In 2014 we launched a new format for our District Training Assembly -- multiple tracks on tightly focused topics of relevance to every club. What did the participants have to say?

"It was fantastic" . . . "I learned a lot"

"It was a good time" . . . "It was enlightening"

"I wish all our club committee chairs had attended, and will make that recommendation this year"

"You never have enough opportunities to learn something"

Learn more about the 2015 District Training Assembly

It's a great opportunity to meet fellow Rotarians, share successes and challenges, and forge a practical strategy with your fellow club-members to ensure future success.

Rotary International Youth Exchange is one of the greatest investments, we as Rotarians, can make in the future of our world. Each year, we send and host students in a true exchange among Rotary Districts worldwide. Our students get to see other countries and cultures, while students from abroad can get much closer to us. At the end of an exchange year, the students actually report that they can dream in the language of their host nation.

24 Rotary Clubs in District 6290 currently are participating in the Youth Exchange Program by hosting an inbound or sponsoring an outbound student.

• 19 of our high school students are spending their year in 12 different countries
• 24 students from other countries being hosted within the District this year

Check out this photo album to see all the host and home countries involved!

At this time, we have 29 highly qualified exchange students from our District waiting to be placed overseas next year. This will require us to similarly host 29 students from overseas. As of December 4, we have 25 clubs committed to host students.

We need at least 4 more.

If your Club can host an inbound student next year, please contact PDG Lody Zwarensteyn, Youth Exchange District Chair (616-581-2261) or lody6290@gmail.com.

If your club would like a program by our Inbound and/or Outbound students, please contact PDG Lody. Our students can put on a presentation of whatever length you’d like. And they are impressive!

Are you aware that Rotary is offering a great series of webinars focused on membership? The most recent session, "Perception vs. Reality: Club Evaluation and Visioning," presents steps clubs can take to create and achieve a shared vision for your club. Click here to learn more: http://vimeo.com/108381769. Don't forget to review the corresponding PowerPoint presentation!

Once you've finished viewing the webinar recording, keep the conversation going in the Membership Best Practices Discussion Group.

Be sure to register for our upcoming membership webinars by clicking on the links below: 

Simple Steps to Innovate your Club
Feb 04, 2015 at 11:00 AM EST

Membership Engagement: The Key to Retention
Mar 25, 2015 at 11:00 AM EST

How to Recruit New Members and Strengthen Your Club
May 06, 2015 at 11:00 AM EST

Each month we will be shining the spotlight on Polio, highlighting the good work of our District PolioPlus committee, and the best practices of clubs around 6290 who are working to raise awareness and funds. This month we point the spotlight north to our friends in Sault Ste. Marie. 

To raise awareness, the Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario chose to:

1. ​Issue Press Release which appears in SaultOnline.com titled "Did You Know: since 1988, this disease has been 99% ERADICATED​." The club leveraged the standard Rotary Press Release that was circulated prior to World Polio Day and added club-specific information in closing paragraph.
2. Leverage Rotary-produced info-graphics and use them to fill the windows of their downtown store-front/office while, at same time, they pushed them out via their website and social media Facebook presence.
3. Engage youth in a spaghetti-dinner fundraiser hosted by the seniors at Superior Heights. The kids prepared and served the meal. A slide loop during dinner featured student images showing we're "This Close" to ending polio. Table centerpieces featured the three remaining endemic countries.

Well done! Great way to leverage existing, high-quality materials while also bringing in the fun and youth factor!

Check out the photo album

Public Image isn't always about press releases and radio/television coverage! What are some other simple no cost/low cost things we can do?

• Wear your membership pin all the time, not just on meeting day

• Wear shirts, caps, jackets with the Rotary logo around town, not just at service projects!

• Place a "Proud Member" decal in your car window, place of business (image to the right is copy of decal available at ShopRotary; pack of five is $5)

• Display the "Four Way Test" in your office or other prominent location

• If you are gathered as a group, bring your club banner and/or anything else that can highlight the fact you are Rotarians

• Update your profile in services such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and make it clear you are a Rotarian

• Share Rotary and Club news on your social media pages

​You don't need a budget to share your story . . . you need to do something that prompts a little interest . . . and then polish up that 30-second elevator pitch :-)

For YEARS our Club Secretaries have received multi-page invoices with long lists of names and records that needed to be checked as part of Rotary International's Semi-Annual Report/Invoicing process. That process is scheduled to change in 2015. A few key points:

• Rotary International Board of Directors approved the change to a single-page invoice and new membership reporting requirements in order to simplify the invoice process. By reporting new members earlier, you will enable them to engage with Rotary much sooner. Also, the new invoice eliminates the need for your club to fill out worksheets, recalculate dues owed, and write in new members. Instead, your club receives a one page form that clearly states the amount it owes.

• Key change in membership reporting is that additions/terminations need to be reported within 30 days (ideally) but in all cases, no later than 1 January and 1 July. If your club uses administration software please explore automated integration with Rotary International to make this even easier!

• Invoice will be delivered via email and will receive one hardcopy (if you haven't opted out at rotary.org).

Do you have other questions? Be sure to read this FAQ document.

In our October newsletter we shared the announcement that Rotary Charities of Traverse City gave a grant of $250,000 to PolioPlus. They did this now for three reasons:

1. Because now is the time to aggressively cover the $600M shortfall required to finish the job by 2018.
2. Because the Bill and Melinda Gates 2:1 match leverages all donations up to $35M a year making NOW a good time to leverage your contribution.
3. Because they wanted to set a leadership standard for donations to PolioPlus across the district in hopes others would step up just a bit more aggressively than in the past.

