During our changeover luncheon on Tuesday June 27, we thanked outgoing President Jason Beever for another year of service to our club. Then incoming President Bill Chadwick shared his vision for our new year. Bill shared his enthusiasm for meeting the challenges set before us by both our new District Governor Dave Underhill and RI President Ian Riseley.
This year we in Rotary will be working hard at “telling our story” to raise awareness, attract new members, and help Rotary International tell our collective story. While awareness of Rotary has increased in the past few years, there is still a lack of understanding about what Rotary does in our communities and around the world.
To this end, Bill suggested several action items:
Complete a calendar audit of all the “fund raising events” that we do annually. The intent of the audit is to fully account for every event that our club does and place it on a club annual calendar. This can include everything from our annual golf tournament to our weekly raffle.
Review all the “service projects” we are committed to, from local literacy to clean water in Guatemala to cash donations to organizations we support.
Clearly identify all grants and scholarships. This includes scholarships to WRVC, RYLA and DECA and Rotary UN Day support.
Create a summary of our house project to share with new and newer members. This should include information about how we partner with the City and WRVC to identify land, develop and execute a plan, and disburse scholarships.
The goal is to identify all that we are doing, associate activities and events with our calendar to enable successful engagement, and provide transparency to our members regarding our projects and finances. This will allow us to generate and provide empirical data through Rotary Club Central which aggregates data across all clubs and districts.
In addition, Bill set primary goals for the coming year.
Six Areas of Focus - Re-orient our energies as needed to align with Rotary’s Six Areas of Focus. This includes qualifying each new thing that we commit to as a club within this framework while still honoring commitments to historical projects.
Foundation Giving – He would like to see our Foundation giving continue to grow as it has over the past few years. This includes continuing our matching program for members who donate up to $100 per year. He would also like to see us add to our Paul Harris Fellows, increase those at the various Paul Harris Plus levels, and encourage a member or members to become a major donor to the Foundation with lifetime giving of $10K+. We are now engaged in Global Grants and our role in the District and beyond will be become more significant as members engage in more District and Global projects. Our giving must keep pace with our leadership in service.
Membership Growth – Bill would like our membership committee thrive with directives to secure new members to our club. To that end he is planning to request funding focused on securing new memberships. He would like to see 10 new members engaged in this coming year and identify ways to maintain the members that we have both by engagement in service and through participation in club development.
Interact/Rotaract/RYLA/Youth Leadership – Empower faculty advisors to develop successful programs in Gorham, Westbrook and in the new Rotaract Club at St. Joseph’s college, encourage cross organizational engagement in programming and service projects. Support growth in membership for all clubs. Continue support for RYLA, Rotary UN Day, Interact Conference and other leadership development opportunities.
Bill’s hope is to generates pride, exploration, and the desire to share the values of Rotary with others. In short, he hopes that better understanding how significant our club and project already are will inspire us to greater levels of success and service.
