Posted by DG Peter Ewing, Boulder, pmjewing@earthlink.net
The Foundation-The Keystone of Rotary!
There is little in Rotary more important to all Rotarians than “The Rotary Foundation”, it is the keystone in the arch that supports all we do in our communities and around the World. This month we celebrate OUR Rotary Foundation!
The Rotary Foundation’s annual fund SHARE returns the money our Rotarians donated three years ago as World funds and District Designated funds that are used to match club monies in local and international grants. For local grants, the match is 1:1, doubling the effect of the club’s money. For the international grant, the club money receives a 3 ½:1 match making your project so much larger. In effect when a Rotarian donates one dollar to the Foundation, three years later if that club proposes both a local and international grant and raises one dollar for each grant, they receive a total of $1.75 from the original dollar donated. I’d be happy to explain this to anyone interested. This is a 19%/year return on your investment. NOT BAD!
But there is so much more to The Rotary Foundation. The Permanent Fund allows Rotary to develop an endowment that keeps on giving in perpetuity. If you designate the interest from this gift to the annual fund SHARE, you are establishing a permanent money stream to the District for grants. The Polio Plus fund is spent immediately in our quest to eradicate Polio from the face of the Earth. I can think of no other more important task than to fulfill our promise made nearly 30 years ago.
The Ambassadorial Scholarship program, returned to the district last year, allows us to send two graduate level scholars abroad for one year for study in one of the six areas of focus. These young men and women will make a difference in the world because of the investment we make in their future. The World Peace Fellows are at work all over the world delivering on our goal of achieving peace in the world. Not only does the Rotary Foundation provide a great return on your investment in money terms, it allows us to invest and achieve a great return in human terms.
Last year, only 48% of the Rotarians in our District made a donation to the Rotary Foundation. We had four District grants (all very deserving grants) that did not receive a match because we ran out of district match funds. There will be global grants that will not receive a match because we don’t have enough match funds as well. I would like to encourage every club to work towards Every Rotarian making a donation Every Year. We will be able to do so much more!
Thank you for all you do to make our communities and the world a better place!
Posted by IPDG Dan Himelspach, Denver Mile High, DG13-14@DisputeManagementInc.com
District 5450 Proposes to Give Clubs More Flexibility
Membership – attraction and retention. You have all heard the message by now. Rotary, including this Zone and District, has a membership issue. If we don’t successfully confront this issue Rotary will continue to lose members and change in ways we will not find pleasant or acceptable. Let’s respond to changing circumstances effecting Rotary in a controlled and positive way before negative changes are forced upon us. Last year, this district was one of only a few in North America with significant growth but we are a long way from a membership plan that works and is sustainable.
Membership is ultimately a Club responsibility and only at the Club level can something productive be instituted. However Rotary International must give our Clubs the freedom to structure membership requirements in a way that best fits their community and serves to attract and retain members. Clubs should have the opportunity to freely change the structure of their regular meetings, eliminate attendance requirements, and disregard the classification system. Clubs should be able to hold their regular meetings at more than one location, at different times and with an optional meal. Given the opportunity our Rotarians will devise creative ways to reduce the cost and time commitment yet retain the quality and value of Rotary membership.
The District is issuing a one-time rebate to each Club equal to 30% of the dues paid during the 2013-14 Rotary Year. The District finished significantly in the black in 2013-14 because of the support and participation our Rotarians gave to District activities - including a very successful District Conference - and strategic costs reductions.
With this rebate the DG String and the Executive Committee want to express their appreciation and thank you to all of our outstanding Rotarians. More information will be sent to each Club President in the upcoming week.
Posted by IPDG Dan Himelspach-Chair DG Nominating Committee, DG13-14@diputemanagementinc.com
Nominations for District Governor 2017-2018 Being Accepted
Rotary District 5450 is accepting nominations for our 2017-2018 District Governor. Any Rotarian, who has served as club president and is a member in good standing of his/her club, may be nominated. This nomination must be accompanied by a formal resolution adopted at a regular Rotary Club meeting or by the club’s Board of Directors. Applications must be submitted by January 31, 2015. Review of nominations and interviews must be completed by February 28, 2015. Any past club president interested in serving as District Governor should contact his/her club President for nomination by the club. Nominations for District Governor are to be submitted directly to the Chair of the DG Nominating Committee, Past District Governor Dan Himelspach by January 31, 2015.
