In India’s Multiple District 324, the Lions leadership decided to put their clubs into motion by setting multiple district goals and developing a local recognition program. Joining forces with the Global Action Team (GAT), they coined the phrase “MD 324 sows HOPES,” an acronym of Lions Clubs International’s Global Causes, where “HOPES” represented Hunger, Optics (vision), Pediatric cancer, Environment & Sugar (Diabetes).
Through virtual meetings, the multiple district GAT coordinators and district governors spread the message of sowing hopes in their teams. This soon became popular among Lions, and they all began to chant the slogan.
With hope in their hearts, Lions came out of their homes to serve their communities. At the first Lions meeting after the COVID-19 lockdown, they invited Shri Sreenivasan, Tamil Nadu’s Forest Minister, to be a guest speaker. He appreciated their contributions to society and appealed to each one to continue serving the less fortunate. From the minister's speech and the long-range vision of International Director R. Sampath and Third Vice President-Endorsee and Past International Director G. Ramaswamy, it was noted that the service carried out by clubs had the potential to attract new members.
With hope in their hearts, Lions came out of their homes to serve their communities.
The district leaders were then asked to move forward with a common SMART Goal set by the MD 324 GAT: recruiting 1,630 new members and conducting and reporting 1,630 hunger relief service projects on two different days. The virtual membership drive was planned for October 15, 2020 to commemorate the birthday of the former president of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
The service activity and reporting drive was scheduled for January 13, 2021 to recognize the birthday of Lions Clubs International’s founder Melvin Jones. All clubs were invited to participate in the service drive. To put the plans into action, a virtual meeting was organized with the 12 district governors who formed a 20-member team consisting of district governors, vice district governors and district GAT coordinators.
Building Multiple District and District Teams
The multiple district team was headed by the council chairperson and the GAT area leader. It consisted of the multiple district council secretary, treasurer, vice chairman and multiple district GAT coordinators, along with the IT, MyLCI, MyLion and digital marketing teams, specialty clubs, Global Membership Team (GMT) Women and Family specialist and Hunger, Vision, Childhood Cancer and Environment coordinators.
The district team was led by the district governor and consisted of vice district governors, active past district governors (as ambassadors), the cabinet secretary and treasurer, region and zone chairpersons, district GAT coordinators, the IT, MyLCI, MyLion and digital marketing teams, specialty clubs, GMT Women and Family specialist and Hunger, Vision, Childhood Cancer and Environment coordinators.
A couple of days later, the multiple district team organized another virtual meeting during which participants learned about the multiple district goals and action plans. The following strategy was formulated under the guidance of and motivational address by International Director R. Sampath, Third Vice President-Endorsee and Past International Director G. Ramaswamy, Past International Director K. Dhanabalan, Past International Director N.S. Sankar, Past International Director K.G. Rama Krishna Moorthy and Past International Director M. Nagarajan.
Lions Receive Recognition
Multiple district GMT Women and Family Specialist and Past District Governor K.S. Lakshmi honored the new member sponsors and multiple district Hunger coordinator and Past District Governor N.R. Dhanabalan honored the service project donors with an appreciation certificate awarded by the multiple district and signed by International Director R. Sampath and others. This truly inspired the club officers.
Social Media Promotion
A digital poster design competition was launched among the multiple district IT and digital marketing teams. They came up with several innovative designs, and 20 templates for each program were selected. To ensure that all clubs heard about the programs, invites, reminders and countdown messages using the digital posters were created and circulated on Facebook and on sub-district club officers’ WhatsApp groups. Every program was promoted for 20 days, and each day a different flyer was used. On the day of the event, the same flyers were used to share the progress in all districts. This helped keep the excitement going among Lions, and also kept them engaged and determined to achieve their goals.
Countdown flyer shared on social media to encourage clubs to participate in the virtual membership drive
At this point, the Faculty Development Institute (FDI), Advanced Lions Leadership Institute (ALLI), Regional Lions Leadership Institute (RLLI) and Emerging Lions Leadership Institute (ELLI) graduates were involved to promote the programs at the club level. About 1,300 Lions from approximately 75 clubs, including the GAT team, promoted the membership and service drives at the club level and encouraged Lions to get recognized by the multiple district.
The virtual membership drive held on October 15 was extremely successful for several reasons. It had a simple goal: each club was tasked with recruiting just one new member. With the participation of over 60% of clubs, more than 2,500 members were added, surpassing the target goal of recruiting 1,630 new members. At the end of the day, the leadership was so pleased with the results that they decided to extend the drive to the end of the month. They were thrilled to learn that 3,560 members had been recruited and reported in MyLCI in the month of October alone.
As for the service activity drive, clubs prepared meals and distributed them in their communities. About 860 clubs participated in hunger relief activities and reported more than 3,990 activities in MyLion in the month of January 2021, surpassing the target goal of 1,630 activities, with only 53% of club participation. Since recognition plays such a significant role in member satisfaction, the multiple district decided to recognize those clubs that had reported their activity in MyLion. This strategy worked well, and in the month of January, the multiple district witnessed a 58% increase in its reporting.
The goals were altered by extending the programs to two month-long programs instead of two day-long programs to ensure that the maximum number of clubs participated. Eighty-five percent of their total results were achieved.
The success of these two drives can largely be attributed to the dynamic leadership at the multiple district and district levels. This network of leaders was the driving force behind the membership growth and in carrying out the service projects. With a robust plan in place, and hopes in their hearts, they were able to surpass the MD 324 goals of 1,630 new members and 1,630 service activities in a single day.
To celebrate the success of the October virtual membership drive, the GAT team members from each district were invited to a celebratory dinner in December and were honored with plaques for their exemplary work by International Director R. Sampath, Third Vice President-Endorsee and Past International Director G. Ramaswamy, Past International Director K. Dhanabalan, Past International Director K.G. Rama Krishna Moorthy and Council Chairman S. Sivakumar. This celebration was instrumental for the January 2021 service activity drive as it recognized Lions for their remarkable achievements.
That evening, everyone on the team felt that “We did it!” not “I did it!”
Every multiple district is unique and has unique needs. If you would like to learn more about membership tools and resources that will work best for your region, check out the Global Membership Team Toolbox.
Past District Governor Pandiarajan Thalamuthu is a Global Action Team area leader for CA VI Area P.
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