Our District 7850 Governor Caroline Earle started her talk by reminding us that only 7 months remain in this Rotary year. She challenged us to think about we can accomplish between now and 30 June 2022.
DG Caroline Earle
Earle then went on to describe what she described as mandates for her, and initiatives for clubs to consider. It is her hope that the club will review the initiatives and take on addressing at least one of them. The three initiatives are: Infrastructure, Membership and Coordinated Social Media Campaign.
#1 – Infrastructure
She shared that historically only 2 of 7 presidents remain members of their Rotary Club after their year as president. She presented the hypothesis that one of the reasons for this is that Club presidents can be overburdened when the club’s infrastructure isn't robust enough to make the job of the leader doable. This leads to leader burnout. She asked us to consider the following:
- Is our Club's committee structure robust enough to make sure the members are aligned and engaged in helping to get the work of the Club done? Without a robust structure, a club isn’t set up to have an impact her at home and around the globe.
- Robust committees provide a forum for members to be engaged in the work of the club, and to help complete projects that are important to the club as a whole.
- Engaging members can help identify untapped resources within the club to accomplish great things.
- In addition, our District exists to support clubs, but it is a job that can’t be done by the District Governor alone. Earle reminded us that every member can be a resource to the District by helping with membership; various youth services such as the Rotary Youth Leadership Award conference and Youth Exchange; and many aspects of our Rotary Foundation programs, etc. She asked, “Can you step-up and help?” The commitment needed can be as small as an hour/month or more is you have time to give.
- Earle will send us a resource that has been developed by Rotary International call the “Club Health Checklist”. It can could be filled in by all members to help us identify roadblocks that may exist in our club that keep us from being a vibrant club. In addition to the checklist, RI has tools to help clubs identify ways to overcome roadblocks.
- Carolyn went on to share a story about a foster parent program in Barre that role is to rescue children in crisis from their homes 24/7. Often the child leaves the home with only the clothes on their back. This was presented as a issue to Barre Rotarians who saw a need, and stepped up to create a clothes closet for these children. It was an example of Rotarians identifying a needed and working to solve a community problem quickly. Word got out that this was happening, and it has helped them attract new members. This never would have been a project if the Barre Rotarians took it on as an initiative.
#2 – Membership
- Earle has received formal notice that our District is on notice from Rotary International that our membership total is too low…under 1200 members. If we get below 1100 members, we will not be viable as a stand-alone District. We will not have enough members to do the work that falls to the district. Our members are our key resources to our communities and to Rotary as a whole.
- Our Club members are key to growing our membership. If our members aren’t engaged/involved in the work of the club, they won’t be asking others to join the club. She believes that are many “unclaimed” members living and working in the City of Lebanon. We have a responsibility to find these unclaimed members. Earle is aware of all we are doing to support our community. She believes that if others knew what we are doing, we would be attracting new members, and this would even help us engage members as if everyone is doing a little, no one will have to do a lot. A club with too few members, can achieve all that the club can be.
- Our District is working to build a more robust membership committee with the goal to help us develop strategies to engage current members, and attract new members.
#3 – Coordinated Social Media Campaign
- The District now has a point person (Courtney Jarecki) to coordinate our District’s social media campaign. It is Earle’s hope that every club will identify a person to be the point person for our Club's social media. Courtney has done a review of all social media being used by the clubs in District 7850. She may know our social media platforms better than our members know them. Carolyn is sure that Courtney will share her finding with us.
- The district will be offering $400 social media grants to help clubs develop their social media platforms. It won’t be a ton of money, but a starting point.
- Courtney can’t provide free help to clubs, but a club could contract with her to help in this domain.
Earle ended her talk by:
- Challenging us to take on at least one of her initiatives,
- Sharing that Rotary has been transformative for her. Her membership has been a uplifting and positive experience.
- She challenged us to go out and find those “unclaimed members” who are wandering about in Lebanon.