Community Calling
Behind any dynamic private club community, you’ll find a dedicated corps of Member volunteers. But what drives them to get involved?
Fifty-one volunteers.
In May 1928, that’s all it took to establish the American Club on the top three floors of the Iwamoto Building in Tokyo’s Yurakucho neighborhood.
They were largely senior American executives in search of a private place to drink and socialize after work, but their can-do attitude formed the bedrock of an institution now approaching its 93rd year.
Therein lies a lesson as important in 1928 as it is today: those who take it upon themselves to make the Club better do so for all.
“You would enjoy this Club a lot more,” says Miki Ohyama, a longtime member of numerous Club committees, of the rewards of volunteering. “It [would be] a shame if you missed the chance to get that experience.”
As chair of the Culture, Community & Entertainment Committee, Ohyama is responsible for organizing dozens of events on the Club’s annual calendar, including the current Friday Night Live events and various long-running cultural tours. Though she now occupies a position many Members might consider active to supporting Club life, Ohyama got her start as a volunteer with the then-named Women’s Group when she joined the Club in 2001.
“I never felt any stress or frustration because I have [a lot of] interest in being part of the Club community and supporting and running events,” Ohyama says of her motivation for volunteering.
She is one of just a handful of Japanese serving on Club committees and the Board of Governors. Despite Japanese comprising half of the Club’s overall membership, Members from countries beyond Japan dominate most committees and the Board.
A perceived need to be fluent in English may be behind the hesitance of Japanese Members to get involved, explains Ohyama. Rather than cause her to shy away, Ohyama’s lack of English proficiency at the time proved another reason to get engaged.
Image (Yuuki Ide): Miki Ohyama
“The most popular question I receive from the Japanese membership is ‘How can I learn English?’” Ohyama says. “I say, ‘Why don’t you just jump in and be part of the Club by volunteering? Then you see more foreigners and can talk more.’ I think the most important thing [when learning] a second language is using it every day, rather than taking only one or two classes per week.”
It would be a mistake to think that given the small percentage of Members who do volunteer in various Club roles, they must possess years of experience in Club governance.
“I felt that I had some skill or experience that would help the Club when it was going through a period of rapid change,” says John Durkin, who served as the Club’s representative governor from 2012 to 2016—a challenging period for the Club following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and 2008’s global financial crisis. “Using my unique background might be beneficial to the Club, I thought, so I decided to just volunteer my time.”
Image (Yuuki Ide): John Durkin
“In my very first [Culture, Community & Entertainment Committee] meeting, they said, ‘We need someone to plan the Super Bowl [party],’” recalls Joseph Billi. “‘Tag, you’re it.’”
Before joining the committee (one of 22 standing committees, subcommittees and task forces in the Club), Billi had some experience planning events outside of his professional life. That organizing spirit he’d left in the United States didn’t vanish when he arrived in Tokyo, however. He simply redirected it toward his new life volunteering as the committee’s greenest member.
“I just tried to talk to a bunch of people and figure out what wasn’t working,” says Billi of planning his first Super Bowl in 2018. “I came up with a couple of ideas, changed some things and just kind of, you know, gave it a shot.”
Despite the odd speedbump, the event in the New York Ballroom was well attended, and Billi has applied the lessons learned to all subsequent Super Bowl parties at the Club, as well as a host of other committee events.
If there’s anything Billi and Ohyama have in common, it’s a relatively rare willingness to throw their hat into the ring.
Image (Yuuki Ide): Joseph Billi
Of the Club’s nearly 3,800-strong membership, just 157 Members are actively involved in committees and the Board. While Club staff and management help support and serve the entire Club community, it’s that 4 percent of Members who drive nearly every decision made affecting the other 96 percent.
While that may seem like a low number, it could actually be above average. For example, at the American Club in Singapore, of around 3,300 members, just 118, or 3.5 percent, actively volunteer.
“There are some committees that have a capacity limit,” says Richard Hartung, the Singapore club’s president. “We do look at how do we get some of the best people in there, but there is not always capacity for everyone who wants to volunteer.”
According to Frank Vain, president of the McMahon Group, a US-based private club consultancy, club committees can offer another—less obvious—benefit for members.
“I always look at committees, frankly, as a bit of a club within a club,” he says. “If you serve on a certain committee, you really build some strong relationships with those people. It gives you another reason to come to the club.”
It all begs the question: given the benefits of Club volunteerism, why don’t more people jump at the opportunity to pitch in? One reason, Vain says, is that plenty of members might want a break from the pressures of management and governance in their professional lives. Their club is an escape from a life of leadership and obligations.
Of course, volunteering isn’t the only way to be an active Member of the Club. Registering to vote, attending general meetings and providing feedback through Tell TAC comment cards all help the Club evolve and, in turn, serve the membership.
For some members who would otherwise volunteer, Vain says, the problem can be simply about awareness.
“[It’s important to] make sure that in new member orientation to take steps to coach people and make them aware of the fact that this is a volunteer organization,” says Vain. “You want to encourage that.”
At each of the Club’s monthly new Member orientation sessions, directors explain every aspect of Club life, including how newcomers can participate in Club governance.
There’s no mistake that volunteers at the Club take on their own slate of tasks on top of the stresses of everyday life. For new arrivals to Tokyo, it may seem all too daunting while setting up a life in an unfamiliar city.
But the sooner Members get involved, the sooner they reap the rewards of Club life.
“I’ve met so many more people doing this than I ever would have met otherwise,” says Billi.
“You’re not just spending money,” Ohyama says of the cost of becoming a Member. “You are investing to make your life at the Club better.”
Words: Owen Ziegler
Images: Yuuki Ide
Annual General Meeting
Nov 17 | 6:30pm
