A ‘barter baron’ with a knack for recruiting Rotary members

 

A ‘barter baron’ with a knack for recruiting Rotary members

By Dylan Foley

One day in the mid-1960s, a salesperson walked into Bernie Bregman’s paint manufacturing plant in Syracuse, New York, and urged him to join Barter Mart, a company that facilitated barter exchanges. With a one-time sign-up fee, participants, who could be individuals or companies, could exchange goods and services, with the company earning a commission on each transaction. Bregman loved the idea and soon became a member. Once, he managed to persuade a candle-maker to sign up. They ended up bartering for advertising.

“People barter all the time — with their lawyers, their accountants,” says Bregman, a 52-year member of the Rotary Club of Eastwood (Syracuse). In later years, he became the marketing director for the Syracuse Trading Exchange, another barter company that allowed members to also trade for credits toward goods and services. He eventually ran the company and part of his pay was in trading credits. “I stayed in Las Vegas with my family on my barter credits,” he says. “I’ve gotten a hot tub and works of art from trading credits.”

A local magazine gave him the nickname “barter baron” in 1983 when he was with the Trading Exchange. At 91, Bregman says bartering still gives him a high. He is now a member of a Wisconsin-based barter company. Each time he brings in a new member, he gets $100 in trade credits.

A gregarious man with the energy of a person 30 years younger, he also uses his formidable networking skills to help Rotary. For the past 12 years, Bregman has served as co-chair of his club’s membership committee. “Rotary International has a 50+ club for people who have recruited more than 50 members,” he says. “Over the last five decades, I’ve recruited more than 150.” One of his secrets is to monitor local media for promising candidates. “I’m not afraid to cold call people and invite them to our club meetings,” he says.

Three of the club’s four monthly meetings feature speakers, which can be a source for prospective Rotary members. “The speeches are everything,” says Bregman, who has been on a mission to bring diverse members to the club. “I reached out to the Syracuse chapter of 100 Black Men, a national leadership group. Their president gave a speech and I asked him to become a member. He joined, and pulled in his vice president. We now have 27 percent nonwhite membership.”

Another of Bregman’s notable recruits is entrepreneur Tai Ngo Shaw, who came to Buffalo in 1982 at the age of 10 as a Vietnamese refugee, and was adopted by a local family. Four decades later, Shaw is a prominent business owner and real estate investor, as well as a leader in Syracuse’s Vietnamese community. “I saw that Tai Ngo Shaw was speaking at the local NAACP chapter,” says Bregman. “I called Tai, a complete stranger, and asked him to speak at my Rotary club. It was a big success.” Shaw joined the Eastwood club in 2021.

When the club celebrated its 60th anniversary in November 2021, it had 28 members. Bregman and others in the club brought their membership promotion efforts into overdrive. “With the new members in January, we are up to about 70,” he says. For Bregman, pulling in a new Rotary member is like sales. “When I bring in somebody, it keeps me going,” he says.

Bregman studied journalism at Syracuse University, and after his Army service, he was a reporter for a Syracuse TV station. Laid off right before his wedding in 1957, he answered an ad for “an able-bodied man” and became a door-to-door Fuller Brush salesman. It turned out that his charisma and outgoing personality made him very successful at sales. “I am a bit of character,” admits Bregman. “As a former journalist, I know how to make a story.”

Recently retired after spending 32 years as the marketing director for the Central New York Business Journal, Bregman stays active. He thinks of all his activities as part of his network. “I work out of the solarium in our house, making calls all day. My wife wants me to do projects around the house. I just shrug my shoulders,” he says sheepishly. On a recent Monday, Bregman made 50 phone calls to remind people of the next day’s meeting. “It is a way to connect, to see if people are sick or out of town,” he says.

Last spring when he brought in Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh to speak, Bregman experienced a first. “The president of the club suddenly announced that the mayor had declared March 28 to be Bernard B. Bregman Day. I received one of those proclamations,” Bregman said. “It was a nice thought.”

An abbreviated version of this story originally appeared in the March 2024 issue of Rotary magazine.

Visit :-

https://www.rotary.org/en/barter-baron-knack-recruiting-rotary-members

http://www.slideshare.net/PabloAmo/crocus-zone-17-crocus-brochure-rotary-international

Dear fellow End Polio Now Zone Coordinators & interested Rotarians:

I’m writing to tell you about a great opportunity to energise our End Polio Now Campaign with a fresh, exciting and very effective fundraising and advocacy tool.

