PRESS RELEASE TEMPLATE 

[INSERT Headline: Attention grabbing summary of key message]

Example: Rotary in Uganda to plant 1 million trees

[INSERT city and date followed by a dash then insert lead; the lead should hold the attention of reader and communicate what’s at the heart of the press release, usually a response to a societal problem; don’t simply repeat the headline]

[INSERT back-up to the lead. Provide some details that begin to the answer the 5Ws (what, when, where, who, why) and H (how)]

Example: This was revealed by District Governor Anne Nkutu as she launched the “Plant Your Balance” campaign, an initiative of Rotary Districts 9212, 9213, and 9214, which cover Kenya, Uganda, and Uganda and Tanzania respectively.

[INSERT more details that answer the remaining Ws and H as well as contextual questions: So what? Who cares? Why does this matter? What’s at stake?]

Example: The idea behind the “Plant Your Balance” campaign is for each Rotary Club to subtract the years of their existence from Rotary’s 100 years in Africa then multiply by a hundred. The result is the number of trees that each club will to plant in the next three years.

 

 

[INSERT appropriate background; this could also come towards the end]

 

Example: Rotary International is one of the largest service organisations in the world, and has invested heavily in providing clean water and sanitation, supporting education, preventing and treating disease, saving mothers and children, growing local economies, promoting peace, and protecting the environment.

 

[INSERT more details about the news event]

 

Example: To launch the “Plant Your Balance” campaign, 9213 District Governor Nkutu commissioned a tree nursery at Wanyange Girls Secondary School in Jinja.

The nursery will supply tree seedlings to schools and communities in Jinja and surrounding areas in order to facilitate the planting of trees around Lake Victoria and River Nile.

 

[INSERT details on Rotary’s impact]

 

Example:  Rotary is committed to supporting activities that strengthen the conservation and protection of natural resources, advance ecological sustainability, and foster harmony between communities and the environment. The organisation empowers communities to access grants and other resources, embrace local solutions, and spur innovation in an effort to address the causes and reduce the effects of climate change and environmental degradation.

 

[INSERT quote from District or Club official]

 

Example: “Protecting the environment and Planet Earth is key to our continued existence,” Governor Nkutu said.

 

[INSERT more details about Rotary’s specific impact in your community]

Example: Rotary members in Uganda have long supported communities through a range of life-changing service projects.

[INSERT two or three other examples of community service work your District or club has done in your community].

Example: Rotary’s impact in Uganda includes life-changing programmes such as the Rotary Blood Bank at Mengo Hospital, which addresses the challenge of blood shortage in the country and the annual Rotary Cancer Run, which has raised awareness about the killer disease and the establishment of the Rotary Cancer Centre at Nsambya Hospital. Funds from the run have supported the construction of a 36-bed ward and two bunkers housing testing and treatment machines.

Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world’s most pressing humanitarian challenges. Rotary connects 1.4 million members of more than 46,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas. Their work improves lives at both the local and international levels, from helping those in need in their own communities to working toward a polio-free world. For more information, visit Rotary.org.

If the release is from your club, you could add year of charter, number of members, and titles of key projects.

CONTACT: (name/phone/email)

ROTARY CLUB OF [Insert Name]
[INSERT Phone Number]

[INSERT Website]