerns about the charges or fees incurred from the credit card companies
- Back-up of Financial process and transfer of Information
- Do the Clubs have a plan to transfer the information if a Treasurer leaves
- Some clubs have written procedures in place
- Should we have a second person trained to handle the functions?
- Should the books be reviewed by another person at year-end?
- § Possibly use a Treasurer from another Club?
Next Steps
- Tony Freeman from the Credit River Club is planning on starting e transfers in 2019
- Other Clubs interested in this process
- No fees charged when compared to Credit Card process
- Will form a Treasurer Group
- Share information with other Clubs
- Ability to reach out for support
Events
Successes
- Some clubs members prefer using buses for out of town trips, members of other clubs favour self-driving
- One of the participants stated that $100 was the maximum cost that their members are prepared to spend on an event (either in town or day trip). Others at the table indicated that this mirrors their experience.
- Annual member mingle events are held by some clubs. One club holds a Fellowship lunch monthly.
- At one of the clubs, spouses of members who have passed away are invited to all events as Associate Members.
- Both mixed gender and men’s only clubs permit their spouses to attend their events, whereas one ladies only club confines participation to its members only
- A men’s club member indicated that it’s most popular events are the Christmas lunch and a BBQ.
- With the exception of Sheridan, all clubs consider a lunch or dinner as an event.
- Most clubs endeavour to hold an event each month
- Events interest survey results influence the choice of events for the following year.
- All agreed that announcing events at meetings in newsletters and websites is important
- 50/50 draws, sales of odds and ends, etc. The funds raised are used to subsidize events such as the Christmas lunch or bus costs.
- All agreed that a charge to attend any and all events should be mandatory, thereby having their members better committed and reducing the risk of no shows.
- Use of committee and the Square for collecting money were recommended
- Credit River offers travel opportunities
Challenges
- Succession planning
- Participation in the events held by most clubs appears to consist of 15 to 20% of their membership. Most found that it’s the same people who participate.
- Avoiding repetition of events offered.
Next Steps
- Have joint travel opportunities