Rotary Club

I love my Rotary Club (freak that I am). Been a member for 14 year, perfect attendance during that time, served in nearly every position including president, currently head up a fundraising project that allowed us to raise $1,000 over Mardi Gras, expect to triple that during a local event called Festival International at the end of April.

The demographics of an individual club are going to vary widely, I know that they do here. We have four clubs in town, one with ~200 members, one with ~60, one with ~30 (ours), and one that's down to ~12. I imagine Dallas has several clubs, find one convenient to you, but I would suggest a smaller  club which would allow you (require you) to play a bigger role, not be an anonymous check-writing member. We try to keep our club between 30 and 40 members, which we feel is just the right size, though I don't think we have ever turned a prospective member away.

Our club members are predominantly aged 40-50, I think we have one member over 60 and several (maybe one-third) under 40. Most clubs will welcome young blood, fresh ideas and vigor, I know we make every attempt to recruit from a cross-section of the community, regardless of age, race, gender (NOT just men).

Commitment? Like anything else you get out of it what you put into it. Rotary Clubs do meet weekly and stress attendance, but I think the "mandatory" requirement is 60% within a given year. Outside of that, be willing to provide at least a minimum of assistance in most projects (That's what you're a member for), you can also try to find a project or two that particularly interests you and devote a ton of time too, if you have it available.

Financial commitment: the weekly meetings usually revolve around a meal (there are breakfast, lunch and dinner clubs), so you are usually assessed for that weekly meal in addition to dues of about $20 per quarter at my club. My total quarterly dues are $175 incuding meals. Our club is more of a hands-on organization, we work to raise money, we work to leverage those donations within our various projects. Other clubs may be chec-writers and assess members every time they need to fund projects. Most clubs will be able to tell you the exact commitment prior to joining.

Like I said, I've enjoyed my membership, made a lot of good contacts, done a lot of good work, learned a lot about our community from our weekly program speakers, and had a lot of fun. Check it out, let me know if you have any further questions.

I wouldn't think so, at least it wouldn't be considered as such in out club, especially being new in town. If you're worried about it, maybe have your grandfather, through his club, contact the membership chair of your prospective club to make an introduction? Maybe someone at your company or a business associate knows someone that is a member? Really, we're not all that stuffy, you do have to be "proposed" by an existing member but for me it wasn't that big a deal.

Good luck, let me know how it turns out.

 I forgot to mention that the Rotary Club in a neighboring town sponsors the duathlon I'm doing later this month. They do a great job with it, it is the "State Championship" duathlon, not sure they make any money with it, but that may be a potential idea once you infiltrate, er join, a club.