By Rotary International

By Quentin Wodon, a member of the Rotary Club of Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., USA

Membership growth is an important topic in Rotary. Since my last blog post (6 ingredients for membership growth), my club has continued to focus on how we can follow our strategic plan and continue our initial success at growing our club. We have been fortunate to double our membership in six months, from 18 members in July to 38 in February. We are cautiously not “claiming victory” over our growth goals, since we could still experience a downturn in membership. But we have made progress.

Part of our gains were connected to a new initiative whereby we offer our expertise to local nonprofits. On 24 February, we are hosting two training workshops for local nonprofits on Capitol Hill. We have a wonderful lineup of speakers and 150 people signed up to attend morning sessions on monitoring, evaluating, and conducting cost-benefit analysis; and afternoon sessions on communicating using social media, websites, and powerpoint presentations. The CEO of the Grameen Foundation is our keynote speaker for lunch.

By teaming up with Capitol Hill Community Foundation, which provided funding for our event, we are establishing ourselves as …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

The Rotary Club of Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada, Lights up the Night during last year’s celebration of Rotary’s anniversary.

Rotary clubs around the world will mark Rotary’s 112th anniversary by holding fundraisers, illuminating famous buildings, and hosting events of all sorts. We’ll add a sampling of photos from around the world to this gallery. Send us one from your club’s celebration. Please include a brief description.

Learn more about Rotary’s history.

…read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

“But, we ask, must the best genius of men be devoted to the science of war and none to the science of averting it?”

— Paul Harris, 1940

The second world war weighed on the mind of Rotary’s founder as he wrote a message to members in The Rotarian in February 1940, on the occasion of Rotary’s 35th anniversary. …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

By Kate McKenzie, Rotary E-Club of Western Australia

Recently, I came across the concept of “conscious inclusion” when reading an article about how a bank consulted with an NGO for people with vision impairment when designing their new credit/debit cards. I started thinking about whether Rotary clubs are practicing conscious inclusion.

Unconscious bias means that we are often not aware of the needs of others. We may be willing to adjust if someone asks, but we may not be proactive about thinking ahead, asking for advice and then communicating with people that we have considered their needs.

People used to raise children in their 20s so by the time they were in their 30s they were starting to have time to do other things. Now parents often welcome their first born when they are are in their 30s and juggling career with everything else. Volunteering with Rotary could be easier if children could be a part of it. Does your venue have highchairs and maybe a small box of toys/books? Does your website mention that children are welcome? Do you plan some activities in family-friendly places like parks?

The Rotary E-Club of Western Australia

When I became a mother, I was suddenly a …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Use a cover photo that really speaks to your club’s mission.

By Melissa Ward, Rotary Club of Twin Bridges, Southern Saratoga, New York, USA

A Facebook page gives your club a voice on Facebook. With so much other “noise” on social media, there are several things you can do to raise your club’s page above the distractions.

Make good use of visuals. Your cover photo is prime real estate. Use a photo that really speaks to your club’s mission.Post fun, active photos.
Post regularly. Share your club’s next program, a photo of a project, create an event for your next fundraiser. For example, post your speaker every Monday. Share a photo every Wednesday. Share an article from Rotary.org every Friday.
Encourage club members to LIKE and SHARE posts from your Facebook Page. This is where the magic of social media kicks in. When members share posts onto their personal Facebook page, their connections can see it, like it and increase the club’s exposure exponentially. This is key to keeping your club’s posts in the newsfeed.
Your Facebook page can become a source for donations. If your club’s page has been set up as a not for profit and is verified you may …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Students show off their construction skills by making kites out of newspapers during classes supported by the science education program.

By Pauline Leung, a member of the Rotary Club of Taipei Pei An, Taiwan, and past governor of District 3520

On a rainy day in Spring four years ago, I was talking to a few young teachers about the education system in Taiwan. The country was on the verge of extending free education to children through the age of 12, which I thought was a good policy to reduce illiteracy.

However, the teachers had concerns about the impact of the policy on schools in remote areas of Taiwan that have less resources and thereby have a harder time staying competitive. They explained to me that the children in these schools don’t get the extra curriculum trainings necessary to have opportunities to attend college or university.

In January 2014, a report titled “Child Welfare League Foundation” noted a considerable gap between urban and rural areas. The lack of resources in remote areas led to poorer performance by children, many of who were aborigines. Since these children could never catch up, roughly a quarter of them consider dropping out of elementary school. Improving basic education seemed …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

A community reconciliation event in the Solomon Islands.

By Nadia Mahmood, Rotary Peace Fellow, University of Queensland, Australia

Over the past two and a half months, I have been working with Prison Fellowship Solomon Islands (PF), a grassroots peace-building organization which runs conflict resolution, restorative justice,and reconciliation programs and provides support for families of inmates.

It is honestly hard to put into words how inspiring and engaging it is to work with this team of local volunteers who exemplify everything that Rotary stands for. During my time here, I have had the opportunity to travel to different provinces to be part of restorative justice training in the prisons and help inmates write letters of apology to their victims.

Rotary Peace Fellow Nadia Mahmood (front center) during her applied field experience.

The Prison Fellowship team delivers the letters to the victims’ families and mediates and counsels them to see if they are open to engaging in reconciliation. As part of this, I have been able to support the team in mediating reconciliations between individuals, communities, as well as between groups of former combatants and between ex-combatants and their own communities.

We organized a Christmas program at three locations that allowed incarcerated parents to reconnect with their families …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Women in the second chance literacy program.

By Manish Shroff, past president of the Rotary Club of Ankleshwar, India

Our Rotary club is surrounded by rural and tribal villages in the Bharuch District of Gujarat State, India. The literacy rate in these villages is low and dropout rates of students in primary schools are high, most particularly among girls. We wanted to do something about that.

We conducted a survey with the help of PRATHAM, an NGO working in the rural literacy field across India, to gauge the condition of education in several of these villages. The study found that many girls leave school after the primary level mainly because of the lack of secondary education nearby. Students have to travel further, and for various socio-economic reasons, this makes it more likely that girls will drop out after the primary level and not go on to grades 7 or 8.

Education is the only way for women to secure a better future for themselves and for their daughters. Although urbanization is increasing education among women in urban areas, rural women still suffer from a lack of mobility and access to education. It is noteworthy that the performance of girls on state exams equals or …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Youth Exchange Students take part in a year-end European Tour.

By Joel Dzuba, Rotary Exchange Student from Ontario, Canada, to Lower Saxony, Germany

It would be impossible to pick a favourite memory from my exchange in Germany due to the sheer number of opportunities I had and dreams I lived. From sailing in the Baltic Sea, to walking in the North Sea, to swimming in the Mediterranean, there are simply too many experiences to pick a favourite.

Joel Dzuba in Germany.

Birthday on a beach
One of the many stories that I do love to share, however, was when I was celebrating my 18th birthday during our year-end European Tour. All the exchange students had gathered on the beach at night to watch the stars in the little town of Portofino, Italy, and eventually I found myself sitting back to back on a rock with a Brazilian student, a Russian student, and a Taiwanese student. In all of my life, no other moment has ever made me feel so paradoxical as that night.

On the one hand, I felt so incredibly small when I realized where I was sitting and with whom I was sitting; as I was just a boy from Ontario who suddenly found …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog