Administration of Rotary Clubs

The following article is by Loch Adams on the administration of Rotary Clubs.

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The strength of a Rotary Club begins with good administration. Having been a Rotarian since 17 June, 1963, and having served as President and also as Secretary for 6 years I have seen the good and the bad of the administration of my Club.

These notes are not intended to be dogmatic but to stimulate discussion and thought as to how our Club should operate.

The Manual of Procedure sets out the general rules and should be observed. Every club chartered since 6 June, 1922, is bound by the standard constitution but the standard by-laws may be varied as they are only recommended by Rotary International.

However there are many matters of policy and procedure which Clubs should adopt for the efficient running of the Club to suit their own circumstances and which are acceptable to their members.

Communications.

Good communications between the Board and the members and between the Board and the District and the Rotary International are vital. If a member does not know what is going on in the Club he will lose interest. Members should be kept informed by –
a) Announcements at weekly meetings.
b) Club Forums every few months.
c) The Bulletin.
d) Telephone calls and correspondence.

Bulletin

This is an excellent manner of communication. It should be –

i. Distributed to members at weekly meetings or posted or emailed.
ii. Sent to non-attendees.
iii. Set out the program of guest speakers for about four weeks at least, in order
iv. Give details of coming Club events.
v. Contain some humour by way of short stories or cartoons.
vi. Publish General Rotary Information including special items from “Rotary Down Under”.
vii. Not be over burdened with details of the guest speaker at the previous meeting. I have some doubt as to the necessity for this anyway.
viii. Inform members of coming District events.
ix. Publish full details of new members including vocation, personal details, contact business and home addresses, telephone numbers etc. Inform the members of any resignations of members if accepted by the Board. Contact extracts of Board Minutes only as approved by the President.
x. Members should be encouraged to take it home for reading by his/her spouse. Quite often this results in assistance of attendance at following functions.
xi. Inform members of the result of fund raising activities.
xii. Inform members of how the Club stands in relation to its contributions to the Rotary Foundation and Australian Rotary Health Research Fund.
xiii. Extracts from old Bulletins of say 20 years ago today can be of interest to members.
xiv. The roster of jobs at coming weekly meetings should be published.

Weekly Meetings

i. These should be made interesting to members and attractive to guests, particularly those who may be interested in joining the Club.
ii. The format should be varied from time to time as the same old thing can become boring.
iii. The president should arrive early and make sure regalia is put out and those on the roster are in attendance.
iv. The President should welcome each member as he/she arrives.
v. The President should welcome guests, and visiting Rotarians should be introduced to the member with a similar classification. Guests should not be left on their own.
vi. Meetings should commence and finish on time.
vii. Guest speakers are inclined to speak too long. During the meal the President should make sure the Speaker knows how much time has been allotted to him and asked if he would mind if the gong is struck to indicate he has 2 minutes left.
viii. Question time should be limited.
ix. Members should be encouraged to sit with a different member each week. If this fails then the reception desk could hand a seating number to each member.
x. It is customary for Grace to be led by a member selected by the President. It does not have to be the Standard Rotary Grace. Some clubs sing the National Anthem, but this is a Board decision after constellation with the members.
xi. The President should make sure the meeting place is left neat and tidy and that regalia is put away.
xii. The Guest Speaker should be thanked by the Chairman for the day (if any) and if none then by the President or someone selected by him.
xiii. It is usual for the President to close the meeting thanking the members for their attendance and finishing with the R I President’s theme for the year.

Committees

a) There are two schools of thought. The first is that members should be moved from one Committee to another each year so that they may widen their Rotary experience and qualify themselves for the position of President. The second is that members should be selected for the Committee which suits them best, rather having square pegs in round holes. From my experience I favour the second. I have seen Presidents appoint major committee Chair persons and ask them to select their own team. This does not work and members can be offended if not selected in a particular team by the Chair person.
b) It would be ideal if the President interviewed each member before the beginning of the Rotary year and found out what jobs suit best, any complaints about the running of the Club and any particular personal problems which prevent that member not contributing 100%.
c) Major committees should meet every month and Minutes should be kept.
d) A copy should be sent to the Secretary and items requiring Board approval or ratification should be marked.
e) The President should check the attendance at Committee meetings and interview members who are regular non attendees.
f) Meetings should be held at a time and place suitable to the members.
g) The President should make certain that the Committee Chair person knows how to go about his job and what is expected from him. R.1. attests in this regard. I have seen members resign because they are given an appointment without this assistance and then criticized. This can happen with relatively new Rotarians.

Club Service

a) The President Elect is usually responsible for overseeing and coordinating the work of classifications, membership, development and Rotary information committees. He is generally responsible for the smooth running of the Club and overseeing the work of all committees which are not major committees
b) Following has always been very strong in the Rotary Club of Moorabbin. Fellowship functions should be of a type generally acceptable to the members, they should be publicized well in advance and members should be advised of time, place cost, dress etc. Fellowship can also be developed by encouraging members to attend the District Conference and other district functions.
c) The Sergeant-at-Arms is quite important at weekly meetings.
d) He should create humour but be careful in not causing offence.
e) He should not be a fund raiser and fines should be restricted to say 20 cents except for special matters.
f) The money raised can be put to a special purpose, eg, the Rotary Club at Moorabbin bought a bicycle for a disabled boy whose bicycle had been stolen and on another occasion replaced the Christmas party money stolen from a senior citizens club.
g) The fines should not be trivial and boring, eg, a member not wearing a tie.
h) Syd Gallagher of the Rotary Club of Moorabbin has made his session interesting by conducting a general knowledge quiz with incorrect answers resulting in a fine and correct answers being rewarded with a chocolate. This could be extended with Rotary information questions.
i) This session could be restricted or deleted when a special guest speaker requires extra time.
j) Heads and Tails can be a good variation.
k) The Sergeant is generally appointed by the President to make certain weekly meetings run smoothly and to see that regalia is put out and put away.

Classification and Membership

a) The Constitution covers these matters and should be observed strictly. There is usually good reason behind the procedure required by R.I. Deviation can cause trouble, eg, on one occasion a prospective member was told by an existing member that he had been nominated for membership. This was done at a time required by the Constitution. He was black-balled and threatened to sue the Club as he regarded the position as an attack on his character.

b) Membership is most important and is the lifeblood of a Club. Apart from attracting new members it is vital to make existing members happy and proud of the Club by having interesting projects and giving each member a stimulating job. “Take off your coats jobs” lead to bonding.

c) Membership development should not be left to a Committee because members should be told it is their responsibility.

d) Various programs have been used to attract new members. I believe it should start by a Club finding out who is available, i e, by carrying out a survey of its territory. This could be done by dividing the territory into sections and assigning a number of members to survey each section. One Club instructed these groups to enter business premises and request a business card of the CEO. This information was used to send out personal invitations to a special Rotary information meeting. There must be a follow-up of any invitee who shows interest.

e) There are various other methods, but in my opinion advertising for members should be avoided. Any advertising should relate to the work of the local Rotary Club in the community and overseas.

f) Members should be encouraged to think of prospective members they meet in business, Church, Masonic meetings, sporting and social clubs.

g) After a prospective member has been nominated, he/she should be interviewed in their home in the presence of his/her spouse. If the spouse is not agreeable then the prospective member will have a short membership. The nominator and an experienced Rotarian should attend. At the meeting the following matters should be covered.
i. A brief history of Rotary.
ii. The four avenues of service with short examples of what the Club
iii. has done in each of them.
iv. The financial obligations of membership.
v. The Attendance requirements.
vi. I recommend that a copy of “Rotary Basics” as published in
vii. “Rotary Down Under” should be left with the prospective member.
viii. The prospective member should be asked for permission to circulate his/her name to the members and be told membership is subject to their approval.
ix. The spouse should be invited to attend the occasion of the induction in order to be introduced to members. This could be done at the expense of the Club.
x. The Secretary should make certain he has the lapel badge and name plaques for the new member and spouse.
xi. Rotary publications for presentations should be kept to a minimum.
xii. The new member should be given two copies of the Club handbook.
xiii. The new member should be assigned to a particular committee and introduced to the Chair person.
xiv. The standard induction speech should be varied by the President and should be spoken without the reading of notes.
xv. The members should stand and welcome the new member by acclamation.

