At the Institute

The International Institute is a pre-Convention meeting in which the most current information is shared with senior Rotarians.  In plenary and breakout, the Institute is the chance where Rotary shares what Rotary is doing.  I don’t know why it isn’t better attended – there were about 500 here when 34,000 are expected for the opening session of the Convention tomorrow. There were only two other of my classmates from the paired Zones.  Well, their loss.

This year I was asked to be on the Findings Committee, which is Rotary-speak that means that I got to take the notes.  Actually, it was very much Old Rotary – I’m sitting there taking notes when the speakers could just have been asked to provide their speeches in advance.  If the Institute organizers did that, they could have the copies on the web tomorrow morning instead of recreating them and getting them distributed by sometime next month.

Also, if Rotary wanted to improve my note-taking, I would have been given earphones to pick up what’s on the mikes, just as the simultaneous interpreters do.  And, someone would have asked the convention center to provide an extension cord so I could plug in my laptop.  All these complaints really mean that I was doing an Old Rotary job in the 21^st century, and that I expected 21^st century tools to get it done. Silly me.

A Rotary International President I can see eye-to-eye with.

President-elect Sakuji Tanaka spoke today, all 5 ft 3 inches of him. Sakuji is the first Rotary president with whom I see eye-to-eye!  Frank and I are wearing our official theme tie and scarf, and because there are so few of my classmates here, they are quite rare. Frank reports that as Sakuji walked by, he looked at Frank and said, “nice tie!”

Which it is, but brings up a point on Rotary branding.  Rotary has a plethora of names and insignias, in some of which the Rotary wheel is so small as to be non-existent.  Lately, rumors have proliferated that annual themes will be abolished in order to simplify our signage.  So it was good to hear the three RI presidents (current, next year and the following year) all speak with one voice to say that the thinking of the Board is to keep the themes but to do a better job of using the Rotary wheel in a major way within the logo.  That is a good description of the new “Peace through Service” logo, and a good compromise, I think.

Rotary membership is another big deal.  Rotary has 1.2 million members.  It had 1.2 million members a decade ago, and the sad fact is that during that period we’ve turned, you guessed it, 1.2 million members.  If we could just cut down on the departure rate, we would have a very different organization.  The new information was in the regional breakdowns.  For example, Scandinavia has one Rotarian for every 300 citizens – that includes children and grandmothers, so it’s probably reached its density.  Germany and Italy have far fewer Rotarians per capita, but those who come in tend to stay forever – that’s because southern Europe has higher standards for who they let in, and once in, members stay for the honor of it if nothing else.

India, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines are all growing numbers in huge percentages.  Japan is losing numbers, but its population is also aging out. Rotary calls this an “external factor.” The US still is the country with the largest number of Rotarians, but the Asian countries are coming on strong.

All this means that growing membership will take different goals in different areas, and that we must stop the one-size-fits-all approach.  I hope.

The most time was taken with discussion of Future Vision, the new Foundation process that is really changing not only the Foundation but all of Rotary.   That’s because it promotes strategic partnerships with other organizations that can provide on-the-ground expertise and money.  Seems that Rotary has figured out that what we have is 1.2 million volunteers, and that just as we have changed the polio eradication process with the sheer numbers of committed individuals we can throw at the problem, so, too, we can bring our volunteers to bear on a myriad other problems, relying on strategic partners for expertise.  It’s a grand  scheme.

And early indicators are that it is catching on in Future Vision districts.  It’s worth noting that Foundation giving in Future Vision districts is rising – perhaps because those districts have much more latitude in how they spend their  money.  From that perspective, I think our District’s plan to have a District-wide strategic planning session to decide how to spend our money is the right thing to