Annual Reports - Youth, Community, President

At the start of the year I advised that the focus for this year was to be Community.  Our signature project for the year was the purchase of a 3-tonne van for Family Life. We also wanted to build on our relationships with local businesses and community groups, network with other Rotary clubs and other community groups. 

 

In the last Rotary year the Club agreed that we should have a strategic plan and that we should conduct a Visioning Workshop during this year to set the strategy for the next 3-4 years.

 

We wanted to have improved communication with members, by including a summary of Board meeting decisions and outcomes in the Bulletin. Directors’ reports for Board meetings were also to be distributed to that committee's members.

 

We had a busy year planned, with some new fund raising projects, some old favourites, and many worthy causes to support. Our budget was to raise about $53,000 for the programs identified by the areas of service committees.  In addition we had some “slippery money” projects, where all the funds went to a specific charity. This year we trialled a different fundraising structure, where we had project managers for separate events reporting directly to the President/Board, rather than having a specific fundraising director.

 

We had a big fellowship year with numerous events (4WD trip, golf trip, car rally, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner etc), a joint meeting with Brighton and Brighton Beach, joint activities with Brighton Beach (GSE welcome, Trivia night, help with Garden DesignFest etc).  We also kicked off a new vocational project – school reading – with an excellent take-up by members.

I believe the participation level of the Club has in general been very good – we had an excellent roll-up of members and friends to help out for major events – Garden DesignFest and Jazz Jamboree especially.  But of course there have been some disappointments in this area too.

 

We have in general an aging, non-working membership – not able to draw on business networks for high-cost fund raising events – and in recent years I believe too much has been asked of too few members in these areas to fund the Club’s projects.  We need as a club to decide whether we continue to target the same level of fundraising, so we can continue to support the programs and projects we have in the past. 

If we do (and that was the outcome of the Visioning session), it will mean different types of fundraising events than we have used in the past, so we collect “other peoples’ money”, rather than our own.  Plus if we can, getting some corporate sponsorship as we had with Brighton Honda for the Jazz.

Or do we evolve to be a more hands-on, volunteering type of club?  This means more modest funds distributed to programs but our activities are more focussed on projects like the school reading, general volunteering say with the Sea Scouts and Family Life, or community working bees (kindergarten, church painting etc). 

Of course, the direction is also largely dependent on how our membership grows or evolves – should we only target new members who are working, so they can bring in their networks to assist in fundraising? Should that be an entrance criterion for joining the Club?  If we get “more of us” as new members, then fundraising at the same level will be a major challenge.

Finally, thanks to all Board members for their efforts and support over the year, especially Secretary Lyn and Treasurer Barb.  There are so many members of this wonderful club who help out in a myriad of ways – Barb Beed dealing with attendance and venue issues, Phil Rowell for the great program speakers, the Sergeants who I regard as the custodians of our meeting culture of fun and occasional irreverence, our scribes, photographers and Bulletin team – the list goes on and on! Thank you to all members for your participation and support – it’s been a fun year! 

James Mitchell
RCBN President 2012-13