Assimilation

a) It is most important that a new member be properly assimilated.
b) The nominator should be mainly responsible and should see that
the new member gets to know the members and find out which of them have a common interest with him/her. The nominator may be prepared to collect the new member and spouse and take them to their first fellowship function
c) Short Rotary information meetings should be held at say, 5 pm, at which new members should be

i. informed of the abbreviations used in Rotary for office bearers and projects, eg, PDG, FAIM, RI etc.
ii. Told to use correct terminology, eg, Rotary Club of Moorabbin and not Moorabbin Rotary Club – put Rotary first. The Australian Rotary Health Research Fund and not Foundation.
iii. Be informed of the object of the Foundation and the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund and the contributions made by the Club.
iv. Told of Paul Harris recognitions (not Fellowship) the number made by the Club and how the money is used.
v. Given detailed information about major Club projects and Club fund raising.
vi. Told of the week of the District Governor.
vii. Informed of the life of Paul Harris.
viii. Told of the objects of the District Conference and the RI.Convention.
ix. Asked about any problems they see experiencing in settling into the Club.
x. Encouraged to become involved in local community activities thus enhancing the worthiness of Rotary.
xi. Be told that Rotary is not political nor sectarian but Rotary expects every Rotarian to be true to his/her own religion’s beliefs. Rotary is really religion in action.
xii. Be told of the Four Way Test and the motto of Rotary.
xiii. Be told to wear the lapel badge at all times and speak to Rotarians of other Clubs so identified.
xiv. To read the Bulletin and “Rotary Down Under”.
xv. Be prepared to accept an invitation to deliver a “Man Behind the “Wise” talk at a regular weekly meeting.

Vocational Service

This is an important Avenue of Service which seems to be overlooked by many Clubs including the Rotary Club of Moorabbin in recent years.

In the early years of the Rotary Club of Moorabbin the following programmes were carried out –

a) Setting up mock interview panels for school leavers.
b) Placing school leavers in a job of their choice for a day.
c) Encouraging members to take apprentices.
d) Encouraging members to participate in the work experience .programme.
e) Conducting debates with other Clubs on the Four Way Test.
f) Visiting places of employment of members.
g) Arranging tours of such places as a Mail Centre, large bakery and the West Gate Bridge when being constructed.
h) Having debates on some employer/employee problem facing a member.
i) Arranging a public meeting inviting qualified speakers on the Trade Practices Act.
j) Running a “Made in Moorabbin” exhibition (This was unsuccessful).
k) Inviting business competitors to regular weekly meetings and fellowship functions.
l) Inviting Secretaries to a regular weekly meeting during “Secretaries Week”.
m) Making vocational awards to members of the public.
n) Encouraging members to read “Service is my Business”.
o) Encouraging members to participate in the programme sponsored by Rotary and Shell in assisting young people to prepare a business plan.

There are many projects which should be considered and something special should be done in October which is Vocational Service month.

Community Service

Community Service comprises efforts Rotarians make to improve the quality of life of those who live within their Club’s locality or municipality. It springs from the Third Avenue of Service.

a) The major project of the Rotary Club of Moorabbin commenced in 1977 when President Bob Monthith was requested to arrange for the Club to take over the running of a Charity Golf Day from another organization. The Kingston Heath Golf Club makes the course and facilities available at no charge and a regular group of about 240 players participate and attempt to win various trophies. Members of the Rotary Club of Moorabbin work in regard to catering, starting players, checking scores, betting contests, sale of spinning wheel tickets and so on.

