Thanksgiving greetings to you Schaumburg AM! I hope you & yours are doing well.
This month's newsletter is largely dedicated to strategic planning & visioning follow up. Plan implementation for this meaningful club exercise is going to take time so I appreciate your on-going support in the mission to strengthen our club for the long term.
Next year is our club's 30th birthday - a great time to reflect upon & honor who we are & what we've been lucky enough to be able to do together the past three decades. Let's make plans & take action in the coming months to ensure future success! Strong member commitment to action step follow through is the most important ingredient in this measure.
Who does Schaumburg AM Rotary want to be by 2021?
- At visioning we said in three years we want to be a diverse, productive, fun & giving club with an active & engaged membership that is service-based focusing on helping youth & seniors.
- We want visibility in the community & to be known for our fun fundraisers & legendary fellowships.
- We want amazing speakers at our meetings that educate & motivate regarding community-based & regional topics.
- We want to participate in a global grant in Belize & we want to give away more coats & scholarships & expand on our already strong youth & public image programs.
Sounds awesome! Below are a few action steps for us to get started toward goal attainment.
Community Service GOAL: Be a community service focused club by 2021 - great job Schaumburg AM we're there! We've been rocking it in service since last year - up to 40% service participation & 2,000 annual service hours for our club - 1/2 of which is student mentoring-based.
ACTION: 2 members to chair & co-chair service in 2019 to rinse & repeat on what we've been doing so Pastor Jerry can focus on leading the charge as club president.
Membership GOAL: 25 active, participating club members by 2021.
ACTION:
- 1-2 additional club members join membership committee in 2019.
- Pass out membership bags & invite 100 people by July 2019 to come check us out at a meeting, event or project. Each member is asked to invite one person 2X per year to come & visit us.
- Member spotlight of the month social media initiative to honor the hard work of our volunteer members & let people know more about who we are & what we do. Stay connected with our social media followers, guests & speakers & invite them to visit/re-visit us.
Club & Leadership Development GOAL: Assemble presidents development team for more intentional club leadership & club planning.
ACTION:
- Club leadership committee (P, PP, PE, PN) to form January 2019 & meet bi-annually to collaboratively support club goals & leadership development.
- Current & past club presidents meet annually in summer or fall to develop presidential succession plan for club so that PE & PN where possible are both identified in advance & can learn & work together.
Fundraising GOAL: Three fundraisers & $30,000 annually by 2021 - two 'Trivia Night' fundraisers with Lions Club ($5,000) & a signature battle of the bands-type event ($25,000).
- This goal is a small fraction of the funds we've been raising as a club the past few years. If we would like the ability to give out donations of any kind in 2019 let alone achieve $30,000 in annually by 2021 then our club as a whole needs to make a firm commitment to signing up for & following through on completing fundraising action steps starting today.
ACTION:
- Trivia Night - Scott will chair another Trivia Night in February 2019. Sharon will co-chair behind the scenes efforts & Lisa & Ann will head raffle prizes again. We need 2 members to market this event in the community in January & February 2019 - who can help out there? Who can chair & co-chair the event in Fall 2019? We've got this goal pretty much down so nice work everyone let's keep it going!
- Signature fundraiser - since visioning I have spoken to several club members about a battle of the bands event & feedback is mixed thumbs up/down. A signature fundraiser is a lot of work so the majority of us need to be passionate about it. We need a champion for this cause - 1-2 members to vet an idea out & get the club going in 2019. Who wants to be a leader here & gather more details about something & bring to club?
- Myself, Scott, Jerry & Bill looked into the battle of bands idea a bit further & after discussion I think all of us after could see some potential in this fundraising idea. We found that the District 211 teachers union hosts an annual battle of bands event @ Roc Haus in Dundee to raise $30,000 for student scholarships. Not too shabby. I will ask my D211 connections for more info about their event - who else in the club can do the same?
- Fun & Frolic funds are critical to supporting our club's operations budget & it's everyone's responsibility to help raise money for our club. Our F&F funds are getting smaller because members haven't been volunteering for it as much - my solution is to have each member volunteer 2X per year to lead the charge here. A collaborative effort is a win win for all. It builds good will & better friendships & it's beneficial to all concerned - why wouldn't we help each other out & do this? Please vote yes for this action step by signing up for F&F when Bill sends out his weekly email.
International GOAL: participate in global grant in Belize by 2021.
- Tim & Jillian as our International peeps can you guys please schedule a phone conference or something in early 2019 with our friends in Belize to explore potential needs there? Will follow up @ February board meeting.
Speakers GOAL: more speakers that educate & motivate.
- Each member in the next year please give club service chairs Lisa & Earl speaker recommendations in this regard for follow up.
Fellowship GOAL: legendary fellowships.
- We've been doing great with scheduling & participating in fun fellowship opportunities this year - let's keep it up! Earl is planning holiday party December 2 & Ann is planning a combined fellowship & service with youth January 11. Who would like to plan something fun for the club for spring or summer 2019?
November & December Service
- Children's Advocacy Center - monetary donations until November 21 for board games. Greg coordinating - sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0c4caea82ea6fd0-childrens
- Schaumburg Township Senior Center - Tuesday & Wednesday November 27 & 28 - activities with the seniors (Pastor Jerry coordinating)
- Feed My Starving Children - Saturday, December 8 (Pastor Jerry) & Friday, January 11 with youth groups (Ann)
- Salvation Army - Saturday, December 8 - holiday bell ringing (Pastor Jerry)
- Frost Interact Club - Saturday, December 8 - 'Adopt A Family' donation drive, shopping & gift wrapping. Monetary donations are being accepted until December 3. To support you can pledge your donation amount by letting me know what you would like to donate or give money in donation envelope that will be passed around at our November 28 club meeting. Shopping is in the morning @ Kohl's on Barrington Road in Schaumburg, followed by gift wrapping @ Frost.
November Birthdays
Happy birthday this month to 25% of our membership! Greg, Bill P, Jeff, Andy & yours truly all celebrate their birthday in November. Happy birthday fellow Scorpios - enjoy your special day.
Be well & thanks for all you do Schaumburg AM! I lam grateful to learn & serve with each & every one of you. Lori
