We want to hear from you: What has been your experience with working with Rotary Clubs / Rotarians? How can it be improved?
We are especially interested in finding out the following things in your district:
1. Relationship with the DG
- What is your DG's relationship with the DRR and the Rotaract clubs like?
- Has your DG ever visited a Rotaract meeting or project?
- Does the DG meet with Rotaractors in your district at any stage, prior to or during his/her term of office?
- How much does your DG really know about Rotaract in your district?
- Does your DG invite the DRR or other Rotaractors to Rotary district meetings?
- Do you invite your DG to District Rotaract meetings or events? Does he / she attend when invited?
- Does your DG allow Rotaract news to be included in their DG newsletter?
- Do Rotaractors receive a copy of the DG newsletter?
- Do you think it is appropriate for DGs to be involved in organising a Rotaract leadership training day?
- In what way can we better inform DGEs about Rotaract in general, and about the clubs in their district in particular?
2. Relationship with Sponsoring Rotary Clubs
- How active a role does your sponsoring Rotary Club play in relation to your Rotaract club? It is also useful for us to know how long your club has been running for, to assess whether Rotary clubs start off being active in order to charter a new Rotaract club, and then gradually forget their obligations to support Rotaract.
- Do you conduct joint service projects with your sponsoring Rotary club? How successful have they been, and how "joint" are they? Does your sponsoring Rotary club just view Rotaract as a "slave labour force" or do they allow you to fully share the organisation of projects?
- Does your sponsoring Rotary club invite your club members to special events?
- Does your club invite your sponsoring Rotary club to attend special Rotaract club events? Do they attend?
- Do members of your club attend meetings of your sponsoring Rotary club? If so, how often? Do they charge you a fee to attend?
3. Graduating from Rotaract to Rotary
- How many Rotaractors make the passage from Rotaract to Rotary in your district?
- Does your Rotaract club notify Rotary clubs of Rotaractors who are approaching 30?
- How common is it for Rotary Clubs to follow up notices of a Rotaract alumnus who is now eligible to join Rotary?
- Do Rotaractors decline invitations to join Rotary? If so, why?
- Do you think the best solution is for past Rotaractors to join together to form a new Rotary club (such as a New Generations Rotary club), if they are unable to unwilling to join an existing Rotary club? Or is there another way?
1 comment:
We want to hear from you: What has been your experience with working with Rotary Clubs / Rotarians? How can it be improved?
I am serving in my second term as DRR, and I have basically been able to shape my role as the ambassador for Rotaract in our District, and I have been able to set up our Rotaract District structure. I consider myself to be very knowledgable regarding Rotary in our district. I was a member of one club as an undergraduate, and now I am a member of a different Rotaract club as a graduate student at a different college. I make a point to stay in contact with Rotarians and the district leadership. I think this takes definite initiative on the part of the DRR.
1. Relationship with the DG
* What is your DG's relationship with the DRR and the Rotaract clubs like?
Our past and current DG, as well as the DGE, all have very good relationships with the DRR. I make a point to contact them when I have questions and show that I value their advice/input. All of the DGs I have worked with have been members of Rotary Clubs that sponsor Rotaracts, but none of them have had particularly strong relationships with any particular Rotaract Clubs. Our past DG did attend the chartering of a new Rotaract Club, and I am sure the current DG would do the same if invited.
* Has your DG ever visited a Rotaract meeting or project?
I do not believe so, but I think it may be because they have not been invited. Plus the DG is so busy. The individual clubs really do not have a relationship with the DG, really just the DRR does.
* Does the DG meet with Rotaractors in your district at any stage, prior to or during his/her term of office?
Yes, for the past two years, the DG has met with the DRR and the district Rotaract chair (Rotarian) at the beginning of the Rotary year to discuss Rotaract for the year. These meetings are initiated by the DRR or chair.
* How much does your DG really know about Rotaract in your district?
As DRR, I make it a point to keep the DG informed. She knows where we have clubs and where there are potential new clubs. During her club visits, she promoted Rotaract to Rotary Clubs that do not yet sponsor Rotaract, and she also gave my business cards to the Rotary Clubs to contact me regarding starting Rotaract Clubs.
* Does your DG invite the DRR or other Rotaractors to Rotary district meetings?
Yes, I was invited to participate in the district strategic planning to represent youth programs. This was a great experience because it was a 2 day retreat where I was really able to connect with the DG, DGE, and DGN, as well as Rotarians from all over the district. Many of them knew nothing about Rotaract prior to this. I am also invited to all district assemblies.
* Do you invite your DG to District Rotaract meetings or events? Does he / she attend when invited?
Last year the DG did not attend the Rotaract district conference, but the DG this year is attending, delivering a welcome message, and even presenting a workshop on leadership and communication!
* Does your DG allow Rotaract news to be included in their DG newsletter?
Yes! She even allowed me to send a special e-mail to all Rotary presidents in our district inviting them to attend our district conference.
* Do Rotaractors receive a copy of the DG newsletter?
I receive it as DRR, but no other Rotaractors receive it. If there is any pertinent information, I forward it to all the Rotaract presidents.
* Do you think it is appropriate for DGs to be involved in organising a Rotaract leadership training day?
YES!! There has never been a leadership training in my district organized by Rotarians, but I think this is because they have no idea they are "supposed" to. If I approached them, I am sure they would help. For now, the outgoing DRR has been organizing the training.
* In what way can we better inform DGEs about Rotaract in general, and about the clubs in their district in particular?
In the USA, there is a big problem with many districts not having a DRR. There is also a big problem with Rotarians in the USA not understanding Rotaract. If they have heard of it, they usually think it is only a college club. It is very vital for a district with Rotaract to have a DRR. I have found that most DGs don't know there is a position for DRR or anything about the Rotaract District Committee. Prior to me being DRR, the DRR was simply appointed by the DG, and we had no district committee. I read the Rotaract Guide for District leaders, brought it to the attention of the District Rotaract Chair (who didn't know about it either) and we worked to establish an election procedure for the DRR.