Posted by Debi Bush, D5450 Membership Chair and Denver Cherry Creek Rotary membership@rotary5450.org
How Can Our Club Focus On Retention?
Last month’s article focused on the upcoming Satellite Summit (there may still be space available so go register now on the district website at www.Rotary5450.org). This month and many times to come we will “talk” about Retention which spans all areas of membership: attraction/recruitment, engagement, and retention of new and tenured members. Each club should review or create ways or processes to manage membership and this will increase the odds for keeping your members and keeping them engaged and participatory. Also, your club president and membership chair should look at retention tenure of members to see if there are any “holes” in areas like Year 1 of a Rotarian’s membership has a higher departure rate than that of three years or longer.
Posted by Jim McGibney, Denver Rotary, jmcgibney@earthlink.net
Holiday Service Opportunities at the Denver Indian Center
We are coming up on the Holiday Season, and it is a great time to be with our families, count our blessings, and help those that are not as fortunate as we are. As we all know, the work of Rotary occurs in the Clubs and in past years the Rotary District Indian Committee has enlisted the help of the Clubs in our District on behalf of the Denver Indian Center (DICI). This year is no different and we are asking for the Rotary Clubs in our District to help out in some very simple ways.
Posted by DG Peter Ewing, Boulder, pmjewing@earthlink.net
An Analysis of Giving 2004-2014
Each Rotary year Club Presidents pledge funds to the Annual Fund to support the Rotary Foundation. Fifty percent (50%) of the money is returned to the District three (3) years later to support District Grants. The great recession had a significant effect on our capacity to donate to the annual fund SHARE. This year, requests for funds to match district grants exceeded available funds by nearly $9,000. Next year DGE Kevin will see matching funds increase because of the donations three years earlier (2012-’13) and during Mary Kay’s year, even more (2013-’14). But realize last year we benefited from a $152,000 match, but not this year. With last year’s increase in Paul Harris Society (PHS) Rotarians, we have a good base of yearly donations.
Our goal is to further increase this base by adding an additional 60 PHS members. But the key to getting our donations back up to previous levels is for all Rotarians to contribute something each year (EREY). Below is an analysis of annual fund giving by District 5450 since 2004:
Posted by Ron Beller, Rotary Club of Parker, ronbeller@aol.com
A Special Night for a Special Group
The 2nd Annual Homecoming Dance for special need teens and adults was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Parker and the Parker United Methodist Church on Friday evening, September 25, 2014. The evening began with photographs taken by Dawn Brandt, which were developed and given to delighted participants at the end of the evening. DJ’s for the evening were JJ McKay from Kool Gold radio and Mr. DJ himself, Joel Gutierrez who played favorites all evening.
Posted by Sarah Shelton, ShelterBox USA,Member of the Rotary Club of Sarasota Southside, sshelton@shelterboxusa.org
Aurora Fitzsimmons Rotarian Recognized by International Relief Organization
Denver, CO, October 10, 2014 – Local volunteer, David Addor, has been named Ambassador of the Month by international disaster relief organization, ShelterBox USA. Addor was selected from a group of more than 400 Ambassador volunteers nationwide, who actively raise funds and awareness for the charity through public engagements.
ShelterBox provides humanitarian aid—emergency shelter and other supplies, such as stoves, blankets and water filtration systems, among other tools to help families rebuild their lives after losing their homes and possessions following a disaster such as earthquake, flood, hurricane, cyclone, tsunami or conflict.
Posted by Mark Clark, Rotary Club of Highlands Ranch
Take the Time to Follow Up!
The biggest part of our membership success this last year was one word: Follow Up. I went down to Lowes and bought a big piece of foam insulation and used it as a tack-board. I divided that tack board up into all of the different aspects of membership recruitment that prospective members had to go through to get them into the club. When someone came to visit our club I either got their business card or I created 3x5 card with their information on it and it tacked it to the board under "Needs Follow Up."
The attached report shows year-to-date giving to The Rotary Foundation and End Polio by club, and per member. The District 5450 goal is for Every Rotarian to give somethingEvery Year (EREY).
