Minutes from May 13, 2014

At today’s noon meeting Jim Bradford, Jr. and Kent Warneke spoke about how to effectively run a volunteer organization.  As a fundraiser for several capital campaigns, Jim shared that for fundraising success, people like to be asked.  If they aren’t asked, they won’t give.  Don’t assume that people will or won’t give until they are asked.  If they don’t give today, they may give tomorrow.  He talked about how the YMCA went from a vision to reality.  Fundraisers need to consider:  Is the goal attainable?  Is it feasible?  Set the goal and decide how many people will be needed to work towards reaching the goal.  Don’t take rejection personally!

Kent is the chairman of the Great American Comedy Festival.  He shared several elements of successfully running a volunteer organization, including, never criticize or take your volunteers for granted.  Don’t complain about the amount of time a volunteer is spending on the project.  A committee has to have a good structure and the chairperson needs to come prepared so as not to waste the volunteers’ time at a drawn out meeting.

Today’s cash drawing was $90 with no winner.  Next week, it will be around $100.

The next Rotary meeting will be on May 20 at noon.  It will feature Sen. Pete Pirsch, who was a candidate for Nebraska Attorney General.

Submitted by:                                                                                                                                                                                                              John Schmitt, Secretary