The Rotary Club of Rapid City Rushmore recently launched a companion club, allowing it to grow membership while also expanding its reach in the community. A companion club is simply an extension of an existing Rotary Club where members generally meet after hours, which enables more people to join. Rushmore Rotary is now one club that meets at two different times!
The new group, known as the Impact Club of Rapid City Rushmore, meets twice a month at 5:30 p.m. on a Monday at a local brewery. Its focus will be on community service. Most of the 13 charter members are under 30 years old.
Rushmore Rotary President-elect Roger Heacock became interested in pursuing the idea of a companion club after hearing an “Extension Club” presentation at this year’s PELS and then attending Patrick Longano’s Companion Club breakout session at the Rotary International Conference in Singapore in May. Longano, a Rotarian from North Carolina, created the Rotary Companion Club model.
Following Longano’s guidelines for starting a new club, an advocate or “champion” within the existing club must be identified. Heacock took on that role by educating the board as well as all other club members on the companion club concept. He obtained the board’s approval to proceed with creating a companion club and then kept the process moving forward.
The next important step was to select a chair for the new companion club who would facilitate meetings and assist with finding members for the new club. Tiffany Gikling was the perfect choice. Gikling is very active in Rushmore Rotary but as the mother of two young boys was unable to attend the club’s 7 a.m. meetings. She also serves as a liaison with the “home” club.
Rushmore Rotary members invited potential members to an information meeting about the new Impact Club in September, after which about 70 percent of the attendees opted to join!
The charter members did not arrive by accident. Heacock, Gikling, Rushmore Rotary President Heidi Bell Gease and other Rotarians strategically recruited people they felt might be a good fit and interested in community service. Those charter members include three members of Rushmore Rotary who were unable to attend 7 a.m. meetings; several former members of the Rotaract Club at South Dakota Mines; two former Rushmore Rotary members; and two daughters of a Rushmore Rotary member.
Impact Club members are full Rotarians and are considered members of Rushmore Rotary. However their Rotary experience will be very different from the morning group as they will not meet weekly or have speakers. Founding members of the Impact Club can design it from the ground up and the home club is there to support them. Members can attend just their meetings or can also attend home club meetings.
In order to make it more affordable for young professionals to join, club officials waived the membership application fee. And because the group meets at a bar and not in a reserved meeting space, Impact Club members don’t pay meeting charges. Rushmore Rotary strongly supports the RI Foundation’s Every Rotarian Every Year (EREY) initiative; thus includes $25 for EREY giving in Impact Club dues. Rushmore Rotary also added a Venmo account to make payment easier.