Minutes October 3, 2022

Attendees: Bonnie Haghkerdar, Rosanne Frieri, Georga Green for Chelsea No.Shore  (georgiadg@comcast.net), Diane Lestage, Maida Follini, Regina Caines, Jayma Hall, Mary Knight
Missing: Dana Fraser, Nicole LaMattina

Donna Raycraft called the meeting to order  at 6:05

Donna explained her role as District Membership Chair. As the smallest (but mightiest) district in the world we are in the limelight. For the health of our clubs and the district, we need to (1) retain members and (2) find new members during this biennium.
To retain members:  we need to make sure everyone in the club has a job, feels valued and is not overwhelmed.
To find new members, we have two avenues:

• Start new clubs – this is not solely our mission; Club Creators have the lead here. Currently, we are (1) starting an e-Club where members of varied locations can participate and (2) looking for geographic areas and targeted groups with an ‘influencer’ in the area that can plant seeds for new traditional clubs. They can use our help with ideas! Governor Donna Sroka will be invited to the December meeting to share more information about Club Creators
• Add to our existing clubs – THIS is our mission and our purpose for these monthly meetings.

Next, each attendee was asked to introduce herself, her club, the number of club members and whose shoulders she is standing on in the profession and life she is living.

Bangor (2), Chelsea No. Shore (7)  Halifax (7), Northampton (10), Chelsea No Shore (15), Quaboag Valley (20), Berkshire (20), Concord (32). Most attendees pointed to their mother (or parents) as the inspiration for their service, activism and advocacy activity in Zonta.

As each member had the floor, she also shared ideas and concerns:

• All agreed that membership is THE pressing issue for their clubs – starting with retention. Some existing members are experiencing burnout; many are aging and not willing/able to stay fully engaged; too many clubs have had internal conflicts that have prompted valued, experienced members to leave in frustration. Other members never “returned” after COVID.
• Attracting new members has been hard with COVID, especially due to the inability to meet in person and do hands-on service and fundraising. It’s taking a while to get revved up and excited about inviting prospective members.
• We spoke about our “target prospects” – what do they look like? We decided we should not be hesitant about inviting young professionals, busy women with children, and women and men who look different from us. Even if they say no, offer insights about Zonta’s local and global impact and ask them if they could be a supporter for now, to keep them in the loop.  As Bonnie noted, “never give up – just go for it!”

A few specific ideas that members shared (sorry I didn’t catch all of them):

• Medford is working with the Cambridge YWCA, publicizing programs of interest to women (currently: reproductive rights, building resiliency to deal with stressors, and Rape Aggression Defense for personal safety)
• Concord NH had a very successful Multicultural Fair and will follow up with individuals who expressed interest in learning more about Zonta.
• Chelsea No Shore is trying Tabling to get visibility in different locals.
• Bangor is planning their annual fair/membership event.
• Halifax was able to hold a successful membership event with a speaker, in the midst of cleanup from a hurricane! That’s dedication!
• Someone mentioned spotlighting a member (with flashlight!) at each meeting to recognize her/his contributions to Zonta.

As our one hour time was up, Donna thanked everyone for coming and contributing.

Next Meeting:  November 7^th at 6pm.  Presidents will be invited as we have an important guest speaker: Lori Robinson

Assignment:  Bring at least one recruitment idea

We adjourned at about 7:10

Sincerely,

Mary Knight, Notetaker