MOST IMPORTANT UPCOMING CHANGES TO YOUR ROTARY CLUB!
Presented at this week's meeting, here is a recap of the results.
We worked hard this year soliciting suggestions on how to make our club more engaged, more accessible, and more appealing to very busy members and prospects in our community. Many of you provided wonderful feedback through our strategic planning effort as well as lots of excellent follow up suggestions during our Fireside meetings this spring.
In light of these suggestions, and as follow up to the budget presentation from this week’s meeting, I thought I’d offer this recap as to some of the changes that have been approved by our Board for our upcoming club year, effective July 1:
More time for Rotary – Less time in Meetings
The first Monday of each month there will NOT be formal club meetings.
This time is instead encouraged for more informal Rotary gatherings, visiting other clubs, one-on-one meet and greets, mentoring, committee meetings, and other opportunities for closer engagement with each other.
Keep the Meeting Costs Down
We have agreed to hold all meeting costs at $20 for members, guests, and visitors.
We DO ask that all members pay the meeting fee whether eating at the meeting or not.
Increase in Annual Dues
Our club combines RI and local club ‘dues’ into one payment, billed twice per year. The RI dues have risen slightly, and we felt that our club dues should also rise to reflect rising administrative and meeting costs.
Our general member club dues will be increased to $240 per year from $200.
Rule of 85 Member Designation & Dues
Unlike many large clubs, one third of our members are considered ‘Rule of 85’ members, or ‘pay at the door, not in advance.’ With RI virtually dispensing with their attendance requirements, the basis for this classification is not as valid as in past and in our case, has posed a negative financial impact on the rest of the general membership.
Our Board has approved monthly dues for all Rule of 85 members as $300 per year, from $200. We would encourage all members to pay the general member fee plus the quarterly meal fee in advance, however we respect the ‘pay at the door’ convenience earned by our Rule of 85 members.
In addition, our club has decided to suspend any additional members into the Rule of 85 category, and grandfather all those current designated as such.
Liz Anne McElhaney's family could use a helping hand - or 10 - or 20...
Newest transfer member Liz Anne McElhaney's parents farm, 1371 North 1100 Road, Lawrence, KS 66046 has a lot of debris needing to be cleaned up before some fields can be harvested. If you're hankering for some service work outside the city for some fine folks, carve out some time Saturday, June 15 ~ from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm or Sunday, June 16 ~ from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm.
Then call Liz Anne asking for the details about what to wear, tools needed, where to park, etc. 816/679/4123.
We are still seeking a coordinator for service projects, an important part of furthering our club's agenda of Service Above Self. If your heart and hands are all large, you're the one for us!
HERE'S AN IMPORTANT REQUEST FROM OUR OWN O.P.ROTARY FOUNDATION:
The Foundation will be moving to the same fiscal year as the Club in July so we’ll have a short 6 month year at the beginning of 2019. However, we are still doing good work which including the information below.
We have a couple challenges for the club:
After the recent local tornadoes and flooding across areas of Kansas the OP Rotary Club Foundation will:
Match up to $2500 of member donation toward Heart to Heart with a for sure gift of at least $2500. Heart to heart was first on the ground assisting with volunteer efforts and continuing to help volunteer efforts and provide important storage and transportation for incoming donations.
Match up to $2500 of member donation toward the Red Cross with a for sure gift of at least $2500. Gov Kelly has asked fellow Kansans to consider donations to the Red Cross for the important relief efforts they are assisting with here locally and across the state.
In addition,
The Foundation will also match donations up to $3000 toward Polio Plus with a gift of at least $3000. Rotary is 4.5 million short of our $50 million dollar commitment to the eradication of polio and we’ll lose out on matching support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation so the district will also match any donation from our Foundation. It’s tripling your dollars if you consider it's being matched by your Foundation, our Rotary District and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
There are envelopes available from Tim Steele. leave your check at te front desk, or mail it to the Club Foundation. Please consider giving to one or all of these causes.Make sure to include your name and in the memo, where you want your dollars given and matched.
Please write any checks to the OP Rotary Club Foundation so we can get you appropriate donation letters for your giving. Mail to
We now have a BOOK CLUB (Carol Watts), TRAVEL CLUB (Joe Johnson), SKEET SHOOTING CLUB (Mike Tracy), a bunch of musically-inclined MUSIC-JAMMIN' CLUB (Will Gladhart) and the group you've been dying to invent!
If you're interested in any of the above or want to start your own stamp-collecting, model train, gardening, or skydiving group, let it be known! Talk to a club officer!
.jpg?_=636961228561225324)