b) About $300,000 has been raised over the years, 60% of which is donated to the Multiple Sclerosis Society and 40% among local charities selected by the President at the time. The Multiple Sclerosis Society has been sending helpers at recent years.

c) One of the main organizers for many years was past President John Hood a leading amateur golfer who died on 10 July, 2004. The event is now called “The John Hood Memorial Golf Day”.

d) A survey should be made in order to ascertain community needs. The local Council is a good starting point and ideas can come from churches, community groups and Club members.

e) All the years the Rotary Club of Moorabbin has helped in many ways including –
i. A caravan was assigned and used by ladies conducting street stalls who were previously exposed to the elements. It had a side which dropped down to display goods and it had tea making facilities. The Council looked after the bookings and towed it out and returned it to the Council depot.
ii. John Dack found that some community groups were too small to conduct balls and dinner dances. For 21 years from 1965 the Club organized these, the groups sold tickets and the profit was divided in accordance with the number of tickets sold by each group
iii. Outward Bound School.
iv. Lord Somers Camp.
v. RYLA.
vi. Blood Bank contributions by members.
vii. Medic-Alarm Project.
viii. Car safety checks.
ix. Equipping an operating theatre at Moorabbin Hospital in memory of Past President Dr Peter Sims.
x. Blood pressure screening.
xi. Paying for a machine to produce talking books for the blind.
xii. An infusion pump for Sandringham Hospital.
xiii. Community Service Awards to members of the public.
xiv. Donation of equipment and books for Moorabbin West Special School.
xv. A drinking fountain for the local RACV traffic school.
xvi. Numerous donations to local community groups.

f) It is better to involve the public as much as possible in fund earning activities rather than hitting the pockets of the members all the time.
g) At times it is suggested that a number of local clubs join on a community project. Experience has shown that this is difficult to operate because the organizing is fragmented and some clubs raise more than others. However I am disappointed my suggestion for a combined effort to celebrate the Centenary of Rotary was not considered. I suggested that local clubs raise funds to equip a Mica ambulance to operate from the Nepean Highway station with words advertising Rotary painted on the sides.

International Service

a) The purpose of International Service is the development of understanding and goodwill among people.
b) World Understanding Month is February and 23rd of that month is observed as World Understanding and Peace Day. A programme should be devoted to International Service during this month.
c) Some Rotarians are of the opinion there is a lot to be done in Australia and this should be emphasized rather than International Service. However R1 requires Clubs to honour International Service.
d) The Rotary Club of Moorabbin was very active in International Service in its early years.

i. Between 1963 and 1981 it sponsored 17 students and hosted 16 in the Student Exchange Programme.
ii. In 1980/81 it achieved 100% life membership of FAIM.
iii. In 1969 Dr Alex Buchanan of Dairy Research at CSIRO and a Club member developed a high protein milk biscuit. The biscuit was designed with a hole in the middle so that a small child might slip it over a thumb. A Moorabbin girl, Trish Needham, was working in a hospital in Tanzania. The biscuits were baked by Brockhoff, the Club arranged for the production of vermin-proof containers and Qantas flew the biscuits to Tanzania where Trish supervised distribution. The Australian Government took over the project. We heard nothing further.
iv. Naturalization Ceremonies. The Rotary Club of Moorabbin has attended these ceremonies in the City of Moorabbin (now Kingston) since 1964. Each new citizen is presented with a small native shrub and a printed message of welcome from the President of the Club.
v. The Club has nominated successfully members of Group Study Exchange Teams and has hosted teams from Omaha Nebraska and South Jordiana, USA.
vi. Continuous financial support was given to Berinda, a handicapped boy living in a Ryder-Cheshire Home in India.
vii. The fare was paid by the Club for the father of Rohan Da Silva, a boy who was brought to Australia for treatment for spina bifida.
viii. In 1969/70 the Club sponsored qualified technicians who migrated from Finland.
ix. In 1973 the Club provided scholarships for under-privileged students at Pridic, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
x. Numerous donations of money and goods have been made to projects in East Pakistan, India, P.N.G., Tanzania, Flores Islands, Bulawayo, Samoa and various other South Pacific countries.

