By LARRY JONES Rotary District 7190 Governor 2019-20
July 1 marked the start of a new Rotary year. Each year the entirety of Rotary leadership changes, and in District 7190 this includes the District Governor. And so, as we start a new year, I am pleased to join Rotarians and those who believe in the ideals of Rotary. It is my humble belief that a strong and vital Rotary movement is in the highest interest of people everywhere.
At the end of June, Rotarians from District 7190 held a changeover event to mark the end of one Rotary year and the start of the next. It was a family event, with many kids and other non-Rotarians attending. No mention of family is complete for a Rotarian without talking about our Rotary Family.
We come together to identify and solve problems; and have fun. We raise money to provide fresh drinking water we’ll never taste. We plant trees for food and shade we’ll never eat, or sit under. We provide books and computer learning tools for children we’ll never get to tutor. We donate vaccines for the world’s children to stop polio — and we will end polio! There are six million children who would have had polio were it not for Rotary. If you’ve been a Rotarian for 50 years or 50 days, this is part of your work, part of our shared legacy.
But Rotary is more than these few things, because Rotarians are always looking for the next problem to solve.
Our affiliated organizations that do big things, such as ShelterBox and Gift of Life, are only part of the story. Most of the work of Rotary is done at the grass roots, in our communities.
A recently-completed study shows that the 1.23 million Rotarians around the world dedicate 45 million volunteer hours each year, about 40 hours per member, with a value of over $850 million dollars.
Our theme for the coming year is “Rotary Connects The World,” and indeed it does. Rotarians come from around the world; I’ve met people from most countries on every continent except Antarctica. That said, I understand there are two clubs there!
Meeting Rotarians in other countries is an experience akin to seeing friends you didn’t know you had. They embrace the same values, share the same hopes for a better world, and, like us, they take action to improve the lives of others. Ours is an amazing network of caring people, centering around our core value.
Our vision statement from Rotary International says it all:
Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change –- across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.
This statement does not mention Rotarians. I submit to you, if we help engage people in our communities in the work of Rotary, not necessarily in the name of Rotary, we will be most successful. Much more gets done if no one cares who gets credit; indeed, there even is credit.
Community, connections, change — our watchwords for this year. What Rotary does is a noble cause, a high calling, a worthy endeavor. As we celebrate what we’ve accomplished, let’s be all the more determined to build a bigger and better Rotary experience, and connect the world.
• This essay was written by a member of the Oregon City (OR) Rotary Club who has been an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and human services activist for decades.
By Michael Brand
Michael Brand
Nothing more American than a service club. Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis, IOOF, Altrusa, Shriners … Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville rode all over the United States in the 1830s and was struck by the influence of religious, fraternal and civic organizations, and secret societies, on American democracy and concluded that they made communities stronger, more interesting, and more engaged.
But, there are some reasons for concern. All of these service clubs, once the backbone of community life in America, have been in significant decline over the past two or three decades. It is not that our clubs have changed. America has changed. Thus, the imperative is for us to reinvent for a new America.
Declining Social Capital
In his 2000 book “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community,” Robert Putnam documented that attending club meetings, such as those held by Rotary and Kiwanis groups, has declined by 58% in the period 1975-2000. This trend continued and even accelerated in the 21st Century. Putnam notes it’s part of an overall trend by Americans who also have 43% fewer family dinners; 35% fewer of us have friends who drop in to see us at our homes.
Pick an organization and the numbers are telling. In the past two decades Rotary down 20%, Jaycees down 64%, Masons down 76%. Recalling de Tocqueville’s observation
about the role our clubs play in a civil society, this decline represents a tangible loss to community. The question remains, “Where do we go from here?”
Since most service club leaders are in office for but one year, they shoot for short-term quick fixes such as a membership drive. However, for most of our service clubs the issue is not recruitment but retention. Rotary averages 44,000 new members per year and loses an average of 51,000. They cannot keep members. If businesses are not keeping customers, the leaders generally make it top priority to find out why and correct the reasons. If they fail, they most likely will not be leaders for very long. Common sense says the same principle should apply to service clubs as well.
Think Tribes, Not Community
The classic definition of community is associated with a physical place, hence many of our service clubs are branded with a “place” such as Jamestown Lions Club. But, emerging generations of Americans now define community by their affinities: the gay community or the tech community. Even college alumni groups now tout themselves like independent countries such as “Spartan Nation” at Michigan State University.
Seth Godin is an entrepreneur who ruminates on marketing in the digital age. Author of several best-selling books, Godin argues that digital life has ended traditional mass communication and replaced it with an ancient human social unit, The Tribe. These are groupings of people founded on shared ideas and values. As such, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change.
In the new world, what people desire most is an opportunity to connect with one another. People like bonding with other people. It’s human nature. If we create opportunities for people to connect, they’ll open up and feel more comfortable. As they do, they’ll invite us into their lives and will introduce us to their friends. Then their friends become our family, our tribe. One by one we rebuild our clubs.
The data is so overwhelmingly convincing. One-half of charitable giving in the United States is not driven by what people care about, it is driven by what their friends and family care about. Consider the charity walk or bike ride. Most of those involved have little driving passion for the issue at hand, but join up to walk as part of a team organized by a friend or family member. It’s their community. The service clubs which will thrive in this new era are the ones who build out their tribe.
Prioritize Time Over Treasure
The speed of American life has picked up. While we are not working that much more than previous generations, we are spending vastly more time in what might be called “structured leisure activities.” This is especially true for families with children. For them, time is more prized than talent or treasure. For two-parent families, both are often working and sharing household and child rearing duties.
So, what will attract them is not so much our mission, but how we can add to the quality of their lives. Their time is precious. So, how can we adapt in order to make ourselves more welcoming to this emerging America?
Build An An Informal Atmosphere
Is the format of our club outdated? Is the weekly lunch/dinner/breakfast a productive format? Are the rituals in our meeting making sense to younger Americans? Many try to sidestep or ignore these impediments rather than deal with them. That’s human nature because the most powerful force in the world is the status quo.
But, Americans now connect online so don’t need the time investment of a weekly meeting to network. Leaders must identify and remove obstacles. Is the structure of our club meetings an obstacle to involvement? One thing is abundantly clear: What emerging generations want in physical meetings is for the environment to be fundamentally social, fundamentally conversational and fundamentally less formal.
Enable Them To Bring The Whole Family
One of the encouraging trends in modern America is how men have taken a much more active role in child rearing. Some of this is driven by women’s increasing role in the workplace and some by men desiring to play a more intimate role in the development of their sons and daughters.
These two-parent, two-career families have higher than average incomes and should be a priority to our recruitment strategy. They earn more and are more active than other demographics. If we want to get them we have to offer a milieu that permits and engages their children as well, for they will not give up valuable family time for anyone. So, does our club offer a family friendly environment?
Will this attract the next generation?
TED talks have become the gold standard among young professionals because such sessions arouse followers’ thoughts and imaginations, as well as stimulating their ability to identify and solve problems creatively. People gravitate to places containing others who awaken their curiosity, challenge them to think and learn, and encourage openness to new, inspiring ideas and alternatives.
While we may not be able to book high-level speakers, we can look at altering meeting formats. How about facilitated discussions around a pressing societal issue? How about reflective exercises that engage members to think deeply about a topic?
These ingredients are essential to creating an environment in which people are willing to invest their time. Intellectual stimulation is defined as encouraging innovation and creativity, as well as critical thinking and problem solving. Intellectual stimulation involves arousing followers’ thoughts and imagination as well as stimulating their ability to identify and solve problems creatively
People love environs that awaken their curiosity, challenge them to think and learn, plus encourage openness to new, inspiring ideas and alternatives. These elements are essential to pulling in the emerging generations and thus ensure club success.
Let Them ReThink You
It’s not “Come do what we do,” it’s “What do you want to do?” Can our club be an incubator for young creatives to develop new and interesting ways to address our traditional issues?
One aspect of emerging generations is their desire to have an impact now. It means they will not wait five years to be elected chair of the fundraising committee before seeing their ideas in action. If it’s not happening today, they’ll walk away.
Victor Hwang, in his book “The Rainforest,” metaphorically notes that most of us were trained to manage farms. By this he means our approach to anything is that we know what we want to grow, know when to plant the seeds, plant in straight lines, kill anything that looks like a weed, know when to harvest, and can anticipate roughly our yield. The rainforest, by comparison, is a chaotic environment in which all sorts of genetic mutations are taking place and everything looks like a weed.
Hwang’s point is that we need more rainforests. But, that means relinquishing some measure of control. Not always easy when we have 60, 80, 100 years of tradition behind us. Yet, by allowing emerging leaders to reinvent our club we can navigate a path to securing our survival.
Inventing The American Future
Service clubs are an American innovation that have evolved into a worldwide institution. While vibrant across the globe, the loss of membership in the United States represents a loss of social capital and civic engagement.
Today, potential members are constrained by lack of time. In addition, they may not see much use in an organization whose prestige and vitality is in question. It is imperative we reinvent.
That may involve passing the torch and allowing an emerging generation of leaders to reinvent our clubs according to their needs. The alternative may be irrelevance and obscurity.
• This essay elicited some robust discussion on the author’s blog. Click here and scroll down past his post to read some of the wide-ranging experiences and comments from others.
In rural Ganguli, India, 450 students climb aboard school buses. Five years ago they could not have gone to school because the distance from their village was too far to walk.
In San Agustín, Ecuador, students used to attend classes in the town morgue when it rained, because their school had no roof. Since 2012, hundreds of children there have learned to read and write in a real classroom.
Quietly orchestrating these and other projects was Vasanth Prabhu, a member of the Rotary Club of Central Chester County in Pennsylvania. When he was growing up in India, education was not free, and he saw how hard his father worked to pay for schooling for eight children. Understanding how school can change a person’s life keeps Prabhu working to provide education to those with no access to it, he says.
“I feel that everyone is a diamond in the rough,” he says, “but it must be cut and polished to show its brilliance.” So, instead of spending his money on luxuries, he is using it to bring out that brilliance.
There are three ways we can deal with enormous problems and our emotional responses to them. We can let them overcome us until we feel too paralyzed to act. We can bury our heads in the sand. Or, we can act. And, when we help others, we often find that we benefit as well.
“Taking action allows me to exercise passion to give it a good place to go,” Prabhu says.
James Doty, director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University, wrote “Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart.”
“We’re adapted to recognize suffering and pain; for us to respond is hard-wired into our brain’s pleasure centers,” Doty says. “We receive oxytocin or dopamine bursts that result in increased blood flow to our reward centers. In short, we feel good when we help.”
Caring for others brings other benefits, too.
“When we engage in activities that help, it also results in lowering our blood pressure and Read More »
• This essay was written by a member of the Oregon City (OR) Rotary Club who has been an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and human services activist for decades.
Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club 