Dear Everyone,
It was great to see some faces that we haven’t seen for a long time at our in-person meeting on Tuesday, Russ Nielsen, Martin and Peter Hadwen. Some of our newer members may not know that their partners and children are also welcome at our meetings and to have their meal with us. The McAllister boys, the Elfick children and Patrick Clark were frequent visitors before reaching the age where they could stay at home and look after themselves.
As mentioned at our meeting, February is “Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution Month” and the
2022 Rotary Peace Fellowship application is now available, and Rotary International needs our help to find the next cohort of global peace and development leaders. Can you please use your professional and social contacts to find potential candidates?
I, and some of our other members, subscribe to the Rotary Coordinator Zone 8’s Newsletter “Rotary on the Move”. In the February 2021 issue, there was an article written by PDG PP Euan Miller from the RC of Norwood in Adelaide. It was very topical in the light of the focus we shone on the Centurion Club on Tuesday night. You may be wondering why there has been a greater emphasis placed by District recently on becoming a Centurion and donating $100 annually. The article was titled “Foundation Funding Crisis” and states that, “For the second time in two years the World Fund is likely to run out of money to provide matching dollars to Global Grant applications. Last year the funds ran out in May but this year the outlook is more dire….
Why has this happened?
Clubs have clearly focused on Global Grant projects and the number of Global Grants applications continues to grow at an astounding rate. At the end of December Global Grants approved were 85% ahead of what they were at the same time last year… [Furthermore] there will be a big waiting list of projects for the new area of focus Supporting the environment, ready to compete for grants on July 1 this year.
As Rotarians, clubs and districts, we have a responsibility to help fix this problem.
Giving to the Annual Programs Fund across our Zone, (the source of District Designated Funds we all use to implement our international projects) has declined since the Centenary of the Foundation in 2017.
In our personal tax deductible giving, we are not growing either Centurions or Paul Harris Society members in sufficient numbers. Clubs and Districts also are failing to reach the target of USD100/member every year, …a modest benchmark every district should be able to achieve….
How do we solve this problem?
Most clubs raise funds for the Foundation from Rotarians alone.” And this explains why District would like to see the percentage of Club members who are Centurions increase to 50%. It is an ideal I would like our Club to achieve on condition it does not impose any financial hardship.
But there is another avenue too.
Euan argues that there should be club and district public fundraisers for the Rotary Foundation in general or for specific projects; how about a Bunnings BBQ for the Rotary Foundation? How about we compete with the Red Shield, Red Cross and World Vision seeking donations from businesses and the general public? “The Rotary Foundation beats all these competitors in the fiduciary stakes (Charity Navigator awards TRF the top award year after year for the stewardship of donations and application of the monies to worthwhile projects).
We need to grow our impact in the communities we serve. Our impact is measured by our project delivery, not by fundraising and especially not for other charities that also fundraise.” This is DG Alma’s belief too. We should not be “middlemen” who raise money to give to other charities, when our charity offers the best value for money. We should consider a fundraiser to RAISE for ROTARY and fund The Rotary Foundation, our Charity. If the T2T Market succeeds on an ongoing basis, some of its funds could be diverted there.
The next meeting of the Emerald Village Association (EVA) is a Community Network Night and community groups have been invited to attend. It’s Wednesday Feb. 24th at 7:30pm. at the Hub. Ros informed me that each community group will get 3 minutes to talk about their group so I will use the opportunity to promote Rotary and our Club. It would be great if lots of you could join Shalini, Roy, Ali, Ros and me and attend. Please find the invitation below and you need to RSVP to Dick Bartley.
At our first meeting, after Ian Ash encouraged us to be involved in District’s Membership Masterclass, six Club members have enrolled which is very pleasing: Lorna, Kristine, Tina, Roy, Marcus and me. The four sessions are on RI’s 4 Strategic Priorities which were mentioned in Ian’s presentation: Enhance Participant Engagement, Increase Your Ability to Adapt – which Ian is facilitating, Increase Your Impact and Expand Your Reach. We will learn a lot and hope to be able to put the lessons into practice.
Thank you’s this week to:
- Chris Adams for standing in at the last moment and chairing our meeting.
- Ian Ash for his professional presentation on the new Strategic Plan.
- Russ Neilsen for his thoughtful, insightful and thought-provoking response to Ian’s presentation.
- Catherine and Ian Wakefield for organising Saturday’s Market.
- for her engaging “Know Your Rotarian” talk.
- Lyn and Gayle for taking flowers and our well-wishes to Sangeeta.
- who let Lorna know they were attending the meeting. From now on, this is de rigueur.
- for writing our article for the EVA Newsletter February edition, widely available around town.
Don’t forget that this Tuesday night, our Guest Speaker is PP, MPHF Steve Crosling from the Diamond Creek Rotary Club and the District 9790 Coordinator of Shelter Box, talking about Shelter Box.
And Chris Adams is doing a “Know Your Rotarian” segment, which will be of great interest.
** Next week:
on 16th of February Peter Ravenscroft will be delivering his “Behind the Badge” talk. He has led such an interesting life that we will only be able to hear certain parts on this occasion, but it is not to be missed!
**The following week:
on 23rd of February it’s Club Assembly again with an update from all Areas of Service Chairs.
See you at the Pub on Tuesday night and ring/email Lorna by midday Tuesday to say you are coming.
Stay safe, and stay Rotary Even Prouder.
Yours in Rotary,
Vicki.
