Civic clubs are adjusting to a new, post-pandemic reality.
Tiffany Edwards, president of the Springfield City Club, said even with COVID fading, they still have lots of people who attend remotely.
“That has impacted our bottom line," she said. "When you saw people twice a month, they would remember that they needed to pay their dues and things like that.”
Edwards said while it feels like people are more comfortable now with social interactions, their membership numbers are only slowly increasing. She said the board is thinking about creative ways to bring in new revenue and reinvent the organization.
Liz Ness is the president of the Rotary Club of Eugene. She said the club had been hampered by a high average age, and that they lost members in the shift to programming over Zoom. “What we’re seeing now," she said, "just within the last year or so, is we’re really bringing in a lot of younger members.”
Ness thinks a group they created specifically for emerging Rotarians has helped.
At the City Club of Central Oregon, Executive Director Kim Gammond said they now have fewer business members and more individuals. She feels companies are slow to shift back to in-person meetings.
“I think all of us are more conservative with our time now," she added. "That might be a change we see long term, is that we can be a little more selective in where we spend our time.”
Gammond said attendance has returned to pre-pandemic numbers—over 200 people per month—but that instead of attending all 12 yearly forums, people are choosing five or six.