DG's know all about Rotary guidelies, but they know nothing about Rotaract guidelines. There are so few guidelies for Rotaract to begin with!!
2. Relationship with Sponsoring Rotary Clubs
* How active a role does your sponsoring Rotary Club play in relation to your Rotaract club? It is also useful for us to know how long your club has been running for, to assess whether Rotary clubs start off being active in order to charter a new Rotaract club, and then gradually forget their obligations to support Rotaract.
I have been a member of two different Rotaract Clubs. My current club is unique because we have 9, yes 9, sponsoring Rotary Clubs. This is good because we have the resources of all the clubs, but bad because it is hard to stay in touch with all of them. It is a long story as to how our club started with so many sponsoring Rotary clubs. Some of the sponsors are very active, some barely know they sponsor a Rotaract Club. (Our club is 6 years old)
In helping Rotary clubs in my district sponsor new Rotaract Clubs, I find the main question they have is "what is required of us?" There are no real guidelies for what it means to sponsor a Rotaract Club, and I think this creates a problem. If there is not at least one Rotarian who is really involved in the Rotaract Club, it is easy for the Rotary Club to forget the Rotaract Club.
Also, the Rotaract Clubs need to understand their relation with the Rotary Clubs. All the clubs in my district currently are university-based. Some of the Rotaract Clubs don't seem to fully understand their relationship to the Rotary Club. It is a two way street. The Rotary Club needs to know its obligations to the Rotaract Club, and vice-versa.
* Do you conduct joint service projects with your sponsoring Rotary club? How successful have they been, and how "joint" are they? Does your sponsoring Rotary club just view Rotaract as a "slave labour force" or do they allow you to fully share the organisation of projects?
Most of the joint projects involve Rotarians inviting Rotaractors to participate in their projects. Usually, this means the Rotaractors work alongside the Rotarians in the same capacity. There have been a few instances where the Rotaractors have been used as "free labor" but not usually. I know of several occasions where the event was a fundraiser for the Rotary Club, and to show gratitude for the assistance of the Rotaractors, the Rotary Club gave some of the event procedes to the Rotaract Club!
One of the clubs in my district has an annual contest on campus, and they have Rotarians serve as the judges.
There are no projects in our district that I know of where the Rotary and Rotaract Club truely co-organize the event.
* Does your sponsoring Rotary club invite your club members to special events?
My current Rotaract club (with the 9 sponsoring Rotarys) is invited to only some of the big events. One sponsoring club invited our club officers to their banquet.
My former Rotaract Club was always invited to the club's annual banquet and was given time to make a presentation of the year's activities. Then all the new members for the year are presented with membership pins and certificates. They would also invite the Rotaract club to help in the set-up for the event.
* Does your club invite your sponsoring Rotary club to attend special Rotaract club events? Do they attend?
We usually do invite them, only a few will attend. Hardly any Rotarians attend meetings of my current club, but that is mainly due to the fact that the current officer in charge of Rotary relations does not do a good job of letting know when we are meeting!!
My former club frequently had Rotarians in attendance at club meetings, but not always.
* Do members of your club attend meetings of your sponsoring Rotary club? If so, how often? Do they charge you a fee to attend?
My current club (w/9 sponsors) organizes trips to various Rotary clubs each month. Therefore, we only go to each sponsoring club roughly once a year. Usually around 10 members go. There is a push for members to go on their own, but they never do. We hope that once they go as a group they will feel comfortable to go back on their own.
At my former club, Rotaractors went to Rotary meetings frequently. Our advisor (who worked at the university and was a Rotarian) would always invite Rotaractors to ride to the meeting with him, and then you could sit with him as well. At each Rotaract meeting, we would remind the members that they were welcome to go to Rotary meetings, and to just contact the advisor if they wanted a ride!
I know at least one other Rotaract Club in my district also freqently has members go to Rotary meetings. The Rotary Club actually meets at the university dining hall, so this makes it very very easy for Rotaractors to attend.
There are other Rotaract Clubs, however, that hardly ever visit Rotary meetings even though they are welcome to do so. I don't think they understand the benefit of attending, even though I try to tell them time and time again!
Most of the Rotary clubs do not charge anything to attend. We have one very large club (500+ members) that only charges Rotaractors $5 to attend.
3. Graduating from Rotaract to Rotary
* How many Rotaractors make the passage from Rotaract to Rotary in your district?
* Does your Rotaract club notify Rotary clubs of Rotaractors who are approaching 30?
* How common is it for Rotary Clubs to follow up notices of a Rotaract alumnus who is now eligible to join Rotary?
* Do Rotaractors decline invitations to join Rotary? If so, why?
* Do you think the best solution is for past Rotaractors to join together to form a new Rotary club (such as a New Generations Rotary club), if they are unable to unwilling to join an existing Rotary club? Or is there another way?
As I mentioned, all the clubs in my district are currently university-based, and the members usually leave well before they are 30. As far as I know, we have never had a Rotaractor to join Rotary. I have had a few Rotarians mention this, though. We will likely include some provisions for bringing former Rotaractors into Rotary in the new district strategic plan (for the whole district, not just a plan for Rotaract).
We have a new community-based club about to start, so I will keep an eye on it to see if any of those member transition to Rotary.
All of our sponsoring Rotary clubs in this district are very friendly and welcoming to Rotaractors. If Rotaractors would interact with the Rotarians as much as possible and get to know them, then I would think that Rotaractors would feel very comfortable transitioning into Rotary Club membership.
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