A Proposed New Rotary District
Executive Summary
"WE BECOME ONE SOUTH ISLAND DISTRICT".
12 basic dot points: -
- It is proposed that District 9970 and District 9980 join forces to become one South Island District
- This proposal is unanimously supported by the Governor Leadership groups of both Districts
- The objective of the two Districts coming together is to strengthen Rotary in the South Island
- This isn’t a new concept – up until 1981, the South Island used to be one Rotary District
- Declining membership in both Districts means Rotary International (RI) could soon instruct the two Districts to merge – the D9970 and D9980 Governor Leadership groups want to get ahead of that, so that as far as is possible any merger is done under our terms, to best meet our future needs
- The two Districts are very similar – in terms of number of members, number of Clubs, scale, and financial resources – making a good starting point for two Districts coming together as equals to form a combined, strengthened new District
- Clubs across both Districts will get to vote on this proposal – under RI rules each Club gets one vote
- Voting will take place in February/March 2020
- If the proposal is supported:
- a combined Districts Transition Team will be selected to undertake the detailed work necessary to transition to a new District
- the provisional RI District number would be District 9999
- the new District would come into effect from 1 July 2022
More detailed information setting out the proposal, process and timeline is attached; and a short video can be found at
This is an important decision for our two Districts. Having considered the suggestion for some time now, we firmly believe that a new District encompassing the whole South Island is an appropriate and constructive next step in Rotary’s New Zealand evolution, and we ask for your support for this proposal.
Gary Hopkinson Tania Lowery
District Governor 9970 District Governor 9980
24th November 2019 24th November 2019