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Club Service Committees |
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| Gateway Check List | RI Club Leadership Plan | ||
| RIBI Protection Policy | |||
| International Committee (chairman 2009/10 Terry Hickman Smith) Although the role of the International Committee seems self evident, each Rotary Club develops its own unique programme for supporting appeals for assistance from other countries and for developing links with foreign Clubs and individuals. The exception is the main Rotary International charity fund, called the Rotary Foundation, and this is administered centrally, from the Chicago head office of RI. Each Club decides how much it wishes to contribute to this fund every year, and the donations are consolidated to provide a range of programmes. The best known of these programmes is Polio Plus, where Rotary International and the World Health Organisation became partners in a project to immunise every child, throughout the world, against Polio. This has been so successful that Polio is now a very rare disease.However there are still small pockets of the world where polio is endemic. As a consequence, and in order to help Rotary International to complete the project, Bill Gates has charged Rotary clubs around the world to match his pledge of $100m. To this end Wymondham Rotary club will undertake a number of specific fund raising activities so that we can meet our own local target. Other parts of the Foundation fund support student exchange between different countries and a range of other travel bursaries aimed at improving international understanding and bringing professional assistance to needy countries. The final tranche is allocated to Clubs or Districts who seek additional support for their own international projects. The Wymondham Club donates around $100US per member to the Foundation (after tax reclaimed on Gift Aid). The amount donated by each member is entirely at his or her discretion. Member activity on the International Committee involves the selection of international projects for the Club to support each year, either directly or in partnership with other Clubs or the District. Fund raising events may be organised to provide resources for support. During the year, it is almost inevitable that emergency appeals will be received. The committee tries to respond urgently to such appeals whenever it can. Last year the Club supported a charity called World Water Works, which provides water filtration and storage boxes, also packed with other necessities for life. The main project this year is to support a literacy project overseas although final details are currently being developed. In addition, we are continuing to support IMPACT, which is a charity providing preventative medicine and professional support in countries and areas where such facilities are not otherwise available. District 1080 again has this as one of their preferred projects this year, and a number of Clubs in the District are, like Wymondham, supporting it. The Club has developed close links, over many years, with the Izegem Club from the Flemish part of Belgium, near Kortrijk. Each year a formal visit takes place with the hosting alternating between the Clubs. Recently a third Club, from Amsterdam, has joined the group. This year Wymondham Club have arranged a visit to Oxford for the three clubs in late September. One of the great benefits of Rotary membership is the ability for any member to attend the meeting of any other Rotary Club worldwide. Many of our members take advantage of this when they travel abroad. A warm welcome is almost always extended to visitors, and many contacts develop into friendships. |
| International Committee |
| Rotary Foundation District Designated Fund (DDF) 50% of the contributions from Rotary members to the Rotary Foundation are redistributed back to Districts after a time lag of 3 years as DDF. The 50% of contributions retained by RI funds GSE, Matching Grants, Polio Plus and a range of other international activities. 80% of the money returned to Districts is used to fund educational and humanitarian programmes, including some of those mentioned above as well as Ambassadorial scholars and specific disaster relief. The 20% remaining within the District funds is available for District Simplified Grant, for which individual Clubs can apply to assist their own international projects. Each year the District sends a questionnaire to Clubs asking how they would like to strategically split the allocation of DDF funds in three years time. The % spend on Humanitarian and Educational projects can be varied according to the democratic wishes of the Clubs which respond. All too often the result is that the District Foundation Committee decides the allocation because too few Clubs make their views known. The questions asked are as follows: In 2010/11 what proportion of 2007/8 DDF in District 1080 should be spent on: EDUCATIONAL (ambassadorial scholars, extra GSE teams, etc.) % HUMANITARIAN (Polio plus, disaster relief, matching grants, etc). % General News Many of you will know that when past member Perry McClean retired from his job as Director of Morley Research Centre he took on the part time job of administrator of the Chadacre Agricultural Trust. Following Perry’s death the Trustees of Chadacre decided to institute a Perry McClean Memorial Scholarship in the form of a three year research scholarship designed to benefit farming in East Anglia worth a minimum of £50,000 over three years. This scheme was launched in February 2008 and the closing date for submissions is 31st December 2008. International Visits A recent letter from the Izegem Club invites us to join them and their Dutch friends from Amsterdam Nieuwendam Club in Vienna during May 2009. Provisional dates are 21st to 24th May 2009. An expression of interest from members at this stage would help Izegem in their early preparations. Almost at the same time, a letter was received from our one time contact Club of Clamecy-Morvan in France, who would like to re-establish contact after a long period when their Club was in decline. Bearing in mind that the meeting with Izegem is not proposed until 2009 it might seem appropriate to use 2008 to renew acquaintance with our friends in France? World Water Works Following his visit to Wymondham in January to talk to the Club and to thank us for our past contribution to their water survival box project, the Chelwood Bridge Club President has sent us a CD of his presentation. This has been passed to Peter Jubb to put on the open section of the Club website. A further contribution of £500 was made to the project by the Wymondham Club following the January visit. Proposed Club Leadership Plans – a personal view RIBI is proposing new committee structures for all levels of the Rotary movement intended to ‘speed the process of delivering Service and Rotary activities’. The proposals at Club level are for existing committees to be replaced by; Membership Committee Club PR committee Club Administration committee Service Projects committee Rotary Foundation Committee The intention is for Clubs to reorganise themselves for implementation of these changes from July 2009. The underlying concepts appear to be to strengthen Clubs by putting more emphasis on membership and recruitment; to increase ‘professionalism’ through longer term strategic planning, and to strengthen the links in the chain from Clubs to District and beyond. Whilst agreeing with most of the underlying concepts I cannot, for the life of me, see how the proposed revision of committee structures will achieve these aims. Three committees concerned with looking ‘inward’ rather than ‘outward’ seems the opposite of ‘Rotary spending less time talking about Service and more time doing it’ as John Hockin, chairman of the RIBI sub committee proposes. While not mandatory on Clubs, I foresee considerable pressure to ‘conform’ to the new thinking. The time to debate the issues and change the proposals to something more appropriate is now. That debate needs to start within the Club before moving on to District level. Philip Richardson 19 February 2008 |