Ever since I have been in Rotary, I have never had the real opportunity to learn about the money side of the Club. Not surprising because when it comes to money, the little person doesn't need to know right?
Anyway, I think everyone in our Club needs to know that their efforts in raising funds are put towards areas where it will make the most impact. I don't say it enough, but we give our time freely in the hope that something good will become of it. We toil, and some members bear the costs of fuel and wear and tear only to have some bean counter up the tree sprays their efforts without comment or consideration to organisations who we have no idea will spend our money well. I know the efforts our working members go to raise funds for the Club. I know how much it is to run a vehicle and I appreciate the cost of time to organise a project. We are Rotarians because we want to make a difference. We are not Rotarians because we want our efforts wasted.
Some of you might know that I come from a small business background in a volatile and seasonal industry. In my business, you can go from raking it in to broke in a wink of an eye. It has become necessary to "read the market" and predict what might happen just to stay viable. A sale is not a sale until the money is in the bank as they say!
Together with my Board, we have applied some of those principles through COVID to enable our Club to take advantage of everything that Rotary can do even through uncertain times such as COVID. We have maintained a healthy bank balance even when fundraising wasn't going too well. We have fulfilled our community objectives and kept our Club viable. A healthy dose of goal setting and budgeting helped to ensure we had the funds available for the projects we knew we wanted to do.
Our Club is not for profit, so it is important not to carry funds surplus to needs. It is also important not to run the club broke by donating too much money so that the Club cannot function in an environment where it needs to step up.
Our fundraising efforts, although starting very late in the year have been exceptional due to the efforts of the Art Screen Crew led by Gus Dominguez and the Presentation Ball Crew led by Dave Anderson. Underneath those two projects are a raft of hard-working team players. Good fundraising is what keeps our Club in a position to help our community. Good financial management goes a long way to make the biggest impact we can with the funds we have available. I make no apologies for the strategy, I want our Club to be effective, even in less than uncertain times.
This year, once Treasurer Wendy Langdon has finalized the accounts, we will be planning for next year by setting a budget. Remembering that we cannot take fundraising for granted, it is only responsible that money is allocated to the areas we know it will be used. Youth programs including the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, Model of United , supporting Rotary Donations in Kind, and the Rotary Foundation are high on the agenda. Australian Rotary Health and Disaster Aid Australia rank as well as supporting Rotary Berwick and District Benevolent Society for their work in the community. Berwick College, our partners in the Presentation Ball project and Interact are all significant players who make us US.
My personal goal is to support our inner Rotary Club of Berwick circle. I want whatever excess money we have available to support the organisations that define our Club, its values and direction. The number of donations might be small, but our impact will be great. I am but one member of the Rotary Club of Berwick but Rotary needs to support Rotary. Our Club needs to support our partners and our sponsors.
Our Club is not made of money. Our fundraising is done through hard work by the members and not by public donations. We need to support our network and show that we are an integral part of making sure that everything we rely on can function. Naturally, I am open to club members' opinions if my viewpoint puts them at odds with my presentation. I want maximum bang for the buck created by the hard work of the members. I do not like wasting money and I want to ensure the Club will have a comfortable and successful 2022-23 by not starving the Club of funds and hoping it will find them too late in the year to be of any use to the people we serve.
We are Rotary. We work to make a difference and we expect our efforts will make lasting change in our community.