Renton Smith Award

Renton Smith was the head of Moorabbin T.A.F.E., he was President in the Rotary year 1987/88 and he died on 16 January 1993. At the end of each Rotary year the President selects a “Rotarian of the Year” being a member who has given outstanding service during the year. At change-over night the presentation is made by Renton’s widow Lyall. A shield is inscribed with the names of recipients.

Thel Finn Brooch

Many years ago Past President Neville Finn and his wife Thel (really Athella) traveled overseas. Thel bought a brooch with the Rotary Wheel and diamonds and this is presented at Change-Over Night to the wife of the new President to be worn by her at Rotary Functions and then handed on to her successor.

Paul Harris Recognitions

At each Change-Over night the outgoing President is made a Paul Harris Fellow in recognition of his work as President. Further awards have been made to non-Rotarians and the total made by the Rotary Club of Moorabbin exceeds 50. This is the main contribution of $1,000 US each time, to the Rotary Foundation although several members are also Centurions.

Board Meetings

Care should be taken that these should not become “Bored” meetings.

a) They should take place at a time and location to suit most members.
b) The meetings should not take more than one hour. I once attended one which lasted until 1 am and this is stupid.
c) If they are held in private homes then supper should be restricted to perhaps a sandwich and biscuit with tea or coffee. At one time the wives of the hosts went overboard and reached a point where lobster was served.
d) Major committee chair persons should be trained to provide minutes of their Committee meetings to the Secretary about a week before Board meetings marking those items which require Board approval or ratification.
e) The Secretary should prepare a list of income and outgoing correspondence making those items of importance. At one stage the President, the President Elect and Secretary met for ½ an hour each Friday morning and disposed of useless correspondence, discussed any problems with the Club and listed matters for the next regular weekly and Board meetings.
f) The Attendance Officer should submit his report and those members with a bad attendance should be interviewed, preferably by the President.
g) The Treasurer should also submit his report.
h) Minutes of Board Meetings should be distributed to Board members soon after meetings. Board members often verbally agree to do something and the Minutes serve as a reminder.
i) The President should refer non-confidential decisions to the Bulletin Editor for publication.

Change Over

These functions should not drag out till mid-night.
a) A proper agenda should be prepared by the out-going and in-going presidents.
b) The two of them should have the short speech of installation and acceptance as recommended by R.I. and speak without reading them.
c) The Secretary should make sure he has
i.The lapel badges
ii.The Paul Harris regalia if such award is to be made to the Outgoing President
iii.Club cheques if presentations are to be made to charities
d) The wife of the outgoing President should present the Thel Finn brooch to the wife of the in-going President and explain the meaning of it.
e) The fellowship committee should make sure the function place is properly decorated and supervise the catering.

Dress Code

In the early years of Rotary, members wore black tie to regular weekly meetings. This gradually faded out and it became customary for members to wear business suits. We are always being told that Rotary should move with the times but this does not mean we should drop our standards. We have reached a stage where members attend wearing cardigans and open-necked shirts and I have heard of one case of a member being inducted while wearing overalls.

In my opinion members should show respect for the organization by wearing jacket and tie and it is not difficult to change out of working clothes.

At evening social functions the ladies go to the trouble of dressing-up and having their hair done. Surely the men should show respect.

Proper dress also gives a good impression of the Club to visitors and prospective members. We should look business-like.

Conclusion

Everything should be done to make members feel great satisfaction out of their membership and their efforts to further “Service above Self”. After all, service to others is the rent we pay for our living space on earth and it is the basis of all religions.

Members should treat membership like a business and not like a hobby. They should also look on the Club as a family and support one another in both happy and sad times. When asked to carry out a job in Rotary they should think of the ways they can get into it and not the way they can get out of it. Satisfaction can only arise out of full participation.



(Signed) Howard Adams




June 2006