Rotary Charities grant provides District 6290 with a great opportunity. In response to their generosity, we have established a goal of reaching $125,000 in donations during 2014-2015 year.To give just a bit of an incentive to all Rotarians in District 6290 to step forward and help, the District will match all PolioPlus donations between $100 and $250 with a similar number of Foundation Recognition Points. The District will match donations from now until March 31, 2015. Your donation of $250 when matched with 250 recognition points will get you half way to a Paul Harris Fellow!

Next to it's 1.2 million members, The Rotary Foundation is Rotary International's greatest asset.

Did you know that District 6290 has received some wonderful recognition due, in large part, to YOUR generosity? For the 2013/2014 year District 6290 received the following awards at the Zone Institute:

• 1st place in Total Foundation Giving
• 3rd place for EndPolioNow Cash Contributions
• 3rd place for EndPolioNow Total Contributions

Check out the photos of the great certificates!

PDG Chris Etienne, District 6290 Rotary Foundation Committee Chair received the 2013-2014 Citation for Meritorious Service for her significant active service to the Rotary Foundation over the years. This is not a surprising award to those who know Chris because the Rotary Foundation has always been Chris’s passion.

Chris’s significant contributions over the years include District 6290 Governor in 2007 – 2008, and she has held many other important positions at the club, district and zone levels. Chris continues to be active in her club, the Rotary Club of Petoskey, and is a Past President of that club. Chris and her husband Dennis Lindeman participated in a National Immunization Day in India together. Her significant leadership skills were also recognized in October with her election to be the Zone 29 Coordinator, following PDG Mary Berge of Johnstown PA. Chris will assume her duties as Zone Coordinator in July, 2015. Please congratulate Chris Etienne for this significant recognition of her contributions to The Rotary Foundation, and also thank her for her tireless efforts to make District 6290 clubs and Rotarians more successful through her work on behalf of the Rotary Foundation.​

Join us this coming summer in São Paulo, Brazil for our 2015 Rotary International Convention June 6-9. If you have never attended an International Convention, this is your opportunity to see a beautiful part of the world and join Rotarians from around of the world….over 130 countries are usually represented. 
 
Early registration discounts are available through December 15th. Click on the title to this article to access the attached info sheets along the registration form. You can also register online at www.riconvention.org.  If you need help or additional info, please email or call 239 205-4787.     
 
Wendell Christoff
Lowell Rotarian
São Paulo Convention Promotion Committee
wchristoff@litehouseinc.com

Do you remember the light bulb Governor who visited your club last year? My goal was to show you how to save some money at home by reducing energy use so that you could send it to the Foundation instead of your energy company. For the next several months I’m going to remind you how to save – energy style -- and I’m asking you to send some of that to our Foundation so we can do even more good in the world.

DECEMBER’S TIP:  Stuff a Christmas stocking with 3-4 LED or CFL bulbs – then donate the $25 you’ll save over the year using these bulbs to our Foundation. Even better: Turn down your thermostat just ONE degree and save 5% of your heating bill each month all winter!! Send another $25 to the Foundation. Do it now, or you’ll forget.  rotary.org/give

Holiday Greetings Fellow Rotarians,

November was Rotary Foundation Month and most clubs had programs providing education to their Rotarian members that they might better understand the value of donations to Rotary Foundation, and the value that these donations bring to changing lives all over the world.

December is a time when the Christian world, and many other traditions as well, turn to giving as a way of saying, on one hand, “I love you”, or on another, “I hope I can make your day just a bit better than yesterday”.  Rotary clubs have programs called various names but each is intended to brighten up the lives of families with children whose holiday might not be so happy and joyful.

Giving is actually in our DNA.  As humans we feel good when we do something nice for someone else.  The gift does not have to be money – it might be time: to rake the leaves for a shut-in older person, to deliver Meals-On-Wheels, or to weatherproof an old house to help reduce heating bills.  District 6290 clubs do all these projects and more all year round just because it feels good to change lives whenever we can.

According to the New York Times, ”Five years after the recession reshaped the global economy, charitable giving is back in a big way in the United States. What is more, a new generation of donors is meeting significant challenges with transformative gifts.”

“Perhaps most surprising thing about giving since the recession is who has proved most generous. It turns out that poorer individuals give a greater percentage of their income, even during tough times. Though low-income Americans cut back on charitable giving the most during the recession, they tend to give a higher proportion of their wealth away than those in the middle and upper classes.

On the Generous Giving web site I found an explanation of why one American tended to give generously.  A young woman names Lynn Payne said, “I have discovered an excitement in giving that's unique and distinct from every other gift. It's ironic that in separating myself from something of value, I receive back something of even greater value. It's a great way to do life.”

I like what Ms. Payne said.  Christmas is a wonderfully joyous time when we all tend to have fuller hearts and a more generous giving attitude.  While giving is just part of what we do at Christmas or Hannukah or Kwanza or whatever you call your December holiday, I hope you all have a most wonderful holiday. It’s kind of nice that giving is such a big part of what we do all year as Rotarians, and it is especially nice at this time of year.

With Warmest Holiday Wishes,

During the upcoming  year, the District newsletter will be released on the 1st of each month. The deadline to submit materials is the 20th of each month. If you have an example of a 'best practice' or have other great news to share, please complete our 'Club News' submission form (found at www.ridistrict6290.org under Public Image, or in the FAQ section in our monthly newsletter). Electronic photos are encouraged. Please try to limit your submission to 300 words or less.