37 / 134
BUSINESS WORLD MAGAZINE
ing in constant contact with
membership for almost two
years in the lead-up, making
sure that they were all aware
of both the necessity and the
practicality of the upgrades.
He also credits the club’s stra-
tegic decision to conduct cash
calls of membership prior to
the vote. They needed to raise
$5 million in equity to fund
the renovation, which meant
collecting $6,500 from every
shareholder. They were con-
cerned that members would
vote ‘no’ because they didn’t
want to raise the money, re-
gardless of the best interests of
the club. They ended up losing
roughly 170 members in the
process, but those were most-
ly members that didn’t use the
club very much anyway.
“Ourmembers had to look at the
value proposition,” Dustin says.
“They had to ask themselves if
they used the club enough to
justify another $6,500. The peo-
ple that left, understandably,
really didn’t use the club a lot.
That was reflected in our aver-
age spend. With 170 less peo-
ple, we were still making just as
much money or more on a daily
basis.”
When it came to the members
that remained, the Royal Gleno-
ra Club went to great lengths to
ensure everyone had their say.
They set up the voting station in
the middle of the lobby for ev-
eryone to see, they allowed for
advance voting a week ahead of
time, and they even engaged a
firm that specializes in elections
to conduct a ‘get out the vote’
campaign. As a result, 84 per
cent of eligible members cast
their ballots, and 87 per cent of
those members voted to sup-
port the project.
“That’s really unheard of in pri-
vate member clubs,” Dustin
says. “Typically, you pray for
about 50 per cent turnout. Get-
ting more than 80 per cent of
your members to cast a ballot
is a huge success.”
Moving forward, the Royal Gle-
nora Club hopes to reward
that unity by providing facili-
ties and services that will last
those members and their fam-
ilies well into the future. If the
redevelopment had not gone
through, Dustin believes that
future would be a lot less bright.
“I was fearful,” he admits. “If
this renovation didn’t happen, I
think there would be conversa-
tions in five or six years about
the club closing down. The