It’s very simple – using fabric crocus buttonholes to raise donations from the public and awareness for the Campaign. They’ve been tried by RIBI and have proved to be a runaway success. Rotarians in the 29 districts of Rotary in Britain & Ireland (RIBI) chose the crocus to symbolise the End Polio Now Campaign as its purple colour matched the dye painted on the fingers of children who had been immunised against polio. Initially they planted hundreds of thousands of real crocuses as an annual reminder of the Campaign and of course they bloom in the Spring, in time for February 23^rd and Rotary Day. 

Then, one visionary District Governor, Lynn Mitchell from District 1120, wanted to take the idea a stage further and develop a beautiful fabric crocus which could be worn by donors and members too. From a trial for Rotary Day this year, they are now being rolled out nationally for Rotary Day 2013 and are set to become the public face of Rotary Day in the throughout the 29 districts with over 150,000 crocuses ordered. In addition, trials and test marketing are underway in the US (John Adams in Zone 30 and Barbara Finley in Zone 31), Canada (William Patchett in Zone 24), Brazil (Neli Abascal in Zone 23 / part of 22A) and Nigeria (Olayinka Babalola in Zone 20A).

Attached is a brochure outlining the benefits of the crocus buttonholes in terms of fundraising and awareness building, and how they can be used.

We are all aware of the 5 year US$1 billion funding shortfall the End Polio Now campaign faces. In conjunction with the supplier, former Ambassadorial Scholar David Price, I would like to share an idea which could raise a significant proportion of this which I’d like to pitch to you. 

It’s a challenge for all Rotarians to wear a crocus buttonhole for a month and to distribute at least 10 crocus buttonholes to family, friends, colleagues or strangers for US$5 each. This should be very simple to achieve. As the crocuses are so attractive they are walking adverts and will trigger many conversations about Rotary and the End Polio Now Campaign. Some of these people who engage in conversation will ask how they can get a crocus buttonhole and I’m sure most will gladly make a US$5 donation for one. If every Rotarian distributed just 10 crocus buttonholes it would raise around US$60 million per year. Over 5 years this would be US$300 million, or a third of the funding shortfall.

 

The benefits are not just funding, but also advocacy. The millions of conversations about polio eradication will help to create mass awareness and provide grass roots support for the lobbying to governments and organisations by demonstrating the breadth and depth of public feeling.

But don’t take my word for this. David Price would like to arrange to send you a few crocus buttonholes so you and your family or colleagues can wear them and see what kind of a response you get. If it’s favourable, you could follow the lead of William Patchett in Zone 24 and order 5,000 for a test.

Yours in Rotary friendship,

Mike

M J Parry

Zone 17 End Polio Now Zone Coordinator

Message from Brenda Cressey, 2013 RRFC Institute Moderator.

  The Global Reach of Rotary continues to be extraordinarily strong. Every day we learn about thousands of passionate Rotarians who continue to “DO GOOD IN THE WORLD”. We hope you encourage leaders in your respective Districts to share those successful projects and programs, supported by The Rotary Foundation, that are truly “MaThe Global Reach of Rotary continues to be extraordinarily strong. Every day we learn about thousands of passionate Rotarians who continue to “DO GOOD IN THE WORLD”. We hope you encourage leaders in your respective Districts to share those successful projects and programs, supported by The Rotary Foundation, that are truly “Making a Difference” by using the new Rotary Showcase.

 Your collaboration and efforts with the RC’s and RPIC’s are working to highlight the many benefits and wonders of Rotary Membership and ongoing important support of our Rotary Foundation. We now enjoy many difference sources of communications from Rotary International as they continue to improve our outreach by way of E-Communications, Linked In, Facebook and Twitter.

However, I think you will all agree that the smiles shown on the faces of our RI President Sukuji Tanaka and Trustee Chair Wilf Wilkinson is infectious as they enthusiastically share their love of Rotary around the world! I’m sure, like me, when reading and looking at the many photos reflecting their high energy you cannot help and be proud of this incredible organization.

Future Vision success continues to be encouraging and the best practices coming out of our Pilot District’s is virtually invaluable. However, as we continue to hear concerns about the loss of our long running and successful GSE and Ambassadorial Scholarships we hope you keep yourselves abreast of the positive effects realized by having these programs designed with more flexibility.