By Rotary International

By John Hewko, Rotary International General Secretary

What Rotary has achieved over the past century is remarkable. We were one of the world’s first membership service organizations. Rotary members have made a decisive positive impact in our communities and around the world, from helping to draft the UN Charter in San Francisco in 1945, to spearheading the most successful global health partnership in history with the launch of our PolioPlus program in 1985, bringing one of the world’s most feared diseases to the brink of eradication.

The list of groundbreaking Rotary projects is too long to mention here. But as our Foundation enters its second century, we also need to think hard about how we will continue to have the kind of impact and influence that has shaped our first 100 years.

Our members, of course, are the beating heart of Rotary. So membership is a good place to start.

Greater flexibility
Over the past 15 years, Rotary has carried out pilot programs that have explored new definitions of membership, classifications, and the club experience. We have consistently found that when clubs are given the freedom to determine how to hold their meetings, the composition of their membership, and what defines engagement, the …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

The Rotary Club of Grand Cayman’s project team to Guatemala.

By Gina McBryan, a member of the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

We all have our stories of how we were introduced to Rotary, and for the most part, those stories are positive. I could have been a Rotary member much sooner, had someone approached me.

I’m sure every club encourages their members to bring along guests and sponsor new members. For the past five years I have been a Rotary member, I’ve heard the same words of encouragement from my club leaders. And worldwide, our membership totals have remained stable. This makes me think of that line about the definition of insanity, “doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting different results.”

This made me think of my own experience, why didn’t I find out about Rotary before 2011? How come no one invited me to visit a Rotary meeting? It wasn’t that I lived in a remote part of the world where there wasn’t any clubs. In fact, there were four clubs in my local community. Maybe I even worked alongside Rotarians and didn’t know it. The fact is, I didn’t know anything about Rotary until I …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Mentor a young leader, and discover yet another reason to love Rotary.

By Programs for Young Leaders staff

You’re up at 5:30 a.m. for your sunrise meeting. You stay long after the sun goes down to clean up after your club’s event. And, last spring, you raced daylight across twelve time zones to join other Rotarians at a national immunization day. Rotary moments? You’ve got 20. You love everything, from polo shirts to Paul Harris Society pins, except for this mentoring stuff.

For you, youth service has the awkwardness of a school cafeteria, the uncertainty of a drama club trust fall, and the terror of a university quiz on German declension. It’s small wonder you’re first on the list for the highway cleanup, with its predictable neon vests, and last to host an exchange student, advise an Interact club, or mentor Rotaractors.

But now’s the time to see that Rotary’s programs for young leaders give you everything you love about Rotary just with a few more emojis, pizzas, and blazers covered with pins. (That’s right — even more pins than Rotary.) You’ll find the camaraderie of your meeting, the energy of your service project, and the sense of …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

A model of the Multi-Lifestyle club approach adopted by the Rotary Club of Harrogate Brigantes’

By Richard Bosworth, a member of the Rotary Club of Harrogate Brigantes, North Yorkshire, England

At the beginning of 2013, I was serving as membership chair of my club when I realized that we needed to do something to slow the loss of membership. Three years later, we have a vibrant and growing multi-dimensional club – we use the term Multi-lifestyle Rotary Club – that is making full use of the digital age and is discovering smarter ways of operating to secure our long-term future. How did we do it, and what do we mean by a multi-lifestyle club?

What I mean is a club that appeals to and is comprised of members of more than one distinct group, who work “together, yet apart.” Currently, we operate two groups, a traditional evening group and a new business development group. The latter meets over breakfast and appeals to younger, enterprising, entrepreneurs and business executives.

Sun and planets model
Each group operates and manages itself to suit its members: the traditional group with a council and committees, the business development group with a small executive team, using smart technology and social …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Alexandria Ritchie (seated under banner), with the Rotaract Club of John Tyler Community College.

By Alexandria Ritchie, a member of the Rotaract Club of Virginia Commonwealth University and the Rotary Club of James River, Richmond, Virginia, USA

Recently, two Rotary friends shared with me the decision taken by the Council on Legislation to allow Rotaractors to also join Rotary. (The Council is where Rotary members gather every three years to discuss changes to the policies governing our organization.)

So I thought I’d give it a try. I am 21, and now also a member of the Rotary Club of James River. Let me tell you a little bit about my experience in Rotary and its young leaders programs from the perspective of a brand new young Rotarian.

My path to Rotary
I joined Rotaract after being a member of my high school’s Interact club. I founded a Rotaract chapter on my campus at John Tyler Community College and have been a loyal member of Rotaract ever since. It’s changed my life. I now represent my entire district as a district Rotaract representative.

How did I make the decision to join a Rotary club? The answer is simple. My …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog