PROCEEDINGS
Rotary Institute
Zones 23 &
24
San Diego, California
Sam Greene, Director/Convener
Third Plenary Session—The Future of Rotary
Ed Futa, Rotary Long-Range Planning Director (and recently named Associate General Secretary of Rotary International) presided, presented, and served as moderator of the panel discussion at this session. Cliff Dochterman, past Rotary International President and Chair of Rotary’s “Dream for the Future Committee,” shared some of the 25 recommendations of the committee that will go to the RI board in October. Among them were recommendations that Rotary:
P become more involved in dealing with world hunger and poverty.
P develop a more rapid system of response to disasters, such as regional storehouses of emergency supplies around the world.
P take a more active role in preserving the environment, perhaps by a campaign to plant 1 million trees a year for ten years.
P encourage and support efforts to develop underused sources of energy such as that from sun, wind, biomass technology, and water; thereby reducing the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.
P work more aggressively and actively for a healthier world, perhaps on a regional basis rather than launch another worldwide campaign against a single disease.
P provide greatly expanded programs of literacy.
P support the proposition that “every kid is entitled to a primary grade education” and that Rotary especially support the education of girl children.
P pump up its work to deal with drug and substance abuse problems.
P work to alleviate the problem of abandoned children.
P continue and strengthen its efforts to care for and provide for orphans.
P strengthen its efforts to bring peace in the world.
P launch a program to have every club in Rotary paired with another club in different country.
P build its permanent fund to $1 billion by the year 2005.
P launch new types of community service projects.
P establish the seven Centers for International Studies at universities.
P undertake a series of organizational changes, including
PA new and vigorous public relations campaign to “tell our story”
and inform people of “who we are” and the many good things we do.
P Identifying and developing more women leaders in Rotary so that we truly become a “dual gender” organization.
P Developing new kinds of membership options that are a better fit for the business and professional people we have and want in Rotary.
P Improving the uses of technology for better efficiency, including using teleconferencing and consolidating training.
P Providing for continuity of leadership at the RI president’s level—not a whole new program each year.
In closing, Cliff quoted our founder, Paul Harris: “Dream good dreams and work to make them come true.” Cliff urged us: “Don’t discard the past but recognize Rotary must have new direction in the future.” “I hope that dreaming” he said in conclusion, “does not also mean that we have gone to sleep.”
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Ed Futa and a panel (Cliff Dochterman, Sam Greene, Howard Vann, Carolyn Schuetz) discussed “Where do we go from here?” Futa provided information on Rotary’s long-range planning process. A number of the items listed in Dochterman's presentation were elaborated on or enlarged by the panelists. The need to expand and improve training, not just for leaders, but for all Rotarians was supported strongly by the panel. Carolyn enlarged on the use of technology recommendation by suggesting the creation of a kind of virtual Rotary where “…the experts who are missing Rotary and that Rotary is missing” could add a dimension to our leadership training via technology (for instance at the International Institute). Recent actions taken by the Board of RI were aired. Vann listed some weaknesses he saw in Rotary: 1) Membership decline and inadequate retention strategies, 2) Publicity and public relations, 3) District conference attendance, 4) lack of consistent communication to the club level, 5) the number of convention sites, and 6) Council on Legislation locations.
A number of specific suggestions from the audience grew out of the morning session and the discussion topic. They included the following:
P
Buy laptop computers for
incoming governors and teach them how to use them.
Shorten the International Assembly to save the money to pay for them.
P
Computerize the Council on
Legislation so that no one has to travel anywhere.
P
Hire a private public
relations firm and start spending some money on this important task.
P
Develop a better process
for submitting items to the Council on Legislation.
P Take care of those parts of the world where help is needed now.
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